Introduction

In this TV programme you are going to hear the following words. Read and listen to them. Make sure you know what they mean.

Cinderella Ventafocs
fiasco fiasco, fracàs
wizard bruixot
ban prohibir
struggle lluita

Ready?

Now read the questions on the next page. Read them carefully before listening to this TV programme.

A CINDERELLA WRITER
An interview with J.K. Rowland

Presenter: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Pen Club, the radio programme in
which we talk to some of the best-selling writers of our day. Tonight in the studio is Joanne Rowland. Hello, Joanne!

J.K.Rowland: Hello, Nick!

Presenter: Dictionaries define “CinderelIa” as a woman whose beauty or abilities have not been recognized, or who becomes rich and successful after a period of difficulty. This is clearly the case of J.K.Rowland. Only five years ago she was unemployed, friendless and living on social security. Today she is one of the wealthiest women in Britain, and she is also one of the most successful writers in the world. Ms Rowland, would you first tell us something about your life story?

J.K.Rowland: Well, there is nothing much to say. I was born in Bristol in 1965 and grew up in the
south-east of Wales. Since I was a little girl, I enjoyed writing tales, sometimes secretly. I went to Exeter University and I got a degree of French literature. I worked for Amnesty International for a while and then became a teacher of English in Portugal. I married a TV journalist, got a divorce, and then came back to Britain, settled down in Edinburgh... and started writing the Harry Potter stories. I wrote them sitting at a table in a café while Jessica, my baby girl, was sleeping.

Presenter: Sounds like a fairy tale. How much of your own childhood did you put into your books?
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J.K.Rowland: Er ... yes ... definitely many of the characters and places in the stories are drawn on
people, places and events of my early life. To writers childhood is a most important
source of memories and inspiration. I think it was Edna St Vincent Millay, the American
poetess, who wrote that "Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies".
Presenter: Beautiful words. Tell me, how did the idea for Harry Potter come to you?
J.K.Rowland: You wouldn't believe it. It all happened during a train journey in 1990 from Manchester to
London. I was delayed for four hours !! You see... sometimes a small change in your
plans can be creative and funny.
Presenter: Tell us about your first book.
J.K.Rowland: It was a fiasco at first. I'd sent the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone
to many publishers, but only a small one, Bloomsbury, accepted to bring it out in June
1997. It was a printing of only 1,000 copies, but then something wonderful happened:
schoolchildren started to talk about a boy wizard and made him famous, and that's how
newspapers, publishers and the media became interested in my book.
Presenter: Why do you use initials for your first and middle names?
J.K.Rowland: Well, it was the publishers who persuaded me to call myself J.K., as they thought a
woman's name might discourage boy readers from buying these books.
Presenter: Your books are currently read worldwide, in 40 countries and 18 languages. What do
translators say about your books?
J.K.Rowland: I really don't know. I guess theirs must be a pretty hard job as I use a lot of school
expressions and terms I have made up of my own, "wizard wheezes” .. “gobbledegook"
and so on. I don't know how the Chinese translators like it.
Presenter: How do you feel when you hear the four Harry Potter stories you have published so far
are banned in the States and in Canada?
J.K.Rowland: I wouldn't say they are being banned. It is true that they are being questioned in some
places. Anyway, my stories don’t make teenage readers take a real interest in witchcraft,
black magic or Satanism. That's rubbish! The story of Harry Potter is the classic struggle
between good and evil, between a hero and the forces of darkness... it's just like
Superman or Batman...
Presenter: Any scoops about the books to come up next to The Goblets of Fire?
J.K.Rowland: This is top secret, Nick. I mustn’t say anything about them.
Presenter: Please...
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J.K.Rowland: OK, Nick... just a couple of things. Harry falls in love ... one of his closest friends is
murdered... Well ... these stories are not going to be exactly romantic or scary but pretty
dark, with lots of suspense, action ... and fun.
Presenter: What is your greatest ambition? To win the Nobel prize for literature?
J.K.Rowland: Why not? No, I'm joking. I'd love to see Jessica be a grown young woman, cheerful, free from worries. I'd love to keep on helping kids from around the world to fight against
poverty and injustice. That's all.
Presenter: That's really something. Well, Joanne, thanks very much indeed for joining us in Pen Club
tonight. Good luck!
J.K.Rowland: My pleasure.