A Salute To JK Rowling

Instead, she told an interviewer, she wrote from the heart and from instinct: “I really don’t know where the story came from.  It started with Harry, then all these situations and characters came  flooding into my head.” The books mixed high-spirited storytelling with darker issues like growing up, being afraid, and saying goodbye to someone you love.  (Rowling’s mother, who had battled multiple sclerosis, died while the author was writing the first Potter book.) The addictive page turners, which were translated into 65 languages, also got kids reading when they might have been playing video games.  One banner at the movie’s London premiere read, “Harry Potter taught me to read and I came from Brazil just to thank him today!”  Rowling hasn’t been crystal-clear about what she wants to do next.  And the next step for a writer who’s had an extraordinary commercial success can be tricky.  But Rowling’s already moving on to a digital project called Pottermore, a website that will be partly designed by Harry Potter fans and,  Rowling says, will give them new ways to enjoy the books.  (So far, she hasn’t published any Potter e-books.) In any case, Rowling hasn’t ruled out anything for the future – including a return to the magical world she created.  “It’s my baby,” Rowling has said. “And if I want to take it out and play again, I will.”