In The News
JK Rowling Writing New Children's Book in Cafes Again
J.K. RowlingAs readers will recall, author J.K. Rowling has stated several times recently that she is at work on two new projects, one for adults and one for children. The Telegraph has more today on Jo’s efforts with the new book for children, with a brief interview where Jo says she is returning again to write in cafes, just as she did writing the Harry Potter series. Quotage:
“I will continue writing for children because that’s what I enjoy,” reveals Jo, who greatly misses the child wizard. “It’s left me with the biggest emptiness in my life.” She will, however, leave behind the magical world of Hogwarts. “I believe that it’s good for me and good for my readers that I bring myself to work on something different,” she declares.
In a search for inspiration, Jo discloses that she has returned to the Edinburgh cafes where she completed her first novel while unemployed and living on benefits: “I am very good at finding a suitable cafe. I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don’t sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me. In 90 per cent of cases, it’s the cafe’s staff who allow me to work without being bothered.”
On a related note, the worst sort of Muggles or Death Eaters have been out and about recently, as vandals have apparently made off with one of two plaques at the cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland where she wrote much of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s) Stone. The Scotsman reports:
Staff at the Buffet King restaurant on Nicolson Street, which used to be Nicolson’s Cafe, said a small brass plaque dedicated to the city author had been taken from the front entrance…One restaurant worker said:”It is only a small plaque and we didn’t even know it had been stolen until someone pointed it out to us.We haven’t contacted the police about it. It’s probably a waste of time for them to even try and find out who stole it.”The city’s culture leader, Deidre Brock, said: “I am hopeful that it is found and put back soon.” The plaque was one of two set up on the street in honour of the writer. The other – which was unveiled by the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust in 2006 – is still in place, fixed to the outside of the building.
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Yay! She’s writing another book—as we knew she would :) It’s too bad about the plaque though… :(
Chris, agreeing with Rachel, get a life, you heartless leech!
I think that she hit pay dirt on this magic thing, and she hasn’t wrote anything since. What I am surpost to believe. Harry Potter books were her first books, so she doesn’t past books that I can look at and say, “Wow, she write other stuff besides Harry Potter. If she is completely burn out of writting Harry Potter (which I think she is, because of the 7th book that was crap), I blame the crazy fans, who demanded her to write as fast as she can! YOU know who you are! In closing, I would just like to say that this woman has written a GREAT series, and she has been rewarded for it…but she has done NOTHING to make me think that this wasn’t a fluke!
OMG, Lynn… Why don’t you bother somebody else, and not a woman who (as you say) has written a GREAT series
If you think she is great, then you must know that she will write another book as great as HP series. You’ll see!
Just get a life, don’t bother her and their fans!
Lynn… she’s working on something right now! As this article quite obviously says! How can you possibly claim she ” hasn’t wrote anything since”? It hasn’t even been a year since HP7 was published! Only the “crazy fans who demand her to write as fast as she can” would expect her to have another book out by now… your argument makes no sense at all.
I think Beedle the Bard show’s she’s not a one-trick-pony.
I’m glad to see she’s back in her element.
The anarchist in me would love to see the plaque mysteriously returned, but full of grafitti wishing her well, like the sign at the Potters’ at Godric’s Hollow. :)
I’m still holding out hope that one day Jo will think to write, besides the Scottish Book, all 30 Tales of Beedle the Bard…
Chris I absolutely agree with you! She has a family and says that to say goodbye to potter left her with a great emptiness. That is heartless not pointing it out!
Secunda, if you hate HP/JKR so much as this point, why are you always on Leaky? Just wondering. If it were me, I’d occupy my time with something that actually made me happy.
Oh it makes me happy to be here! It´s interesting, you see. I was so deep in this whole HP-thing that I can´t ignore it, I was part of this mystification of Jo. I just have a different view on it now.
Lynn and Secunda are both a bit right, actually. Evidently, jo has talent, and it’s logical that with a work as huge as HP she hasn’t written anything else (that we know of, that she’s told us about) during those years. Yet given that HP is her only published work up to date, she does have yet to prove she’s not a one trick pony. It’s absolutely safe to assume, as she herself has stated, that she won’t ever publish something as huge and fenomenal as the HP series. But can she produce something as good? She’s great at plot twist and red herrings, but she’s also shown that she stinks at writing romance. Will she stick to her strengths ? Will she polish her weaknesses? That is what we’re anxious to see.
Lynn takes pleasure in insulting people any way she can. I don’t think that she has ever posted a nice comment. She has attempted to insult me on multipul occasions….just ignore her.
I find it really amazing that Jo is still writing if cafes. It really just brings it all full circle and I wish her the best of luck. I know that I will read anything that she writes, if it is good or not!
why don’t mrs rowling write a book about harry potter ’s life after the dark lord die’d just before he gets married so we can have a idea for once the happy life with the weezlee family and then getting older before father hood or somthing like that becouse 19 years a long gap , all the harry potters are good time reading books but that long gap should be filled in don’t you think
I have to laugh at those who seriously believe that Rowling’s statement, “It’s left me with the biggest emptiness of my life,” means she is being heartless. I don’t think you have any idea what writing HP has meant to her. She created and lived HP for 10 years. It was part of her every day life, not to mention how it changed her life tremendously for such a long time, that to have that end…it’s almost like losing a part of yourself. She’s not saying that her family isn’t important here. Are any of us simply defined by our roles of wife, mother, student, child, employee? She’s a writer, a creator. When that all of a sudden ends, you can’t help but feel like part of you is empty, that something is missing. Those who are artists, musicians, writers, teachers can relate to this I believe. (I certainly can)
As far as whether her next book will be good, better, worse, whatever, only time will tell. Hopefully, fans won’t shred it to pieces if it isn’t “HP-worthy.” I do feel sorry for her in a way because there are many who will never look at it as a work standing on its own merits. It will be mercilessly compared to HP and will never be good enough in the eyes of many. She’s one brave woman…I don’t think I’d have the guts to write again if I ever wrote even one successful book. Personally, I’m looking forward to it and wish her much success.
The way I see it is that no matter what Jo decides to do in the future it is the critics and fans who will compare her work to Harry Potter and measure it up to “no good” Completely unfair but unfortunately it is reality. I think she would do better to completely switch genres in her writing and dabble a bit in some smaller pieces for a while. Let the Harry Potter hoopla calm down and then I think the world will be more ready to accept a full blown novel.
And since the “one trick pony” thing has come up , let’s look at the situation. Jo went from a struggling young mother of no note to internationally famous author. I’d say Jo has done quite nicely….more than lots of people I know could say for themselves. The reality is most who find themselves on welfare or public housing stay there and that is the truth. If it took Harry to save her and in return she has catapulted his story to beyond fame that should all that is needed. How many times in our life do we need to do only what gets us through the bad times? Jo isn’t required to give us any more work. She didn’t wake up one day with some esoteric idea that she was going to be part of the literati and create the “grand book” and it will be her life’s calling. She wrote Harry to save herself and her child from a life of struggle and strife. It is the exact same thing I would have done for my own child if faced with the same circumstances. It is natural for parents to want take care of their children and want more for them. So let’s take a breather here before we critically judge Jo for her reasons for writing and whether or not she is going to measure up to what our expectations are. As far as I am concerned the only expectations she needs to meet are those of her family since they after all, were the very reasons she started writing in the first place. I am just ever so grateful that I had a chance to read what she did write and I will continue to do so in the future.
Off topic, but has anyone noticed that the leaky image galleries seem to be down?
oddly enough, according to jk rowling, after finishing GoF. for 5-6 months, she didnt write book5, but wrote something completely different for those months which she said was quite freeing.
@ Chris and all other HP and Jo haters: If you people don’t like anyone, why on EARTH are you there on a fansite dedicated to that person and their achievements? Just to talk rubbish about them? Sorry, but you people must have some serious issues to attend to if that’s what you go about doing.
And Chris: Just because she says it’s left her with emptiness doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about her family. Please, Jo had a difficult childhood and she has herself said that her idea of ultimate happiness is a happy family. But some people don’t understand how much the books mean to her, and what they did for her. It’s been nothing short of a fairytale for her ever since she published the books, and Harry and those characters have been an immensely important part of her life for SEVENTEEN YEARS! So, I’m assuming if you were in her position, giving something up, ending it finally after seventeen years, is going to be difficult. This shows what they meant to her, as much as to us fans who were left feeling so empty after finishing Hallows.It’s probably greater for her, because they are, at the end of the day, her characters, her world, and it’s never easy to say goodbye…
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Leaky Poll
Moving the HBP film to July 2009 is:
- Completely unforgivable16 (45%)
- Annoying, but I'll get over it13 (37%)
- Not something I care about.1 (2%)
- Cool; who wants to go to the movies in the winter anyway?1 (2%)
- Awesome! I get to save $10 until next year.0 (0%)
- Awesome! I get to save $10 because now I'm skipping this movie!3 (8%)
- I've made a Facebook group, started a protest, called my local councilman, staged a sit-in, started a boycott, and organized a million-fan march because we won't stand for the - wait, what was this about again?1 (2%)
Anyone applying the tutm “one trick pony”’to JKR needs to stand back and look at all she accalmished with the HP series ,so very people ,,,including adults,,,starting reading ….again and it is such a rediculious phase to apply to her __I guess you have already read her next book …................
Chris ….I think you are on the wrong wedsite…..try www.ijustwanttocomplainabout anything.com