Reliable JKR Biography Info

[plinsenmayer]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6923
From: plinsenmayer
Subject: Reliable JKR Biography Info
Date: 8/15/00 5:03 pm  (ET)

Hi:

Ebony said: <<<Again, I repeat: where can you find accurate biographical
information on Rowling? I feel quite embarrassed for thinking the
unauthorized bio contained legitimate information. I don't follow much
JKR/HP-related press offline--for one thing, I don't have the time. As
for the book 4 title being inaccurate, this may not be entirely the
author's fault. If you look at the inside front cover, the copyright
date is 1999.>>>

I agree that the author could be forgiven the inaccurate title re GoF,
particularly if that were one of few errors. However, I think the
rush to the press was motivated by a desire to cash in all the HP hype
surrounding the release of Book 4. And, the book is replete with errors,
so I'm less forgiving. <g>

Anyway, your question about good & reliable JKR info. Well, I'll preface
by saying that the *only* sources out there are published interviews &
this bio. Since the bio's author didn't make any attempt to address
inconsistencies within interviews that he was relying on, I put it at
the bottom of my list. In general, I think interviews where she actually
spoke to the author of the article are the most reliable. So:

1. I highly recommend the spread on JKR & the HP books in "Book" magazine
(May/June 2000). While the author does not seem to have spoken directly
to JKR herself, it does seem to be thoroughly researched. The author
did speak to one of her editors at Bloomsbury, others at Bloomsbury, her
agent Christopher Little & someone from the Scottish Arts Council. The
timeline included with this article seems to jive with most everything
else I've read. The article is well-written & *appears* to be considerably
more reliable than the unauthorized bio.

2. Newsweek's exclusive interview with JKR in its 10 July 2000 issue is
also very well-written and has the added advantage that JKR sanctioned
the interview (and hopefully the final product). There's a JKR timeline in
this article too -- it meshes with the one in the Book magazine article.

3. There's a great interview from The London Times (30 June 2000) --
again the author spoke to JKR. I printed it from the internet, but I
just checked the Yahoo HP news section

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Entertainment/Harry_Potter/index.html

They don't have it online there anymore. If you can't find it, email me &
I'll mail you a copy if you're interested.

4. I also have a transcript of JKR's interview on "60 Minutes" (September
1999). I got it online also (www.elibrary.com). If you can't find that
one -- I can mail it to you also.

5. The Time magazine (coverstory) on HP & JRK (20 Sept 1999) is also
fantastic & equally reliable (seemingly).

Enjoy!!!

Penny