J.K. Rowling, who has received backlash for her views on feminism and gender identity, said, ‘Sometimes life imitates art more than one would like’
J.K. Rowling’s latest book has striking similarities to her own public controversy, though the author denies its plot was pulled from her own experiences.
The Harry Potter author, 57, writes the Cormoran Strike mystery books under the pen name Robert Galbraith, and in the series’ sixth installment The Ink Black Heart, out now, the investigation surrounds Edie Ledwell, the co-creator of a popular cartoon who is “being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie,” according to an official synopsis.
Rolling Stone reported that the Edie character is deemed as racist, ableist and transphobic by viewers online and sees her internet fame upended, facing death threats before actually being killed. Strike and private detective Robin Ellacott then try to solve the murder.
Rowling, whose most recent Fantastic Beasts movie opened with the lowest box office earnings of the Potter franchise to date, came under fire in June 2020 when she appeared to support anti-transgender sentiments in a series of tweets. Though she denied that her views on feminism are transphobic, she doubled down on her controversial standpoints in a lengthy essay shared on her website days later.
Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint each spoke out against Rowling’s much-criticized remarks regarding the transgender community. Rowling said she declined to be part of HBO Max’s Potter reunion special that premiered in December, but she walked the red carpet for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in late March.
In a Q&A on her website, Rowling claimed that her newest book isn’t based on criticism and online attacks she faced over her opinions.
“I have never created a book — and this book certainly isn’t created from my own experience — you know, with a view to talking about my own life. That doesn’t mean, of course, that your own life experience isn’t in the book,” she said, adding that she’d been “planning this book for so long and then a couple of the things that happen in this book have since happened to me.”
“I would like to be very clear that I haven’t written this book as an answer to anything that happened to me,” said Rowling. “Although I have to say when it did happen to me, those who had already read the book in manuscript form were [like,] ‘Are you clairvoyant?’ I wasn’t clairvoyant … it was just one of those weird twists.”
“Sometimes life imitates art more than one would like,” she said.
Rowling added, “If I wrote about my experience as a creator, it would look very different. And I have to say, for example, which I think will be a question readers would ask: the Potter fandom, by and large, has been amazing to me. Incredibly supportive and I still receive tons of love from the Potter fandom. So the fandom in this book is very much not a portrait of [that] fandom. It is of a very … different kind of fandom.”
News
Explore Ed Sheeran’s £3.75 Million ‘Sheeran-ville’ Mansion: The House Has Its Own Pub!
The Shape of You singer has properties in Suffolk, London and beyond © Lionel Hahn,Getty He’s a multiple award-winning, platinum-selling and stadium-filling artist everyone knows and loves, so it’s no wonder that the hugely successful Ed Sheeran has managed to channel his…
Ed Sheeran shares very rare look inside eccentric home with newborn baby
The hitmaker lives in Suffolk Bad Habits singer Ed Sheeran lives a quiet life in a village in Suffolk and while he rarely shares looks inside his family residence, he delighted us all on Wednesday with a relaxed home video. The clip was…
SHOCK: The shadow justice secretary is reported to have said she agrees with JK Rowling that “biological ѕєχ is real and immutable”.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary ‘agrees’ with JK Rowling’s ‘gender-critical’ views Labour justice secretary Shabana Mahmood says she ‘agrees’ with JK Rowling over ‘gender-critical’ views (Nicola Tree/Getty Images) During a speech on Monday (22 April), Shabana Mahmood reportedly backed so-called gender-critical…
J.K. Rowling Causes Shock With £70,000 Donation To Supreme Court Appeal Over Definition Of ‘Women’: What’s Behind This Decision?
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has reportedly donated £70,000 to an anti-trans group’s long-running battle over the legal definition of the word “woman”. Rowling reportedly pledged the money to a crowdfunding campaign on behalf of For Women Scotland (FWS), which raised…
“VIDEO: Travis Kelce’s Ex Kayla Nicole Turns Heads in Revealing Dress at Netflix Premiere”
Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole was turning heads at a recent Netflix premiere this weekend. Nicole, who dated the Kansas City Chiefs tight end for several years before they called it off in 2022, has been forced to watch him…
Giannis Antetokounmpo gives Bucks a reality check while discussing team’s ceiling – “Gotta get out of the 1st round”
Giannis Antetokounmpo gives Bucks a reality check while discussing team’s ceiling (Picture credit: Imagn) Giannis Antetokounmpo gave the Milwaukee Bucks a reality check about their ceiling this season. The Bucks haven’t made it past the first round for two consecutive seasons, despite…
End of content
No more pages to load