As I told you a few days ago JK Rowling recieved an award at the South Bank awards show. There are now an audio and video interviews with the author!

To watch click HERE. And to hear, click HERE.

Thanks STV and UHP!

The South Bank Awards took place at the Dorchester Hotel in London today.  Lord Richard Attenborough presented J.K. Rowling an award for outstanding achievement in the arts in recognition of the Harry Potter series. JKR also did an  interview at the event where she discussed Potter.

“It has been the worst break-up of my life – far worse than splitting up with any man,”

“But it has also been wonderful to stop and draw breath and think, ‘My God, look what’s happened with an idea I had 17 years ago on a train,”

“I think I’ve definitely finished his story. I said seven books and there have been seven,”

You can see pictures from HERE, HERE and HERE at Wire Image, Getty Images and Rex Features respectivley.

Thanks HPANA!

JK Rowling will speak at Harvard on June 5th for the Commencement ceremony.

The author of the mega-bestseller “Harry Potter” series will get a chance to make up for that in June, when she delivers the keynote address at Harvard’s Commencement exercises, the University announced Thursday morning.

“Perhaps no one in our time has done more than J. K. Rowling to inspire young people to experience the excitement and the sheer joy of reading,” said University President Drew G. Faust in the statement.

The University will also grant Rowling— a native of Great Britain whose net worth has been estimated at over $1 billion—an honorary degree at the June 5 ceremony.

Thanks Wizard News!

JK Rowling has been named number 42 in The 50 Greatest British writers since 1945.

Anyone who has witnessed a child lose him or herself in a 700-page Potter book on holiday, ignoring pool, beach and mealtimes, will know that children read them simply because they love them, and because Rowling has an extraordinary ability to hold the reader until the very last page. She has created a world that children want to enter and never leave.

Like all the classic British children’s fantasy writers, Rowling sets the epic firmly in the domestic, everyday world. Yes, she uses some familiar elements (show me the “literary” author who hasn’t borrowed themes from previous literary authors), such as wizards, witches, boarding schools and orphans destined for greatness, but she builds a new and very detailed world out of them. With its satires on politics, education and the media, though, her world is far from simplistic. These are well-told stories that will enthral, amuse, scare and delight children for generations to come.

One to read: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) — because you should always start a good story at the beginning.

Thanks Leaky!

The documentary “JK Rowling… A Year in the Life” that aired earlier today on ITV in the UK is now available on their website.

Watch it HERE!

With unprecedented access, cameras follow author JK Rowling in the year that she completes her publishing phenomenon, the Harry Potter series. The programme captures her return to the sources of her inspiration, and she reveals what she is planning on writing next.

JK Rowling’s Official Site has been updated so the “Room of Requirement” door (click the eraser on her main desk and then clicknthe handle on the door) is open.  You can see a map of the future generations of Harry Potter characters.

Enjoy!