Conversations with J.K. Rowling

by Lindsey Fraser, J.K. Rowling

The name J.K. Rowling is one that is on the lips of millions of readers worldwide, but before 1997 few people knew the brilliant woman behind the phenomenally successful Harry Potter books. And now, four books into the series, few yet know the real story of Ms. Rowling's childhood and career as a writer. This is the first and only true telling of Ms. Rowling's history because it is in her own words, from her birth in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England, to the stories about her favorite and least favorite teachers in school growing up, and to the funny misunderstanding in her first fan letter. It is like a visit with a friend, a friend who has brought you to tears with laughter and told the most enchanting stories you've ever been told.

Genres: Nonfiction, Harry Potter, Biography, Childrens, Writing, Biography Memoir, Middle Grade

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Literary Agent with Fraser Ross Associates.

Reviews

[Shawna Finnigan]

I’m not going to leave a rating because I read this as a kid before JKR started posting hateful stuff online. Gosh, I used to worship her and she turned out to be such a jerk 😣

[penta]

Wpadła mi ta książka w ręce, więc ją przeczytałam w przerwie podczas sprzątania, skoro sam wywiad to niecałe czterdzieści stron. Ja wiem, że tę rozmowę przeprowadzono ponad 20 lat temu (dokładnie: 23 lata temu), kiedy saga o Potterze się jeszcze rozkręcała, więc nie było nawet za wiele do powiedzenia, ale nie wiem, czy nudniejsze są odpowiedzi Rowling, czy jednak zadawane jej pytania.

Z perspektywy czasu i tego, jak obrzydliwym człowiekiem stała się Rowling w sposób bardzo otwarty, wyjątkowo urokliwe są dwa cytaty:
"Po raz pierwszy spotkałam się z takim typem kobiety. Była feministką, ale mądrą i inteligentną. Miała bardzo rzeczowe, racjonalne podejście do wszystkiego".
"Spodziewałam się tam spotkać wielu podobnych mi ludzi - myślących radykalnie".

Wzmianki o wybuchowym temperamencie oraz udawaniu super pewnej siebie jako metody przykrycia kompleksów również zestarzały się... interesująco. Also rozumiem, że skoro jej nauczycielka-feministka nauczyła Rowling nie lać wody i trzymać się tematu, to wiruje w grobie gdzieś od opisu sprzątania w Zakonie Feniksa, a przy ostatniej wydanej części Cormorana Strike'a to zaczęła się chyba powoli dowiercać do Chin.

[PurplyCookie]

If you're a Harry Potter fan who knows a lot about J.K. Rowling, then you won't find much new in this slim, large-type book. But younger kids (and Muggle grownups hoping for some insight into the world of Harry Potter) will learn quite a bit about this phenomenally successful series and its unassuming author.

Divided into roughly three sections, "Conversations with J.K. Rowling" begins with some fairly general questions about the author's early childhood ("Tell us about your grandparents" is where we learn that the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus were the names of her grandfathers), school days ("What did you remember about your time in school?" where one of her bully teachers inspired the character of Prof. Snape), and career ("Can you describe the process of creating the stories?" this one got me excited when she mentioned that she has whole childhood lives mapped out for all her Harry Potter characters, e.g., Sirius Black).

The book then follows with an excerpt-assisted overview of the first four Harry Potter adventures (again, only great for Muggles but just serves as oft-repeated blurbs for HP fanatics), and ends with a smattering of quotes from Rowling's interviews with Larry King, Newsweek, Oprah Winfrey's O magazine, and Entertainment Weekly.

Kids will get a kick out of many of the anecdotes, while older readers should enjoy more sophisticated insights into her books (like how she decided to write full-time when she still had a daughter to support). A very quick read, but fun for what it is.


Book Details:

Title Conversations with J.K. Rowling
Author Lindsey Fraser
Reviewed By Purplycookie

[Amy]

I love Harry Potter, and since this is the only "official" J.K. Rowling biography, I headed for it first. I learned a few "behind the story" items that were interesting. The middle section is just a summary of the books, so if you've read them, just skip to the last few pages where they highlight media interviews. Since this only encompassed books 1-4, I would like to see something more now that she's finished writing all seven.

[Joan]

Nice book meant for kids, published by Scholastic, capitalizing on the earlier HP craze. However, it had a nice informative interview with Rowling that I enjoyed a great deal. Verdict: Not tossing this book, yet at least! Now, on to find some book I don't want in this house!

[❁Sol❁]

Título: J.K. Rowling Vista Por J.K. Rowling
Autor: Lindsey Fraser
Editorial: RBA
Páginas: 79
~
💫Hello lectores💫 La reseña de hoy es algo diferente, ya que vengo a hablarles de una biología, la de #JKRowling
~
2,5/5⭐⭐⚡
🖇️OPINIÓN: Un buen libro, pero no pasa de eso. Me gustó mucho conocer la vida de la autora (a mi me gusta mucho por Harry), su infancia y adolescencia, sus comienzos como escritora, su vida fuera de eso. No soy de leer biografías, porque me aburren a veces pero con esta no me aburrí. Tampoco es que la quería leer a cada momento, pero no se me hizo pesada. La leí muy rápido, en menos de un hora.
Tiene muy buena información, es toda una entrevista con JK Rowling. Me gustó que al final haya un apartado escrito por Lindsey Fraser (la autora de este libro) hablando un poco de los primeros dos tomos, relacionándolos con su escritora. También habla bastante de la historia en si, una especie de reseña.
Me pareció un libro bastante bueno, pero no me sorprendió. Es una bio muy bien hecha, de una autora que me encanta.
La recomiendo para los fans de HP, ya que el libro se centra mucho en los primeros tres tomos de la saga, y cómo la vida de la autora cambia, cómo se siente ella respecto a esos cambios, etc. Creo que está genial como conecta todo, así que si les gustó HP, el libro les podría llegar a gustar, o al menos, no sería una pérdida de tiempo leerlo, ya que se enterarían cosas que no sabían sobre una autora muy talentosa, que probablemente les guste🥰
~
🎀¿Ya leyeron a JK Rowling?🎀¿Fans de Harry?🎀

[Book Concierge]

This is the ONLY authorized biography of J. K. Rowling. It’s basically divided into three parts. The first half of the book are questions posed to Rowling – the sorts of questions her legions of fans might want to ask. This covers her life from childhood to her unimagined success as a writer. The middle section deals with the books; only the first three had been published when this was written, though book # 4 was ready and is discussed (no spoilers). The last section revisits some of the interviews Rowling’s given with major media outlets – Newsweek or Larry King, for example.

It’s perfectly fine for children, but lacking in the kind of detail adults would like. Since it’s aimed at children I still give it 3 stars.

[Kayrene]

This is a sweet little book about J. K. Rowling. If you've read and loved the Harry Potter series, this book gives you a lot of insight and tidbits about how she came up with the story and characters. Really interesting, and thoroughly enjoyed!

[Renn]

I love reading about J.K. Rowling and her life which led me to think that this book was for me. Nope, not really.

The questions were generic, like "Did you watch much television as a child?" or "Do you enjoy the book tours?" It was fun to read some of J.K. Rowling's favorite things when she was younger but other than that, it read like a Wikipedia page minus a good portion of the details. I certainly wouldn't go to this book to find details about Rowling's life. To add insult to injury, this book targeted children, which meant that Rowling wasn't as candid about the rough patches of her life. Her tone was light as she briefly mentioned a time in her life that had been extremely dark from what I understand from her other interviews. Furthermore, from a book titled Conversations With J.K. Rowling I would have liked more than 58 of the 95 pages to be an interview with Rowling.

I think it's time for a new authorized biography of J.K. Rowling.

[Adri G.M.]

Short and cute, written for kids, I believe, problem is it only left me wanting more!!!! I want a real authorized biography now!

[Meli]

Me compré este libro hoy en la Feria del libro porque 1º era relacionado a Harry Potter, 2º era una baratija y 3º me encanta comprar cosas relacionadas a Harry, sobre todo si son baratijas :P

Lo leí completo mientras volvía a casa, porque vivo asquerosamente lejos de la FIL (y porque el libro es re corto).

Es una entrevista que le hicieron a J.K. en el 2000 entre la salida de El prisionero de Azkaban y El cáliz de fuego y, aunque el libro es todo un curro (consiste en una entrevista muy corta a JKR y una explicación de la entrevistadora sobre el universo HP), me dio mucha ternura. El fenómeno era muy reciente (Harry llevaba a penas tres años en el mercado) y ¡cuántas cosas aún no habían pasado! Es increíble eso, te hace sonreír la ingenuidad de JK sobre su propio futuro y declaraciones como "voy a terminar de escribir la saga, aunque sea solo para mí".

No es un libro que valga la pena comprar si no es en mesa de saldo, pero estuvo entretenido.

[Reeny]

The first third of the book was a conversation with JKR. It's interesting to see her thought process/what she says circa 2004/GoF. The middle section of the book was summaries of the first 4 HP books. Why????? Who is going to be interested enough in Harry Potter to pick up the author's biography that hasn't read the books??? The last bit was media sound bytes and quotes.

UPDATE: I legit forgot I had read this and I saw it ion my bookshelf recently and excitedly picked it up for a quick read. I got a sense of deja vu while reading but I figured it was because I've read so much about HP and Queen Jo. Turns out it's because I've read the book before lol.

[Jennifer Datus]

I will like to know more of J.K. Rowling and this book will help me do that.

[Isabella Andrea]

amazing

[Lorena Talluto]

Ho trovato questa breve lettura parecchio interessante. Un libro minuscolo con sole 94 pagine che mi hanno fatto scoprire tantissime cose di cui ero ancora all’oscuro sia su J. K Rowling sia su come sia nata l’idea della saga che tanto amiamo.
È molto datato devo dire, risale al 2000 infatti erano stati pubblicato solamente i primi 4 libri della saga ancora e a chiusura del libro è stato scritto che la Rowling stava scrivendo il 5 romanzo della saga.
Oltre a contenere un’intervista della scrittrice contiene anche tante altre cose interessanti che riguardano la promozione dei vari romanzi, la stampa sia in italia che nel mondo, diverse recensioni scritte dai giornali italiani e tante altre cose.
Credo che questo libro sia una piccola chicca che a mio parere tutti i fans di Harry Potter dovrebbero possedere nella propria libreria.
Adesso non voglio fate spoiler quindi chiedo solamente: ma voi sapete chi ha ispirato alla Rowling il personaggio di Ron Wisley? Bene! Io l’ho appena scoperto! Questo libro è pieno pieno di aneddoti alquanto interessanti quindi credo che si meriti un posto d’onore accanto agli altri libri della saga.
Si merita tutte le 5 stelline ed io ve lo consiglio vivamente. Inoltre sta scritto che è l’unico libro autorizzato dalla Rowling quindi io credo che non ci sia motivo per non acquistarlo e leggerlo!!

[Yany]

Este pequeño librito contiene una entrevista que le hizo Lindsay a J. K. Rowling. Es algo que se lee en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, no sólo por el hecho de que es corto, si no también porque es más bien de una carácter infantil/juvenil.

Para un fanático de Harry Potter este librito no aporta nada nuevo, ni antes lo hizo ni ahora. Quizás si está bueno para los peques que arrancaron con HP, les dan un vistazo a lo que es la autora. Al ser destinado para un público joven se omiten y disfrazan varios aspectos oscuros en la historia de la escritora.

Otra cosa que cabe mencionar es que si no han leído los libros de Harry Potter y planean hacerlo, no deberían leer este librito hasta no haber leído los 3 primeros ya que contiene varios spoilers de los mismos.

Lo repito, de un carácter infantil, explora la historia de Rowling con algunas anécdotas de su niñez, de su vida adolescente y como adulta. De sus estudios, y lo más obvio sus libros, inspiraciones y procesos.

En fin no hay mucho más que agregar.

[Ecy Viola]

Diceritakan bahwa penulis Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, sebenarnya adalah sosok yang biasa-biasa saja sewaktu sekolah. Namun, ia memiliki kecintaan yang sangat besar terhadap dunia membaca. Setelah lulus, Rowling sempat menjalani beberapa profesi sambil terus menulis. Ia tak pernah ragu dan konsisten menekuni hobinya, selalu optimis bahwa karyanya kelak akan disukai banyak orang. Ada satu kalimat yang sangat menyentuh hati, yaitu ketika ia akhirnya berhasil melakukan hal yang paling disukainya, meski harus melewati perjalanan panjang dan penuh perjuangan untuk mencapai titik tersebut.

Jujur, setelah membaca buku ini, aku serasa "tersihir" dan jadi makin tertarik dengan dunia Harry Potter. Sebelumnya aku memang tahu dan pernah menonton filmnya, tapi tidak benar-benar mengikutinya. Lewat buku ini, aku jadi tergerak untuk menonton seluruh serinya dari awal, karena melihat antusiasme sang penulis dalam menuangkan ide-idenya selama proses pembuatan Harry Potter terasa sangat seru dan menginspirasi.

[Syarfina Ayu]

Menurut saya buku “Wawancara Dengan J.K. Rowling, Pencipta Harry Potter” by Lindsey Fraser sangat menarik karena kita bisa mengenal penulis lebih dekat, bukan hanya sebagai pencipta Harry Potter. Melalui wawancara, penulis bercerita tentang masa kecilnya, hobinya membaca dan menulis, serta bagaimana ia mendapatkan ide untuk membuat cerita Harry Potter. Buku ini juga menunjukkan bahwa perjalanan penulis tidak selalu mudah dan membutuhkan banyak usaha serta ketekunan sampai akhirnya karyanya dikenal di seluruh dunia. Bahasa yang digunakan juga ringan dan mudah dipahami. Hal yang paling saya suka adalah cerita tentang bagaimana ide Harry Potter yang awalnya berasal dari imajinasi bisa berkembang menjadi karya yang sangat terkenal. Melalui buku ini saya belajar bahwa untuk mencapai kesuksesan, kita tidak cukup hanya punya ide atau bakat, tetapi juga harus mau berusaha dan tidak mudah menyerah. Walaupun bukunya cukup singkat, isinya tetap memberikan motivasi, terutama bagi orang yang punya impian dan ingin mewujudkannya.

[McKenzie Richardson]

For more reviews, check out my blog Craft-Cycle

Good book, quick read.

Growing up, I was obsessed with Harry Potter (let's be real, I still am). I am sure I read this book a few times growing up, but I didn't remember much from it, so when I came across my old copy of it, I figured it was time for a re-read.

Good book overall. I especially enjoyed the interview section in which Rowling talks about her life. From there, the book is just a lot of summary of the first four books. It is interesting reading this now that the last three books are out as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (book, film, and screenplay), and Quidditch Through the Ages. You can tell even then that Rowling had no idea how big this phenomenon would get.

Written in a way that is simple to understand, this is a good non-fiction book for young HP fans, although it 's a bit dated now.

[Estíbaliz Montero Iniesta]

El libro contiene una primera parte en forma de entrevista a J. K. ROWLING que resulta interesante para conocer algunos detalles de la vida y la experiencia como escritora de la autora de Harry Potter.
La segunda parte es una especie de resumen de los 3 primeros libros de la saga del joven mago, puesto que no se habían publicado más cuando este librito salió. No aporta demasiada información nueva y especula minimamente sobre lo que pasará en los siguientes 4 libros. De hecho, viéndolo con la perpectiva de los años, yo diría que algunas de las afirmaciones del libro se han quedado obsoletas.

En conclusión, es una lectura rápida y sencilla que lo que hace es ayudar a rememorar con cierta nostalgia detalles de los inicios de la saga. Yo diría que no es un libro imprescindible, pero sí un buen complemento para aquellos que crecimos con la saga y, ahora, después de tanto tiempo, buscamos cualquier mínima excusa para rememorar cualquiera de sus detalles, por nimios que parezcan.

[Sarah]

Being an avid Harry Potter reader I of course love knowing more about the author! This book was published just after the 4th book came out so it's definitely outdated (my copy came from the school book fair where I bought it for my sister as a gift if that gives you an idea of how old!) but it's so nice reading a candid conversation about J.K.'s life and interests. J.K. Rowling was a single mother who taught English classes and dreamed of being an author. The whole time she's giving the interview she reinforces the fact that the whole experience was a wonderfully, unexpected whirlwind of success. I can't help but love the person who created this wonderfully, spectacular world that I've grown up dreaming of so learning more about her life is intriguing! Reading this book just reinforces the awe inspiring respect I have for J.K. Rowling and her talents. This is a short read (it took me about an hour) that is well worth it for any Harry Potter fan!

[Maru]

Libro: J. K. Rowling visto por J. K Rowling autora de Harry Potter por Lindsey Fraser
Autora: Lindsey Fraser
Páginas: 80

Reseña

El libro habla sobre la vida de J. K. contado por ella, sobre su infancia, familia, amistades, es un poco aburrido, a pesar de tener pocas páginas, no terminaba más de leerlo.

A la vez me gustó saber sobre ella, como pudo imaginar un mundo tan increíble como lo es, el de Harry Potter en un viaje en tren, (tendría que dejar de dormir cuando viajo).

Es tan controversial la autora, con sus mensajes en las redes sociales, provoca que varios le hagan boicot a sus libros.

Amo la saga de Harry Potter, más por las películas qué por los libros, porque todavía no llegue a leer todos, soy de la casa Ravenclaw y conocí a un grupo maravilloso de personas increíbles participando en el juego de la copa, todo gracias a una persona que viajando en tren creo a Harry Potter, un niño muy especial que vive en el mundo muggle al morir sus padres.

[Nabila Azima]

J.K. Rowling menceritakan perjalanan hidupnya sebelum dan setelah menjadi penulis terkenal. Beliau mengungkapkan bagaimana ide untuk Harry Potter muncul saat dia sedang menunggu kereta yang terlambat, serta proses panjang yang dilaluinya sebelum berhasil menerbitkan buku pertamanya.
Dia juga berbicara tentang tantangan yang dihadapi selama menulis seri, termasuk kritik dan tekanan dari ekspektasi pembaca.
Saya dapat menemukan inspirasi dalam kisah hidupnya dan mendapatkan pemahaman lebih dalam tentang buku dan karakter yang dia ciptakan.

[Zakary A]

Conversation with JK Rowling by Lindsey Fraser Is a book of an interview with JK Rowling. in this book JK Rowling is the narrator like she is speaking in an interview with the author of the book. JK Rowling tells us about her life and how she came up with ideas for books and a lot more. I gave this book a four star review because I like books with pictures in them. This book shows biography because there is somebody telling about their life. I would recommend this book to anybody that likes biographies.

[Steven]

Buku ini memberikan paparan tentang J.K Rowling yang merupakan pencipta karakter Harry Potter di mana di buku ini dijelaskan secara detail bagaimana J.K Rowling bisa memperoleh inspirasi untuk jalan cerita dan karakter yang ada di dalam karyanya. Dari J.K. Rowling, kita bisa mengambil inspirasi dan pelajaran bahwa terkadang hal-hal yang masih berupa imajinasi dan belum ada bukti konkret, juga bisa menghasilkan sebuah karya atau hasil pekerjaan yang luar biasa sehingga yang harus kita lakukan hanya terus bekerja keras tanpa kenal lelah untuk mewujudkan imajinasi/ide kita tersebut

[Italy]

“Conversations With Jk Rowling” by Lindsey Fraser and JK Rowling herself, is a biography. I read this book because I finished all 7 books in the Harry Potter series, and I wanted to learn more about the author, JK Rowling. This book was separated in categories like childhood,school life, career, and more! I would recommend reading this book after reading some of the books because, this book does reference to the books a lot and you can get a clearer understanding of the book. I would recommend this book to people who love reading biographies and/or who know about J.K. Rowling and her work.

[Rinchy]

As a fan of Harry Potter, it’s a fun to read more about the back-stage story of the author: J.K. Rowling. It seems this book is for promoting Harry Potter Series in US by Scholastic, as in the second part of this small book, it just listed the introduction of the first 4 books of Harry Potter series. Anyway, the part 1 is a fun read.

[abthebooknerd]

Very inspiring, short, and sweet book about J.K. Rowling's life, as well as her writing. I've been in a slump lately, and this was a nice little treat to pull me out of it. Now, I want nothing more to go and write to my heart's content.

[Lynda]

Though written in 2000, when J K Rowling was only half-way through writing her stunning series, this little book is still a great insight into Rowling's passion, inspiration and life. Written in a question-answer format, it should interest all Harry Potter fans.

[Fatiah Nursari]

Buku ini mengajarkan bahwa terkadang ide besar itu lahir dari orang biasa yang tidak mudah menyerah + jago berimajinasi.
Ditolak berkali kali itu biasa, dan kuncinya tetap konsisten serta tidak putus asa .