BBC Witness interview with Harry Potter’s publisher

The BBC’s radio programme Witness have released an episode interviewing Barry Cunningham, the man who decided to take on the Harry Potter book series, on the creation of a phenomenon that would spread the globe.

BBC News said:

‘The Harry Potter series has sold 450 million copies worldwide to date. But before the first book was published, numerous publishers had turned the first book down.

 ‘I was gripped by Harry’s situation … The thing that I really liked about the story was the friendship … It was the friendship between the children that really moved me’.

His daughter, Alice, read Rowling’s manuscript the night he had received it, and it was her response that solidified the deal:

‘She couldn’t stop reading’

A deal with Rowling’s agent was then made at a ‘relatively low price’, ending ‘the most significant purchase made in publishing in the last fifty years’. Cunningham laughs, saying

‘I laugh about it now, but, you know, I never would have guessed’.

Jo apparently took some convincing before she believed she was being called by a publisher, and was ‘lost for words’ when the realisation finally hit, after so many rejections. Cunningham says he wasn’t aware of this ‘journey’ she’d been on to finally be published. We’re so glad she never gave up!

J.K. Rowling’s stories have reached millions, whether by page or screen, and we definitely recommend giving this a listen! Cunningham goes on to talk about Rowling’s past, her ‘revolutionary’ proposal of turning Harry Potter into a multi-part series, and the overwhelmingly positive response to the books a year after being published. The episode features readings from Stephen Fry, Rowling herself, and snippets from book releases and fan events. Cunningham said:

‘It was at this point that we realised something was changing in the world of children’s books’.

The age of the Potterheads had arrived.

You can listen to the episode here, and read more here.