• 'I attributed quotes to people who didn't exist'
• Named a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year

BOSTON (CNN) -- An award-winning metro columnist for The Boston Globe resigned Thursday after being asked to leave by the paper's editor, who said she admitted to fabricating people and quotes in four columns this year.

"Patricia Smith is a writer of extraordinary talent and this is a tragic development," Matthew Storin, the paper's editor, said in a statement. "We wish her well and she retains many friends at the Globe, including myself."

Smith's agent and lawyer, John "Ike" Williams, said "Patricia has resigned," the Globe said.

Smith, 42, who is also a well-known poet, did not return phone calls.

In a column being published in Friday's Globe, Smith apologizes to her readers, to the paper, and to her late father, who she credits as an inspiration to her journalism career.

"From time to time in my metro column, to create the desired impact or slam home a salient point, I attributed quotes to people who didn't exist," Smith wrote in her final column, which the Globe made available late Thursday. The column was to be accompanied by a news story by the Globe's media critic.

"I could give them names, even occupations, but I couldn't give them what they needed most -- a heartbeat. As anyone who's ever touched a newspaper knows, that's one of the cardinal sins of journalism: Thou shall not fabricate. No exceptions. No excuses."

The fabrications, from columns in April and May, were discovered two weeks ago during a routine review by Globe editors, Storin's statement said.

"I do promise that we will give a full accounting to our readers of what we have found to date," Storin said. "Anything that further research reveals will be disclosed in a timely manner."

The fabrications, from columns in April and May, were discovered two weeks ago during a routine review by Globe editors, Storin's statement said.

"Obviously, each of them violates the sacred trust that the Globe has with its readers," Storin said.

Smith admitted the fabrications after being questioned by her editor, Greg Moore, Storin said.

Earlier this year, Smith -- who wrote twice a week for the newspaper -- was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, journalism's highest honor. None of the questionable columns were included in Smith's Pulitzer application, Gulla said.

Smith began her newspaper career as a typist with the Chicago Daily News. She joined the Globe in 1990 and was named a columnist in 1994. She was one of three writers who rotated columns on the front page of the metro section.

Smith won the Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of Newspaper Editors for a series of columns published in 1997.

News of Smith's alleged fabrications comes soon after the highly publicized dismissal from The New Republic of associate editor Stephen Glass, accused of fabricating material in 27 of 41 articles he had written for the weekly magazine over the past three years.

Glass was fired last month after confessing he had "embellished" a story about computer hackers. The article ran in the magazine's May 18 issue.

Glass did not contest the findings and apologized this week in letters to the magazine's editor and owner.

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