Ok, this will be my last post before Prophecy 2007.
Something struck me as I was listening to the audio version of Deathly Hallows: Auntie Muriel, 107 years old, speaks of Dumbledore’s past and the mystery of Kendra’s hiding Ariana as though she were present for the whole thing. Rowling said twice, last time in [...]

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The comments sections are filling up with thoughts on Rowling’s two recent interviews.  Here are transcripts and video:

Bloomsbury Chat transcript at Leaky (this has some transcription errors, but you can sort through most of it)
Transcript and video of Dateline interview linked from HPANA

a2a_linkname=”Rowling Interview Transcripts”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://thehogshead.org/2007/07/30/rowling-interview-transcripts/”;
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Rowling is giving answers!  Highlights:

Harry and Ron are aurors and have revolutionized the department
Hermione works in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Neville/Luna is a possibility
The Ministry is a much better place
She meant to write a vague, non-descript Epilogue, because the detailed one she had written was too cluttered - “it didn’t work well as a [...]

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Check it out (HT to Matthew):
On July 21st 2007, I shall be doing a mammoth signing through the night! 1700 Harry Potter fans will have the opportunity of having their copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ signed by me at the Natural History Museum in London. They will receive a free copy of [...]

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When I wrote the post, “Shades of Evil,” I’d no idea Rowling had used that exact phrase in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2000.  Here’s the quote:
You have a choice when you’re going to introduce a very evil character.  You can dress a guy up with loads of ammunition, put a black [...]

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MagicalEnchantment.com continues to be down for the time being, though perhaps not permanently, I’m told, by Johnny, the site’s creator. Johnny’s a guy who does his research when it comes to Rowling, the HP series, and the Christian connections. He’s written another excellent piece and given me permission to post it here at [...]

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If you want to better understand J.K. Rowling as a writer, and as a result better understand Harry Potter, you need to listen to this interview with Stephen Fry (the voice of the UK audio books). Here’s the transcript.
A few gems:
we need to feel fear, and we need to confront that in [...]

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In light of the recent national publicity of Laura Mallory’s case against Harry Potter, I think revisiting Rowling’s words from this interview from July 2000 would be quite appropriate:
Q: Do you believe in witchcraft and have you ever done any witchcraft ?
JKR: No.
Q: What are your feelings towards the people who say your books are [...]

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I’ll freely admit that in my essay, What Happened to Ollivander?, the actual parts about Ollivander are the far-fetched parts. Really, it fills a plot hole - it’s an interesting way to solve a much greater problem lingering in the Harry Potter series, but one that is probably much more ignored in fandom. [...]

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My decision to begin some in-depth work on Albus Dumbledore was inspired by an article on the Headmaster at Red-Hen Publications which has, in my opinion, a combination of excellent insights and a few mistakes. Here is where I take issue:

Albus Dumbledore is one of the very biggest (non-chocolate!) frogs in the very small puddle [...]

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The Royal Society of Literature asked J.K. Rowling and other authors to name their top 10 books that schoolchildren should read (read article).  Basically, this is what JKR thinks you should have read by the time you graduated high school:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
David [...]

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Here are a few news articles on our favorite author.
JK Rowling runs out of paper - apparently she still writes the old-fashioned way.
Let my girls be Hermiones! - JKR slams celebrity culture, especially the ridiculous expectations and pressures put on young women. As someone expecting a daughter in July, I add a hearty, “Amen!”

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JK Rowling fights for abandoned children.

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Even before John Granger came along and pointed us all to the wonderful Christian imagery in Harry Potter, some folks were picking it up. As I was working through the 1999 interviews at Quick Quotes Quill, I stumbled upon this gem:
Master Potter is an orphan forced to live under the stairs by cruel [...]

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J.K. Rowling tackles the debate between fate and free will in the Harry Potter books.

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