https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14912627/Poet-Aaron-Barry-Vancouver-faked-woke.html

A poet said his career skyrocketed within the liberal literary scene by taking on minority personas to promote his work to publishers.

Aaron Barry, 29, of Vancouver, experienced the most success when he posed as writers with identities far from his own, even if the poems were blatantly 'trash.'

His reasoning behind the scheme was simple - to prove the poetry world is more concerned with writers' identities than the quality of their work.

'My thinking was that, if the industry - from small magazines to full-on publishing imprints - could get away with showing a clear preference toward certain groups and, in that same vein, a clear bias against other groups,' Barry began to DailyMail.com.

'Then there was nothing to say that such power couldn't be abused in the future, whether it be to adhere to shifting trends or politics, or to discriminate against additional demographics.

'Such treatment would leave writers in a state of peril and anxiety, forever having to look over their shoulders while navigating their careers.'

From 2023 to 2024, Barry had managed to fool 30 respected literary journals around the globe and got about 50 of his 'nonsensical' poems published.

He published dozens of pieces as Adele Nwankwo, a 'gender-fluid member of the Nigerian diaspora,' including one titled After Coming Out: A Wrestling Promo.'