On the one hand it’s fantastic that a book author has such fame. It’s sad that she’s the only woman. What’s with all the rich dudes?
On the other hand there appears to be weird human nature that takes over when someone gets that rich.
I wonder if Malcolm Gladwell has written about the tipping point for wealth and fandom support? Is there a point where fans start to negatively react to the wealth they’ve amassed for someone else? Is this what happened to Microsoft?
J.K. Rowling, my favourite author of Harry Potter, has released book of handwritten fairy tales. It’s up for auction at London Sotheby’s with a starting bid of $60,000. The proceeds go to the Children’s Voice Foundation, a charity that works with child victims of neglect and abuse in Eastern Europe.
SOME SPOILERS HERE.
No photos were allowed. I haven’t had a chance to proofread this, sorry, but I wanted to post before my brain flaked out—ran out of time on that ...
October 23 I was in Toronto at the Winter Garden Theatre for JK Rowling’s only Canadian stop on her Open Book Tour. The Winter Garden Theatre is a magical place worthy of a Harry Potter setting. The balcony is adorn with tree branches and little glass lanterns hang from the ceiling. The boxes are decorated like a garden trellis and there’s a golden moon hanging over the corner of the stage.
There was a single, high-backed chair in the middle of the stage where JK Rowling sat.
She read for about 20 minutes—the part where Ron returns. I loved her reading and could have happily sat there all day listening to her. Rowling has definitely become a very confident reader. Her voice sounds strong and she does slight accents for each of the characters. It was fantastic.
Neil, her husband, was in the audience.
After Rowling read, she answered 12 questions from the audience. The 12 questioners were people who had won the Raincoast contest. I don’t remember her answers word for word, but here’s what I recall.
1. How did she come up with the idea for Quidditch?
JK Rowling laughed and said that she came up with the idea after a row with an ex-boyfriend. She came up with the idea of bludgers in particular.
She later said that Quidditch was definitely invented by a woman. Women are multi-taskers and Quidditch is a multi-task game. There’s more than one ball, it’s not like male games where there’s just one ball.
Rowling told a little story about the poor guy from Warner Brothers who had to figure out how to film Quidditch. He told her it doesn’t make sense.
2. Does Albus Porter ever see the portraits of his namesakes?
JK Rowling said that yes, as soon as he was in trouble, Albus would have been in the headmaster’s office and would have an opportunity to see the portraits of both Albus and Severus.
Quite the name, Albus Severus.
3. Asked by a boy who won the contest on the first day: Which part was the most difficult to write?
Character: Dobby
Jo quipped that Graham Green said “all authors must have a chip of ice in their heart”. She’s referring to writing Dobby’s death, which was so sad.
Rowling also said that the chapter where Harry marches to what he believes is his death was the hardest to write. She cried and cried. Um, I don’t think she was the only one. That was the worst thing to read ever. I was sobbing and had to take a break because I truly believed that was the end of Harry.
4. If you could be and animagus what would you be?
Rowling said that that is the fun thing about doing all the work to be an animagus—you don’t know what you’ll end up as. James was a stag but Peter was a rat—that should have tipped off his friends, no?
She said that if she could choose it would be an otter because she loves them, and that’s what she chose for Hermione. But she suspects that she’d be a big dog.
5. A librarian asked what books would be good for boy readers
Rowling said that although the Harry Potter series inspired boys to read that wasn’t her intention specifically. She was writing what she wanted to write.
She did tell a story about Bloomsbury asking her to be JK Rowling instead of Joanne because they felt the books would appeal to boys more if her name was ambiguous. Jo said they could have asked her to take the name Snotgrass and she would have because she was just so happy to have someone wanting to publish her work. When they asked her to use her initials though there was a slight problem, she did not have a middle name. She had to choose a middle name so she decided on Kathleen, after her favourite grandparent.
6. What magical object is her favourite?
Dumbledore’s pensive, and I have to agree. I’d love to own one.
Rowlling said it’s a fantastic way to go back into the past.
7. I can’t recall this question exactly but it was something about the encyclopedia.
Rowling said, yes the encyclopedia is coming but not for a while. She wants to do another book for charity. And she’d like a little break after Harry.
She did answer that George was going to be ok after the loss of Fred and that although Ron initially goes to the aurors office, he’s likely to go to help George in the shop.
8. Any advice for a budding celebrity?
A strange question to be sure. Who knows they are going to be a celebrity, let alone a budding celebrity? Anyway, Rowling said she never dreamt of being a celebrity. She said that we shouldn’t be seduced by celebrity and fame, unless that’s exactly what you’re after, but it’s about choice. She also joked that Paris is not returning her calls. Someone in the audience shouted out that she should.
It was a strange answer to a strange question but the basic sentiment was that Rowling is quite pleased with her money and celebrity but she choses to live a rather quite life and wants to avoid the pitfalls of celebrity.
9. How do you want to be remember 100 years from now?
Rowling said she was love to think that we’ll still be reading Harry Potter 100 years from now and that it would be great if we grow up and decide to read Harry to our kids.
10. Any regrets?
Plot and character-wise no. Chamber of Secrets and Order of the Phoenix were difficult to write because she had to be diffuse, but no regrets. There are times where she overused words and that makes her mad but really no regrets.
11. Is Malfoy in debted to Harry because Harry saved him from Crabbe’s fire?
Rowling said that no, Malfoy is not magically in Harry’s debt. Harry saving Malfoy is just an embarrassing mutual connection, which we get a peak at in the epilogue. Malfoy will resent Harry forever, in the same way that Snape and James resent each other.
12. If Harry Potter didn’t take off, what would she be doing?
“Weeping softly in a dark room.”
Rowling said that if the book was never published then she’d likely be teaching and writing. If it was published but didn’t become a success she would have still been delighted.
After the questions, we were called up row by row to have our books signed.
When it was my turn I told JK Rowling “thank you for coming to Canada”. I also said she was wearing a great pair of boots. “Prada!”
She was looking mighty sexy for a kids author. Rowling was wearing a brown shirt dress with brown Prada boots. She looked lovely. She signed my book. I skipped off the stage.
It was a great event and I am thrilled to pieces that I was able to go.
James and I landed in Vancouver last night at 10:30 pm and I’ve slept, unpacked, repacked, done the web check-in and I am now off to Toronto to meet JK Rowling tomorrow.
Aside from feeling jetlagged and dreading getting on yet another airplane, I am dead excited.
My ticket was in my pile of mail when I got home. There is a line drawing of a golden snitch on my instruction sheet!
I’ll be in the Winter Garden Theatre tomorrow listening to Ms. JK Rowling!
There are some reports on her US tour with very interesting tidbits of info about Dumbledore, Christianity and Neville.
I don’t have time to give you the scoop on what Rowling has revealed in the US so far, but check out The Leaky Cauldron news feed.
I met JK Rowling in 2000 when she made her first visit to Canada. She came to the Raincoast offices and met each and every one of us. Then we all went to the Pacific Coliseum to hear her read and chat to the kids.
WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m just getting on a plane for Toronto but here’s the Raincoast Harry Potter News Alert that I received just now:
J.K. Rowling will be making an appearance in Canada this fall! J.K.
Rowling will be appearing at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto on
October 23 for an all-ages event sponsored by Raincoast Books and hosted
by the International Festival of Authors. J.K. Rowling will offer a short
reading from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, answer questions from
her fans and sign complimentary copies of the final book in the Harry
Potter series for every fan in attendance. The event will begin at
10:00AM.
There will be no tickets for sale and numbered and assigned seats will
only be available through random draws.
Beginning at 9:00AM Pacific on Monday September 17, Raincoast will be
holding an online sweepstakes for lucky fans, ages seven and older, to win
one of one hundred pairs of tickets to the J.K. Rowling Comes to the
Winter Garden Theatre event. Raincoast will draw ten pairs of tickets per
day for ten days, excluding weekends, from September 17 though September
28. For full details please go to: http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/.
The IFOA, working with The Ontario Library Association (OLA) and their
sister organisation, The Partnership (The Provincial and
Territorial Library Associations of Canada), will also be making hundreds
of tickets available for fans across Canada. Seating at the event will be
capped at 950 attendees.
“J.K. Rowling has always given priority to her fans,” said Allan
MacDougall, CEO of Raincoast Books, “and we and the IFOA have tried to
plan an event that reflects her values. The Winter Garden event will be
intimate, interactive and something that her Canadian fans will never
forget. We are thrilled to have her in Canada again.”
——————————————————————————-
Raincoast Books of Vancouver is the joint publisher of Harry Potter series
in Canada in conjunction with Bloomsbury Plc of London. Since first being
published in 1997, the seven books in Harry Potter series have sold over
350 million copies worldwide and over 11 million copies in Canada. The
trip next month will mark the second occasion that J.K. Rowling has
travelled to Canada. In October 2000, she made appearances in Vancouver
and Toronto.
Remember my little site http://www.sinceharry.com well since I’m flying hither and tither, post on the site for me or post comments here if you are as excited as I am.
And in the post or comment answer this question: what has happened in your life since first reading Harry Potter?
For those of you who’ve asked for details about the Harry Potter Party at VanDusen Garden. Here they are.
We arrived and lined up along with thousands of other wizards along 37th. The line was huge. At one point some muggle or another with a megaphone started telling people he had the words of the next Harry Potter book. Did we want to hear it. The resounding answer was no. Go peddle madness elsewhere.
At 11 pm, the doors to the garden opened and the line was ushered through. We passed all sorts of secret wizard police dressed in traffic-directing gear. The path into the clearing was lit with orange twinkle lights. When we arrived at the end of the path we were met with the sight of thousands already gathered in the garden’s centre. There were little white tents around the outside of the circle. Each tent was numbered and decorated as a Ministry of Magic door.
There were also tents for refreshments—water or Happy Planet drinks—as well as ginger cookies and lots of candies. One tent had a stage and a wizard band. There were stilt walkers and dragons and costumes and lots of umbrellas because it was raining.
At midnight we had a big countdown and then the tent doors were opened.
I know I described all this before, but here it is again, in case I missed anything the first time. And for those of you not satisfied with photos, here’s a video.
My mother just called to find out what I’m wearing to the party tonight. We’re going to the Van Dusen Gardens to the biggest Harry Potter party in Vancouver.
I’ve gone to every single Kidsbooks party for Harry Potter. Not only do they do the best facade for their store, they do the best party.
I always want a pristine copy of the book but they put a sticker on the cover. With each book, the sticker is different so I’ve taken to collecting those, as well as the adult editions and then another kids edition, just so I have one with a clean jacket cover.
I know. It’s a bit much.
But I can’t tell you how much I’m dreading the end of this series. In many ways I’m so excited that another book is here. In other ways, I’m fairly certain that Harry’s life will end with the books. (I haven’t read any spoilers so don’t say if you know.)
I just finished book 6 an hour ago and I’m now wandering around the house demanding James help me find my lightning bolt tattoos. I have a small stack of them ... somewhere.
He’s quite patient with my Harry obsession, and I know that for the next 24 hours, he’s going to leave me alone as much as possible so that I can read the book and get it over with. I used to savour Harry. Now I devour him so that no one can spoil the end for me. I do, however, read them over and over again looking for the clues I missed the first time around.
Again, I know. It’s a book. I’m an adult.
There are people who wear spock ears. I roll my eyes at them, yet if I could just find those tattoos.
The magic of Harry Potter for me is this collective experience. Going to a bookstore with thousands of people (no exaggeration) and getting excited about a story that we all know and have been anticipating for 2 years. We’ve speculated. We’ve searched for spoilers and theories, and now this is it. It’s exciting.
How many things do we do en masse anymore? Things together, regardless of age group. How often can you be silly and excited and run around in the dark listening to wizard music and pretending you can do magic?
This is it.
My mother is attaching the sequince lightning bolt to her cloak right now.
Since 1997, when J.K. Rowling published the first Harry Potter book, the Philosopher’s Stone has been compromised, the Chamber of Secrets has been re-opened, the prisoner of Azkaban has turned out to be Harry Potter’s godfather, the Goblet of Fire has become a portkey that tricks Harry Potter and brings him to Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix have reconvened to fight the Death Eaters, the Half-Blood Prince has saved Harry at potions but has destroyed a beloved friend ... and now we’re at the Deathly Hallows. The eve where the thin veil between the muggle world and the magic world disappears.
Tonight, at midnight, is the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
For many it is the end of a 10-year saga. For early fans of the book, Harry has gone from 11 to 17. He’s had his first kiss, he’s watched friends die, he’s had to make hard choices, he’s made the strongest friendships imaginable. For fans, some have gone from having the book read to them as children to graduating high school. They too have had first kisses, fights with friends, perhaps had family or friends die, and have had to make tough choices. For others, children have grown up and left home, there have been marriages, divorces, graduations, babies, retirement, happy times and sad times.
Ten years of Harry Potter—magic, madness and Pottermania—are coming to a close.
How will you remember this time? What’s happened in your life since 1997? If you’re a fan of the books, what’s happened in your life since Harry?
UPDATE:
As of July 20, 2007: Early response to the survey shows that of 100 respondents:
* 86.8% had read at least one Harry Potter book
* 28.3% started reading Harry Potter in 1998
* 33% are planning to attend a midnight party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
* 74% are planning to buy the book vs. borrow it from a library or friend (11%) or not read the book at all (15%)
In response to “What’s happened in your life since 1997”, the following life events are the most common:
* 72.6% travelled
* 71.6% changed jobs
* 66.3% saw all the Harry Potter movies
* 65.3% had a death in the family or of a friend
* 59% learned to pronounce Hermione
* 57.9% have gotten excited about a book launch
* 55.8% started a blog
It was a warm summer day in 1998 when I read my first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I was working as an intern in the catalogue department at Raincoast Books. We were struggling to get a more prominent display in our Spring catalogue for the 3 Harry Potter books.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was being published in the spring and the books were doing ok in BC. Vancouver Kidsbooks was selling them like hot cakes and begging us to print more. But the East coast and Toronto reps were unsure. The enthusiasm for the books hadn’t reached their territory.
We decided to put the book image on the front cover of the catalogue.
I was sick of hearing about Harry Potter. The UK press coverage billed J.K. Rowling as an up-and-coming writer, the kids were posting online about how awesome the books were, we were brainstorming how to help series along. I was tired of hearing about Harry Potter and never having read a chapter.
With the teen fiction I was promoting, I would read the first chapter, if it was good, I’d read the full book. If it was bad, I’d read a middle chapter, scan a couple of other pages and read the last chapter. That was my plan for Harry Potter.
My bus ride was an hour long, lots of time to decide if Harry Potter was good or bad. When I walked into Raincoast that morning, I told them that I couldn’t do any work. Harry Potter was stuck in the dungeon and I needed to see what was going to happen.
I was hooked.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone wasn’t the best writing that I’d ever read, but it was definitely fun. There was something captivating about the characters, poor Harry trapped in the cupboard under the stairs.
Since that morning in 1998 I have changed jobs at least 5 times; I’ve started my own business; I’ve joined Harry Potter fan sites, attended midnight parties and been fuelled by the excitement of so many kids (young and old) dressed up as wizards; and I’ve fallen deeper into Pottermania than I thought possible.
The friendships that I’ve gained because of the books have been deeper than I expected. This is the book series that I feel most passionate about. I hide that passion because when I worked at Raincoast I didn’t want my “outside” friends to badger me about the stories or inside-scoops they thought I might have. Now as the series comes to a close I want to celebrate the fun times that have been the last 10 years.
If you’re a Harry Potter reader, take my survey, see what kinds of experiences we’ve collectively shared during our time with the books. I’ll post the results on SinceHarry.com.
Plain Words, Uncommon Sense A blog on books, writing, tap dancing, technology, and the other amusements of Monique Sherrett (or Monique Trottier in unmarried form).
Monique Sherrett lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is a litblogger, among other things. Find out more ...
"So misguided." A comment often uttered in my eclectic salon.
Contact
Send me book galleys, ARCs or review copies. Contact me at monique at somisguided dot com Contact me at Boxcar Marketing
