BBC reports that J.K. Rowling is one of 10 Literacy Heros as chosen by the National Literacy Trust. She and the other nine honorees were chosen for helping to boost literacy or promote a love of reading. Rowling was chosen for turning a generation of children into readers.
The organisers say each was picked because of the impact they have had on a community’s reading and writing skills, or because they have overcome literacy problems of their own.
Jodie Evans, an Oxfordshire pupil who overcame her own literacy issues to become a school library champion
Lisa Yong Hui Li, a secondary school student who judges said had made “amazing achievements” with English as her second language
Ruth Gasson, a librarian who has helped disadvantaged youngsters improve their literacy
School librarian Lyn Hopson, from Doncaster, who runs schemes to promote a love of reading among young people
Leeds teaching assistant Velda Jackson
Richard O’Neill, a Romany gypsy author and storyteller who works in schools to improve literacy among traveller pupils
English teacher Caroline Thain, from Aberdeen
An unnamed prisoner from The Mount jail who is involved with a project called Storybook Dads, where parents in prison can record themselves reading a book to their children
[Henry Winkler, who is dyslexic and has written books about a schoolboy with learning difficulties.]
They were nominated by the public and chosen by a panel including authors Joanna Trollope, Cressida Cowell and Dorothy Koomson, entrepreneur Levi Roots, actor, comedian and writer Miles Jupp, and columnist Lucy Mangan.
Director of the National Literacy Trust, Jonathan Douglas, said the winners had all “made inspiring and significant strides to improve their own literacy or create positive opportunities for others. Literacy Heroes and reading role models have never been more important at a time when our research shows that children’s reading performance is declining, children are reading less and are holding more negative attitudes towards reading,” he said.
Last night J.K. Rowling held a fundraising event for her charity, Lumos, at the Harry Potter Studio Tour where a bunch of Harry Potter cast and crew attended. Emma Watson, Evanna Lynch, Warwick Davis, Alan Rickman and David Heyman all showed their support for the author. Photos of the stars at the event may be viewed over at SnithSeeker. Sky News interviewed Rowling at the event where she discussed the charity as well as the success of Harry Potter.
“As far back as 2000 I knew I would never top Harry Potter. I knew that before the series ended. If you’ve had the kind of success that you never expected you can think ‘oh no, how dreadful I’ll never ever top that’, or you can say ‘how incredibly marvellous and liberating that I made money beyond my wildest dreams and that I can affect issues I really care about’.”
Of the charity’s mission, which states “No child should be denied a family life because they are poor, disabled or from an ethnic minority. Lumos works to support the 8 million children in institutions worldwide to regain their right to a family life and to end the institutionalisation of children,” Rowling says:
“There are eight million children globally being raised in institutions and everything we know about institutionalisation tells us it is harmful to children’s physical and mental health. Drug taking and suicide are more likely and a lot of these children may be trafficked or end up in the sex trade. To take a child from their family we know must be damaging, it’s the worst thing you can do to a child.”
She added: “These themes are in the Harry Potter books. Voldemort […] was himself raised in an institution so, spookily, it was something I was very much thinking about. But we’ve started where the situation is particularly acute in Eastern Europe where there has been a cultural acceptance of institutionalisation that thankfully in the UK we’ve really overcome.”
It has been announced this morning that Harry Potter producer David Heyman will indeed be producing the new Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series! He confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly at the premiere of his film, Gravity, yesterday evening.
[…] said that Rowling hasn’t turned in a finished script just yet, but that “Jo is at work” and tremendously excited about the project. “She’s not doing it for any other reason other than she loves the world and she had a story that she wanted to tell,” he said.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” he continued. “She doesn’t have to go back to this world, but something pulled her back. This is not Harry Potter. This is not Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This is a separate story within a universe related to the Potter universe.”
When asked about which creatures we might see in the film — you better believe I brought up quintapeds and lethifolds — Heyman demured. “We follow Newt on his adventures,” he said, grinning.
The producer said Rowling has no shortage of plot ideas for Fantastic Beasts because she knows Newt Scamander’s history so thoroughly — after all, she created him. “The fact that she’s going to this world means there are stories to tell,” he said. “When I was doing the Harry Potters, what was clear to me is that Jo’s knowledge of this world is infinite. What you read in the books was just the surface of her knowledge. She had notebook upon notebook of stuff. I would call her and say, ‘What’s the sixth use of dragon’s blood?’ and she’d have it at her fingertips.”
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed some new information about how J.K. Rowling decided to screen-write the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them films and what her involvement will be. According to the article, Rowling said that without WB exec Kevin Tsujihara, the deal would not have happened. The article also revealed that sources are saying talks are ongoing with David Heyman to produce the films.
The Rowling deal, more than a year in the making, calls for the author herself to write the screenplay for the first film in a series that will center on Newt Scamander, a Hogwarts alum and author of the go-to textbook Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (which makes several appearances in the existing Potter canon). Tsujihara flew to the U.K. several times since the spring to meet with Rowling, who sparked to his demeanor.
“Kevin handled himself really well,” says Ken Kleinberg, Rowling’s L.A.-based attorney, who negotiated the deal with her U.K. agent, Neil Blair. “He was a great listener, and he conveyed sincerity and concern.” Tsujihara’s wooing of the demanding author took some studio insiders by surprise. Many didn’t think celebrity schmoozing was part of his skill set.
[…] Robinov, who is negotiating his exit from the studio, played a key early role in smoothing out a rights issue (Warners had movie rights to characters from the Potter universe but not Newt Scamander).
For Rowling, the most important issue was creative control‚ not an easy ask for a first-time screenwriter. Sources say Warners cannot hire someone else to rewrite her script without her approval — a gamble for the studio and a departure from the Potter films, which were written by such seasoned scribes as Steve Kloves and Michael Goldenberg. Rowling also has script approval on subsequent Fantastic Beasts films.
Hypable‘s Andrew Sims had the chance to talk to Harry Potter producer David Heyman today about his newest project, Gravity, and also asked about the new Potter spin-off. He did not say if he was involved in the film, but it sure sounds like he’s invested in it. According to Hypable:
Pressing on, we asked him what his feelings are from the perspective of a fan. “As a fan, as a filmmaker, I am really… really… really excited,” Heyman said to Hypable in what are the first comments from the Harry Potter franchise’s creative team. “She’s a great storyteller, and I’m sure this will be something really great. She wouldn’t do it otherwise – she doesn’t need to do it.”
At least, she doesn’t need to do it because Warner Bros. asked her. He continued, “She’s doing it because she needs to do it because she has a story to tell.”
“It’s going to be very good. I assure you,” he added. Those are big words from one of the closest people connected to the Harry Potter movies.
It has just been announced that J.K. Rowling will be writing the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as part of a new creative partnership with Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts is going to be part of a series as well as a new video game, consumer products and integrated into their digital initiatives businesses. Of the screenplay Rowling said:
Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.
Warner Bros will also be the distributor for the BBC series “The Casual Vacancy,” based on her best-selling first novel aimed at adult audiences. The miniseries begins production in 2014. The full press release may be read by clicking more.
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