O: You're saying it's difficult to write outside your gender, but you've chosen to create Harry Potter. Is that hard?The Harry Potter books made Sarah Ebner's list of the top 25 boarding school books; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is #1 on Brian MacArthur' list of the 100 books that defined the noughties.
JKR: If I say no now, that's going to sound really arrogant. But I had been writing the first book for six months before I stopped and thought, 'Why's he a boy?' And the answer is, He's a boy because that's the way he came. If I had stopped at thatpoint and changed him to Harriet, it would have felt very contrived. My feminist conscience is saved by Hermione, who's the brightest character. I love Hermione as a character. She's kind of a caricature of me when I was younger. I was obsessed with achieving academically, but underneath that I was insecure.
O: We love Hermione, too! We identify!
JKR: I think we have a very strong female character in her.
O: You have a young daughter. Do you read Harry Potter to her?
JKR: I kept...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue