J.K. Rowling 2012 Interview – Harry Potter: Beyond the Page [High Res]

More than 3,000 miles from New York City, across the Atlantic Ocean and off the northwest coast of continental Europe, lies the United Kingdom, which includes England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, a land known for its

high

lands of heather and haggis. Welcome to Edinburgh, Scotland, a city built on the remains of an ancient volcano and full of history, perhaps one of the most famous and impressive historical monuments of M Burroughs, perched

high

above the city, is the castle dating back to the XII, almost a thousand years ago. Old Town Edinboro, as it is known, grew. On a narrow hill around the castle, where some of its medieval houses reached up to fifteen floors, the first skyscrapers, the new city, a network of wide streets, large public buildings, elegant houses and lush gardens, was built at the end of the 18th century , Scotland's second largest city and The capital is home to over half a million Edinburgh residents, as the citizens of this beautiful city are known, and you will be surprised to know that many of the great thinkers, artists and writers of the world have called Edinburgh home, people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis.

Stevenson JM Barrie and of course JK Rowling, who wrote much of the first book in one of the most read children's book series of all time in a coffee shop here in Edinburgh. Hello everyone and welcome to Harry Potter beyond the

page

. I'm Billy. Dee Michelle with Scholastic and we will come to you live from Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, the city that JK Rowling calls home. This is a big day for Harry Potter readers and for those who are about to begin their magical adventure because, for the first time, JK Rowling is live. classrooms virtually around the world Joe, thank you for inviting us to join you here in your hometown to talk about the fantastic world of Harry Potter.

I know you wrote a lot here in Edinburgh, yes, how much did this beautiful city and its wealth make? the story influenced your writing had some influence there are some little things that wouldn't have happened in the books if I hadn't been living in Edinburgh, for example when I was looking up the surname of a particularly arrogant and annoying character whose first name was Gilderoy. I was in a church and I saw the surname Lockhart, which is a beautiful surname and I mean a church here in Edinburgh of course, and that's how Gilda Roy got her surname, so there were little things like names were sometimes Street names gave me details in the books, but I have to say that I am a writer who can write practically anywhere, so it was wonderful to write in such a beautiful city and this is a place that has great coffee shops which is where I wrote. a lot of stuff, which helped me a lot and I would say that people here are very respectful of your privacy, so I was able to write in writing cafes for a long time, even when Harry Potter was pretty well known.

I am very grateful to Edinburgh for that great city. It's been five years since the seventh and final Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book was published in 2007, and the series continues to captivate readers in the United States. Teachers and librarians are creating Harry Potter. book clubs in their schools to introduce the series to new generations of young readers and now with Pottermore, the new Harry Potter online reading experience, millions more are beginning their journey to Hogwarts Joe, as we announced we would be doing this event in I live with you, the response from teachers and librarians, students and fans was obviously overwhelmingly yes and the questions started coming.

I can't tell you how many, of course, and I'll share just a few of them. That's fine from the students throughout the webcast, but outside of all the questions. We got the most frequently asked question that you've answered, asked, and answered countless times before, but I think now that the series has gone on a few years, it's worth revisiting because it speaks to the Harry Potter phenomenon and I want to revisit those numbers for a moment four hundred and fifty million books printed worldwide 73 languages ​​one hundred and fifty million books printed in the US alone and counting is amazing and I think the question everyone wants to know is: do you have any idea why?

These books have and continue to enchant readers young and old in such epic proportions. I have thought about this. I used to say because it was an easy answer or you should ask the readers. You know they know what they like, but over the years. I've come to understand the appeal a little better primarily by talking to readers. I have to say that I think mostly people fell in love with the characters even though the magic is so fun and the idea of ​​this hidden world is so appealing that it's appealing. For me, as an author and as an adult, the idea that there is a special place where you belong.

I still think that it was the characters fundamentally that made people fall in love with the world and, above all, Harry Ron and Hermione are probably right and we are I'm going to talk about the characters because you're right, they are extraordinary, but I wanted to ask you, taking a step back. little, has your dream always been to always, always write? Naturally, I don't remember the moment when I knew that you had to make a living in In some ways I didn't want to be a writer and at some point I was, I wasn't very honest about it because I don't think my parents would have seen it as a very stable way. to make a living, but it was.

Always what I wanted to do and deep in my heart I knew that I was going to try as hard as I could to write if you were making up stories even when yes, definitely, at the beginning, yes, the first book so called that I heard when I was six years old and it was about a rabbit named bunny, yeah yeah, not very good, but in retrospect what impresses me is that I finished it. You see, I think that's the mark of someone who really wants. writing because starting stories is often very easy to finish them not so well, the next question is one of the first from the students I was talking about, it is from Christie Crawford's fourth and fifth grade group at Bronx Community Charter School in the city from New York.

What a great question. I had several writing teachers who encouraged me to write. I remember having a couple of elementary school teachers who read my work in class and made me feel very, very special. They really did it and that sticks. In my memory, the pride I felt in having my work read in front of other students was something very important to me. When I was a little bit older I had a teacher called Lucy Shepherd and her name comes very easily to my lips because I just met her, I just went to an event and she went and she was teaching me when I was a teenager and she was a fantastic English teacher and , like Dumbledore McGonagall in the books, taught me things besides what she was. teaching me about literature, things about life, you know, she was just a very good example of a woman who was very intelligent and someone who stood up for herself and her principles and that was a great role model and that kind of validation. for at least a young age, oh yes, completely, I mean, you never forget the teachers who told you that you can do this, do you remember the first sentence you wrote in the series and the last one and how much time passed between them?

Well, I know it was 17 years between the two 17 and I know I finished writing Deathly Hallows in 2007. I finished editing it, I should say I couldn't tell you what the last word I wrote was because when you're editing you're going around in circles. The first sentence I wrote I still have if we set aside the preliminary notes I made and it was very different from the first sentence that appeared in the printed books and I can't quote it exactly, but it was meant to be. with a place called Darks Hollow and Darks Hollow became Godric's Hollow, so in the first version of Harry Potter Chapter 1, the Philosopher's Stone, you saw what happened in Godric's Hollow, while in the finished series you can't see exactly what.

It happened in Godric's Hollow until much later, yes, okay, one of your moments maybe one of your favorite moments along the way in these 17 years, there are so many within the books, if we talk about what happens in the stories, I know I'm about to read one of them, one of my favorite lines from the first book, but there are a lot of first appearances of Luna because I love Luna Lovegood so much and I really wanted to write the cemetery scene for her. I have to be very careful, people. They haven't finished the series, but the cemetery scene in Goblet of Fire, for different reasons, was great to write because I had been aiming for that point for quite a few years when I wrote it, so it felt very satisfying. the bunch of different things, some really small, that I still remember while writing, like stupid jingles and things Jeeves says were always fun to do, and how about a personal favorite moment like many from those 17 years for me personally as a writer over there?

There have been many, but I think the second American tour I did was incredible, it was incredible because at that time the books became so popular, like I hadn't been exposed to how popular they become by being physically exposed to them and I can remember traveling in A car to my first signing and they blocked off a few blocks of people lining up and I told Chris Moran that I was working at Scholastic and that he had become a friend and we were sitting there. I told Chris there's an offer because she just looked. Yo, are you angry?

This is for you and that was it. You know, I'll never forget that moment. It was the first time I really understood what happened. It was a great moment. It was extraordinary and also terrifying. Know. It was terrifying. Well, because I just didn't expect that the previous tour, although we, Tad, you know, maybe a couple hundred people show up every now and then, hasn't been that crazy, well, it's because you created one of the most magical worlds , probably thanks. one of the most magical worlds you've ever seen in literature for sheron and some of the most extraordinary characters, as we said, so I know you said it for all these readers who are about to start their journey and for those who have been even on several occasions, would you take us back to that world?

I would love to love Philosopher's Stone a lot, right, yes, I'm going to read Philosopher's Stone and I'm going to read it now. I loved writing this passage and in fact, I started writing this sitting under a tree in a park, which is appropriate and you will understand why it is appropriate when I have read a little more. Okay, the last store was cramped and shabby, peeling gold letters over the door, red olive, and us, the makers. of excellent from 382 a. C., just one to place on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window, a bell jingled somewhere in the depths of the shop as they entered, it was a small place, except for a thin, thin chair on which sat Hagrid.

Wait, Harry felt strange, as if he had entered a very strict library, he swallowed a bunch of new questions that had just occurred to him and instead looked at the thousands of narrow boxes stacked neatly to the ceiling, for some reason, at the back of his neck itched, the dust and silence here seemed to tingle with some secret magic. Good afternoon, said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped too because a loud crack was heard and he quickly stood up from the thin chair an old man was standing on. them their pale white eyes shining like moons through the darkness of the shop hello said Harry awkwardly yes said the man yes yes I thought I would see you soon Harry Potter it wasn't a question do you have your mother's eyes it seems like only yesterday she herself was here purchasing her first ten and a quarter inch long wand made of willow.

Nice wand for casting spells, mr. Ollivander approached Harry. Harry wanted to blink. Those silver eyes were a little creepy. Your father, on the other hand, preferred an 11-inch mahogany wand, flexible, a little more power, and excellent for Transfiguration. Well, I say your father liked it, it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course mr. Ollivander had gotten so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes and that was where Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. I'm sorry to say I sold it. the wand that made it, he said softly thirteen and a half inches, your powerful wand, very powerful and in the wrong hands, well, if I had known what that wand was going out into the world for, he shook his head and then, to Harry's relief , saw Hagrid Rubeus Rubeus Hagrid how nice to see you again sixteen inch oak quite flexible, wasn't it?, it was sir, yes, said Hagrid, good wand that, but I suppose they broke it in half when they expelled him, said Mr.

Ollivander suddenly Stern, oh yes, they did. yes said Hagrid shuffling his feet I still have the pieces although he added brilliantly but you don't use them said Mr Ollivander sharply oh no sir said Hagrid Harry noticed that he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke mm-hmm said Mr Ollivander giving it to hagrid apenetrating look, well, now sir. Potter let me see, he took out a long tape measure with silver markings from his pocket, which is the hand of your wand, well, I'm right-handed, said Harry, extend your arm, that's all, he measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then from the wrist to the elbow, from the shoulder to the floor. knee to his armpit and around his head as he measured, he said that each Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, sir.

Potter we use unicorn hair, Phoenix tail feathers and dragon heart fibers. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are the same, and of course you will never get as good results with another.The Magic Wand Harry suddenly realized that the measuring tape he was measuring between her nostrils she was doing this on her own. Ollivander was hovering around the shelves removing boxes that will do the trick, he said, and the tape measure crumbled to the floor just then Mr. Potter try this 9 inch beech wood and dragon heart, nice and flexible, just pick it up and shake it.

Harry took the wand and, feeling foolish, waved it a little, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it from his hand almost at the same time, maple and phoenix feather. inches, a pretty quick attempt. Harry tried, but he had barely raised his wand when the lord snatched it from him as well. Ollivander no, no, Evany here and a unicorn here, eight inches, stretchy, go on, try it, Harry tried and tried, he had no idea what mr. Ollivander was waiting for the stack of tried wands to move higher and higher on the thin chair, but more and more the lord.

Ollivander was pulled from the shelves the happier he seemed to become a deceptive customer, hey, don't worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere. Now I'm wondering, yes, why not, an unusual combination of holly and phoenix feather, 11 inches, nice and flexible. Harry took the wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, he raised the wand above his head and spun it through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot out from the end like a fire. artificial casting dancing points of light on the walls. Hagrid shouted and clapped his hands and Mr.

Ollivander cried Oh Bravo, yes, in fact, oh, very good, well, well, how curious, how curious, he put Harry's wand back in its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still mumbling curious, curious, I'm sorry. , said Harry, but how curious, sir. Ollivander fixed his pale gaze on Harry. I remember every wand i ever sold to mr. Potter each wand it happens that the Phoenix whose tail feather is on your wand gave another feather just another one it is very curious that you are destined for this wand when it is brother why did your brother give you that scar Harry swallowed yes thirteen and a half inches he has Curious to know how these things happen the wand chooses the wizard remember I think we should expect great things from you sir.

Potter, after all, he who must not be named did great things, terrible things, yes, but the great Harry shuddered, he wasn't sure he liked mr. Ollivander paid too much, he paid seven gold galleons for his and mr. Ollivander took them out of his tent late in the afternoon. The sun was low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid walked back down Diagon Alley, through the wall, through the leaking cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down. On the road he didn't even notice how many people were gawking at them. We are in the subway.

Loaded as they were with all their funny shaped packages and the sleeping snowy owl in his cage on Harry's lap, they headed up another escalator towards Paddington Station. Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid touched him on the shoulder. He had time to eat something before the train left. He said he bought Harry a hamburger and they sat on plastic seats to eat them. He looked so strange somehow you're okay Harry you're so quiet said Hagrid Harry wasn't sure he could explain that he just had the best birthday ever and still he chewed his burger trying to find the words everyone thinks I'm special he said finally all those people in the drip cauldron Professor Quirrell mr.

Ollivander I don't know anything about magic, how can you expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember why I'm famous. I don't know what happened when Volt, I'm sorry, I mean the night my parents. died Hagrid leaned over the table behind his beard and wild eyebrows he had a very kind smile don't worry Harry you'll learn quickly enough everyone starts from the beginning at Hogwarts you'll be fine just be yourself I know it's hard you've been singled out and that It's always hard, he'll have a great time, eh, I still do. In fact, Hagrid helped Harry onto the train that would take him back to the Dursleys and handed him an envelope with his ticket to Hogwarts. he said first of September Kings Cross is all on your ticket any problem with the doors this send me a letter with your owl she will know where to find me see you soon when the train left the station Harry wanted to keep an eye on Hagrid until he was out of sight He stood up in his seat and pressed his nose against the window but he blinked and Hagrid was gone.

I love that part. I love the night. Those first moments and Diagon Alley are classics. I mean, it's like you really start to get into it. this world and see exactly yes, great, well let's talk about Harry Wright and his great friendship with his schoolmates, yes, Ron and Hermione, we have a question from Alice, who is in year 7 at Werth girls' school in toll here in London and London. services oh ok, how did you first imagine what everyone's relationship with Hermione is like and how it changes? You delved into the books, that's a great question because it goes to the heart of the writing throughout the series.

I mean, some writers say that the character is the plot and to a large extent. To some extent I think they are right, so I gave Harry two friends, two very different friends. Ron loves fun, but Ron is a very loyal person, he is a very human person, in some ways more human than Harry, who is someone who is a hero - a hero is often distinguished slightly not so much as human but as a purified form of a human, they had the one who had to fulfill the mission, so Ron is there as maybe a little more real child with his flaws and his flaws and Ron gets scared and Ron one wonders if we are really going to have He has to do this again, but he is always there by Harry's side and Ron's only problem, which is Ron's problem and sometimes his friends' problem is insecurity.

Ron Ron feels that maybe he's not that good. Like his brothers, he comes from a very large family and then becomes friends with the most famous boy in the wizarding world, so Ron has some problems of his own to solve and, in doing so, goes on his own emotional journey. that's Ron's character and that's Ron's plot, so to speak, and I knew all those things about Ron. At first he knew that was going to be the problem within that friendship, then with Hermione, Hermione gives him Harry, so Harry is a child that he needs. a little fun and gets it wrong.

Harry is also a boy who, although he has been marked for this strange destiny, is someone who doesn't know much and that's where she comes in now, Hermione is all about knowing things right. I give him these two friends who let Harry know that he thinks Hermione is very smart, she not only knows a lot of things, but she also knows where to find a lot of things, so he asks her to take a trip through the books, so Hermione learns to relax a lot largely through Ron's influence Hermione learns that there's more to life than a book, she learns a lesson that she really learns very early on and then she grows a lot as a person so she knew those things about those characters even from the first book and I think I needed it because I would have run out of steam from the beginning if I hadn't given them the potential to grow as people.

What is so compelling as a reader is that you look and feel that this bond developed correctly because Ron and Hermione also challenge Harry a lot and that is what keeps the relationship interesting, since there is conflict within it, as there is with all of them. Human relationships, even the deepest and warmest friendships will be subject to tests and what characterizes a truly great friendship is not that it never had an argument or never saw any conflict, but how you treat those who survived and became more small because you had to be honest in having to find. a way of dealing with those with those difficulties, so yes, the other thing also is that as readers we feel like we are experiencing the journey alongside them and that journey is actually more than just magic, isn't it completely because as we?

I'm saying you know, these are three characters, who's who, without wanting to be cheesy or cheesy, what they really need to learn is themselves and of course they need to learn from each other, but self-knowledge is key and without giving too much away. When we get to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, what the Hallows are and what they represent reveals a lot about the people who seek them, want to use them, and being attracted to a particular relic tells you something about the kind of person you are. . and by the time they get there, Harry Ron and Hermione are equipped to approach such objects and that was an emotional journey that had very little to do with magic, so you're writing these three characters, yes, over an extended period of time, how much of you end up in the three, so I mean, I them, so there's a good argument that says you know that you and the author are in every character that you write, you have to be, you have to understand from the inside what it's for. going on someone, which means you have to put yourself in a lot of different heads with Harry Ron and Hermione absolutely, I'm in all three Harry is a curious character, he's not usually the most popular character in the books for a good reason because he has to Be this looking person and often that person is, as I say, a little less easy to love because their flaws tend not to be run-of-the-mill flaws, but Harry Harry is often the spectator with his eyes on the world and that It gives him a particular power, he's a little bit detached, he has a very lovable quality, but often people who have that detachment are quite unusual and capable of doing things, and most writers have a certain degree of detachment, so If I go away from those three characters, I would say that's the part of me that maybe is in Harry Hermione is easy, I mean, Hermione is an exaggerated version of me without that age, you know, she's not exactly like me, but she certainly I was a very studious girl and I was the girl who would have gone. to the library to look it up, you know, that's how she would have reacted to the challenges of Hogwarts.

I would have gone looking for a book. I'm Ron, there's a lot of Ron and I and a lot of Ron's most basic humor is stuff that would make me laugh. I'm not saying that's the only thing that makes me laugh, but I love Ron's humor and obviously that comes from me. I'm making up the jokes, that's what they are, but you know, as readers, we relate to all of them and in large part because they're somehow dealing with the same things that we're struggling with, definitely one of my favorite comments from a very reader. early and I mean very early, like back in 1997-98, I was a small young man.

The boy was about ten years old and he looked at me and said: I really like this book and I said well, thank you very much. He said that often he doesn't know what's going on and neither do I and that spoke a lot to me. because I think at that age you know I was half joking, but I was serious at the same time and I thought that's perfect, you just summed it up, we all have this sense of mind, the only one that doesn't know what it is. "We've all felt that and I think when you're young and starting a new school, those feelings are never as acute as they were at that moment and you're not always aware of the fact that you're there.

The struggle continues, so it's these issues more important aspects of good versus evil, tolerance versus intolerance, love, hate, all of that permeates his characters and all the characters in the book and the next question from Donnellan Miller's fourth grade class at Peterson Elementary School in Fort Worth. Texas talks about it, let's listen Hello, my name is Mason, did you know when you were writing the books that reading about Harry Ron and Hermione is an experience that would help us face our own challenges Hmm, I know it's a? great question? I probably knew that. I don't know because when you're so in the world you're living it you're feeling it it's to be honest the last thing on your mind is how will anyone read this you're too busy creating it It was only later that I thought, "Wow, you know," when I started getting letters, particularly about harassment. the world to me in the sense that I hope that the people who deal with those problems think well, you know, I'm not alone, some people are just bad and it has nothing to do with me and I have to find a way to navigate through the world. those people because yeah, it was great to hear that, it was a wonderful thing to hear and that's also afirst night quite like I like to draw listening to music is not very exciting answers are that's the truth oh and I love to cook I love to cook yes, I'm baking, yes I love to make you the quality that you admire most in a bag courage yes yes it is yes okay this is the last one of the questionnaire complete the sentence if I wasn't a writer I would be depressed this profession there is nothing else there is simply nothing else I would want to do my youngest daughter said no again not long ago she said mommy if you had to choose between us and writing what you would choose and I said I would choose you but I would be very grumpy hmm thanks for accepting that, it was fun, yes, yes I have many more than we can, I think we can talk, everyone said it.

Harry Potter was a huge success, but you've said it many times, Joe, that getting kids to read has been one of the most rewarding results. of reading the Harry Potter series in 20 years in 50 years in a hundred years when they are still being read, what do you most hope children take away from the experience of reading Harry? What I would most like to think about is what I take away from my favorite books, which is the knowledge that there is always a place you can go, that you love and where you are safe, and that is how I feel about of my favorite books, wherever I am.

I have that book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy, so if that play, that place is Hogwarts for me, then I couldn't feel more honored or more humbled. I think it has made a lot of people happy. Thank you. Thank you for spending time with us and answering these questions. Incredible questions. Really wonderful questions. But thanks for this. gift because it is, it is a gift, it has been a gift for generations of readers and for more to come, and it has been a pleasure for me to be with you here today.

Thank you very much for yes. I really loved it, thank you all for tuning in. We are so pleased that you can join us virtually here in this beautiful city of Edinburgh and remember that for all things Harry Potter you can visit Scholastic comm / HP Reed where you can learn more about the new Harry Potter Book Club Bloomsbury com / Harry Potter and of course the online Harry Potter reading experience at Pottermore comm has many options, but they all lead to the magical world of JK Rowling's Harry Potter. Have a great day and keep reading, thank you.