J.K. Rowling stressed the crucial importance of imagination during a speech Thursday at Harvard University's spring commencement, saying, "We do not need magic to transform our world."
The "Harry Potter" author also spoke about the benefit of failure, recalling the humiliations of her time in poverty before her career took off with her string of novels about a bespectacled boy wizard.
Before the speech, some members of Harvard's class of 1936 paid tribute to Rowling by carrying brooms during an alumni procession.
President Drew Gilpin Faust also welcomed witches, wizards and Muggles non-magical people in Rowling's books to the commencement. Faust noted that there was a larger number of young children than normally expected for a Harvard graduation and that she knew she was the just "the warm-up act."
Rowling, who was given an honorary doctor of letters degree, urged the Harvard grads to use their influence and status to speak out on behalf of the powerless.
"We do not need magic to transform our world," she said. "We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to imagine better."
Imagination gives one the ability to empathize with others, she said.
"Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation," Rowling said. "In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity; it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared."
Rowling described a low point seven years after graduating from college, when she was a poor single mother.
"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are ever after secure in your ability to survive," Rowling said. "You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity."
She called such knowledge "a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned."
Source: Movies In Theaters
Sunday, June 8, 2008
At Harvard, Rowling stresses role of imagination
Friday, January 4, 2008
`Harry Potter' Star Donates Eyeglasses
Daniel Radcliffe, who has captivated moviegoers as the bespectacled schoolboy wizard in the Harry Potter films, has donated the first pair of glasses he wore as a child to an exhibition marking the horrors of the Holocaust.
The British actor joins Yoko Ono, talk show host Jerry Springer, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other celebrities and members of the public whose spectacles will be linked together in the shape of a railway track recalling the trains that carried many of the Nazis' victims to concentration camps throughout Europe. An estimated 6 million Jews died.
The exhibition in Liverpool will open Jan. 21. The port city in northwest England will host Britain's Holocaust Day commemorative service on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Muslim leaders are to attend the multicultural service, which is the culmination of a series of lectures, exhibitions, stage shows and musical events recalling the Nazi atrocities and more recent genocides. Jason Isaacs, who stars as the sinister Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" films, will also take part in the service.
The 18-year-old Radcliffe, whose mother is Jewish, sent the oval, gray metal-framed pair of glasses he wore as a 6-year-old.
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Rowling Sues to Block Harry Potter Book
The suit, filed Wednesday by the author and Warner Bros. in federal court in Manhattan, claims that RDR Books will infringe on Rowling's intellectual property rights if it goes ahead with its plan to publish the 400-page "Harry Potter Lexicon" on Nov. 28.
According to the publisher, the book contains much of the same material already found on http://www.hp-lexicon.org, a fan-created collection of essays and encyclopedic material on the Harry Potter universe, including lists of spells and potions found in the books, a catalog of magical creatures, and even a "who's who in the wizarding world."
In the past, Rowling has expressed support for such fan-driven efforts and has singled out the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site and its editor, Steve Vander Ark, for high praise.
But in the lawsuit filed on Halloween Rowling claimed that the print version of the Lexicon would improperly interfere with her plans to write her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, one that would include new material not in the novels.
"I cannot, therefore, approve of 'companion books' or 'encyclopedias' that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors' own personal gain," Rowling said in a statement, released by Warner Brothers.
RDR Books Publisher Roger Rapoport said the suit dismayed him but vowed that he wouldn't allow it to block plans to release the Lexicon next month.
He described the book as a "critical reference work" and dismissed any notion that it could compete with any official encyclopedia written by Rowling.
Rapoport said Vander Ark was a middle school librarian who started the Web site in his spare time in 2000, then watched its popularity grow to the point where Rowling herself gave it a Fan Site Award in 2004.
"He cannot understand why she wouldn't be supportive now," Rapoport said.
Warner Bros. has also involved Vander Ark in its Potter marketing campaigns in the past. An interview with Vander Ark is even slated to be included in the special features section of the next Harry Potter DVD, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
An e-mail seeking comment that was sent to Vander Ark at an address provided on the Web site was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit doesn't seek action against the Web version of the Lexicon, but criticizes it for numerous sections that it said "regurgitate Ms. Rowling's original creative expression with minimal additional commentary."
Source: www.cinema-pedia.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Potter 1st Edition Sells for Nearly $41K
A copy of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel sold at auction Thursday for almost $41,000. The copy of the hardback first edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," published in 1997 and signed "Joanne Rowling" on the back of the title page, was sold to an anonymous private bidder for $40,326 at Christie's auction house.
At a London auction in May, a copy of "Philosopher's Stone" inscribed with a personal dedication to the owner sold for more than $55,000, including buyer's premium.
The book was published by Bloomsbury PLC with an initial print run of about 500 copies. Many were purchased by libraries, making copies in good condition extremely rare.
It was published in the United States in 1998 as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and the boy wizard soon became a publishing phenomenon.
The seventh and final installment in Harry's adventures, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," was published in July. The seven books have sold nearly 400 million copies and have been translated into 64 languages.
Source: www.cinema-pedia.com
Saturday, October 20, 2007
J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character
After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.
She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."
"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."
"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."
Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore,
noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.
Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.
Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."
Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.
Source: www.cinema-pedia.com