Newsround interview - 27 April 2001 with Lizo of Newsround, BBC


Lizo: What's your reaction to winning this award?

JKR: It's fabulous, I'm deeply honoured that people bothered to turn out 
and vote for books in these numbers so it's wonderful.

Lizo: The Harry Potter books have won lots of awards in the past, obviously, 
what does make this one different?

JKR: I think that, I mean it's from the readers isn't it?  It's readers 
saying what they want to read and I'm just impressed that people took the 
time and trouble to vote, it's wonderful.

Lizo: Was Book 4 the hardest one to write so far?

JKR: Oh yes, definitely, by far, it was a nightmare.

Lizo: Why?

JKR: It was...actually it was completely because of the book ...it's a big
book as everyone knows and the plot was particularly complex, and I got 
half-way through the book and realised there was an enormous hole in the plot,
which is never pleasant for a writer. And so it just involved an awful lot of 
work. It really was quite a pressured time But it is my favourite book. 
In fact the two books that were hardest to write, 2 and 4, are my favourites 
of the series so far.

Lizo: And how do you feel about the amazing reaction all over the world to the 
two Comic Relief books?

JKR: Oh that's really fantastic, I don't think I've ever been so...um...it was 
pure invention with none of the hardships that are involved in plot and
characterisation and so on. So it wasn't like writing a novel, it was just 
pure frivolity and I enjoyed writing them so much. And it was something 
that...I was able to use all this extra information I had that I never thought 
I'd be able to cram into a novel because after all you can't tell the reader 
absolutely everything, much as we'd all like to. So it was a way of using that 
material which otherwise never would have been published.

Lizo:I mean there's lots of great bits of information in there...

JKR: Yeah...

Lizo: ...I was particularly interested in the bit about the Kneazle, is 
Crookshanks possibly... uh, have any Kneazle...?

JKR: Yes, part-Kneazle yes, he is, yes, well-spotted.

Lizo: And is that important...?

JKR: Well, you'll just have to keep reading, won't you Lizo?

Lizo: You're writing book five at the moment, are you enjoying writing the 
Order of the Phoenix?

JKR: I'm loving it. I've never stopped loving the writing, never, it's still 
my very favourite thing to do. A close second though is meeting children who read 
the books which I suppose is a throwback to teaching, I still enjoy contact with 
people of that age.

Lizo: Now, we already know there's going to be a female Defence Against the Dark 
Arts teacher in book 5, what other little bits and pieces could you possibly tell 
us, just to whet our appetites?

JKR: Um...Harry visits a few places that have been mentioned in the books but 
we've never got inside before. And I think that's as far as I'm prepared to go 
because people second-guess me so much and then there are rumours all over the 
Internet and everything get mad. So, um, yes, he visits places other than Diagon 
Alley and Hogwarts. People will be able to guess, I'm sure.