2001

What happened in 2001?
Thoughout this year, Rowling was still writing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; however two of Harry's "schoolbooks" were published, and the Warner Brothers movie based on Book 1 was released.

Rating 2001 Title & highlights* Links Type
***
NEW!
UNK 21 authors: J.K. Rowling
Bloomsbury Publishing
text biography
*** Jan J.K. Rowling's Books That Made a Difference
O, The Oprah Magazine
text interview
*** Jan Everyone’s just wild about Harry
Villarum
text interview
** Feb 18 JK Rowling ditches Harry for Mrs Brown
Sunday Telegraph (UK)
text report
Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them both published March 1, 2001
**** Mar Raincoast Books interview transcript (Canada)
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is one of Harry's school books, and Quidditch Through the Ages is a library title.
  • Quidditch started in the 11th century, at a place called Queerditch marsh.
  • Quidditch is less popular in the Far East, because they prefer the flying carpet to the broomstick.
  • Harry might get a different pet "at some point."
  • You can't domesticate a dragon!
  • Harry has never used the internet because he gets beaten up if he goes to close to Dudley's keyboard. But wizards don't need the internet; they have something more fun to find out what goes on in the outside world.
text interview
**** Mar Comic Relief live chat transcript (UK) text chat
**** Mar 12 BBC "Red Nose Day" chat transcript
BBC
  • Snape is about 35 or 36 years old in Book 4.
  • You can do unfocused and uncontrolled magic without a wand, but to do really good magic you need a wand.
  • A Galleon is approximately five pounds (British money), but the exchange rate varies!
  • Ron's birthday is 1st March.
  • A few of the Hogwarts professors have spouses, but the information is restricted – we'll find out why!
  • We will find out more about the history of James Potter's family in the next books.
  • Neville's toad is "still lurking.
text chat
*** Mar 12 Interview transcript
Blue Peter
(cBBC)
  • Fluffy is roaming the forbidden forest, since "anything that is dangerous is released to the forest."
  • Hagrid is supposed to speak in a West Country accent, which is where JK is from.
text
(partial)
interview
** Mar 19 Interview of J.K. Rowling
Detroit News
text interview
**** Mar 20 Chapter and Verse: J.K. Rowling has the future mapped out for Harry Potter
Houston Chronicle
  • About the scar: "I wanted him to be physically marked by what he has been through. It was an outward expression of what he has been through inside. I gave him a scar and in a prominent place so other people would recognize him. It is almost like being the chosen one, or the cursed one, in a sense. Someone tried to kill him; that's how he got it. I chose the lightning bolt because it was the most plausible shape for a distinctive scar. As you know, the scar has certain powers, and it gives Harry warnings. I can't say more than that, but there is more to say."
  • Her favorite bits of the books: The ending of Book 4, Chapter 12 of Book 1, the final rescue scene in Book 2, and Remus Lupin in Book 3. Books 2 and 4 are her favorites overall, which is weird, because "they were the most difficult to write."
text interview
*** Mar 20 J.K. Rowling answers a few kid questions
Houston Chronicle
(conference call)
text interview
** Mar 23 The Queen meets two of Britain's best loved bestsellers
The Daily Telegraph
(London)
text event report
*** Apr Giving Voice to Harry & Co.
BBC Worldwide
text contains interview
**** Apr 18 Matt Seaton meets JK Rowling
The Guardian Unlimited (UK)
text interview
** July 5 Harry Potter paintings for auction
BBC
text event report
** Aug 10 Rowling Denies Writer's Block Rumors
Associated Press
text Rowling statement
*** Sep 5 JK Rowling praises film company as it works its magic on Harry Potter
The Guardian Unlimited
(UK)
text interview
** October Press Release: JK Rowling says 'No writer's block'
The Scotsman
text Rowling statement
** Oct 3 Potter author wins press complaint
CBBC Newsround
text report
** Oct 8 J.K. Rowling denies having writer's block over next Harry Potter book
Telegraph.co.uk
text Rowling statement
*** Oct 28 The story behind the Potter legend
Sydney Morning Herald

  • "I loathe books that have inconsistencies and leave questions unanswered. Loopholes bug the h**l out of me ... so I try to be meticulous and make sure that everything operates according to laws, however odd, so that everyone understands exactly how and why."
text interview
*** Nov When Steve Met Harry: If the magic works, Steve Kloves writes happily ever-after as Harry Potter's sorcerer and J.K. Rowlings' collaborator
Written By
text Kloves interview
***
New!
Nov Wild about Harry
Candis Magazine
  • JKR: "The Harry books are supposed to be full of surprises, but I try to make sure that they unfold in a realistic way."
  • Slytherin house is the "home of warped wizards."
  • Riddle, "twisted by ambition and lack of love," desires power.
  • On the diary Horcrux: "Though he's supposed to have died years before, his malign spirit manipulates events through an enchanted diary."
text interview
*** Nov 2 J.K. Rowling: 'Fans will be happy'
cBBC Newsround
text brief interview
**** Nov 3 Exclusive: Writer J.K. Rowling Answers Her Readers' Questions
Toronto Star
text interview
** Nov 5 The First Look At Harry
Time
text movie review
** Nov 11 'They really do look as I'd imagined they would inside my head.'
Telegraph.co.uk
text movie review
**** Nov 12 J.K. Rowling Exclusive
BBCi Bristol
text
audio
interview
Movie version of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone opened November 16, 2001
** Nov 18 Harry Potter: Everyone's Wild About Harry
CNN News
text report
*** Dec Wizards and Ogres and Monsters - OH MY!
Dish Magazine
text report, some new quotes
*** Dec 24 Potter author knows how it will all end
Ananova
(UK)
  • If there is an eighth Harry Potter book, it will be to raise money for charity. "It could be the encyclopaedia of the world (of Hogwarts) and then I could rid myself of every last lurking details, but no not a novel."
text interview
December 26, 2001: Joanne Rowling marries Neil Murray in Scotland
***** Dec 28 Harry Potter and Me
(BBC Christmas Special)

BBC
  • JKR wrote platform 9 ¾ whilst in Manchester and wrongly visualized the platforms of Kings Cross and Euston.
  • Jo has a chart with every Hogwarts student that lists their house, magical ability, parentage and allegiances. She will need parentage info later "for the death eaters."
  • She named the 'Dementors' by experimenting with Latin words.
  • If all the 15 discarded opening chapters of book1 were put together they would almost give the whole story away.
  • JKR: "I've used bits of what people used to believe worked magically just to add a certain flavor, but I've always twisted them to suit my own ends. I mean, I've taken liberties with folklore, um, to suit my plot."
  • Ron Weasley is "always there when you need him." Implies that like Jo's friend Sean, Ron represents freedom to Harry.
  • Very early on, Jo had "disposed" of Harry's parents in a way that was brutal, but cut and dried. Then when her mother died six months later it "made an enormous difference, uh, because I was living it – I was living what I had just – what I had just written."
  • JKR: "The Mirror of Erised is absolutely entirely drawn from my own experience of losing a parent. 'Five more minutes, just please God, give me five more minutes.' It'll never be enough."
  • The point of Chapter Ten is that death is "tougher on the living and you've just got to get past it." Death is the books' "most important theme."
  • JKR: "If you are writing about evil, which I am, and if you are writing about someone who's, essentially, a psychopath – you have a duty to show the real evil of taking human life."
  • JKR on the last chapter of book 7: "this is really where I wrap everything up, it's the epilogue. And I, I basically say what happens to everyone after they leave school – those who survive – because there are deaths – more deaths coming."
text interview
*** Dec 28 Rowling promises sex and death in Potter books
The Guardian Unlimited
(UK)
text report on interview
Rating 2001 Title & highlights* Links Type

*Article highlights created by Deborah Skinner (aka 'Madam Scoop') and Lisa Bunker

Original page date 21 September 2006; last updated 23 June, 2007

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