Last night, several Hypable staff members were on hand for J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy event held at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City, the event featured a conversation, question and answer, reading, and book signing by J.K. Rowling herself. Rowling was interviewed by novelist Ann Patchett (State of Wonder), who owns Parnassus Books in Nashville.
The event opened with Patchett getting a bit choked up and thanking Rowling for her immense contribution not only to literature but to independent book stores all over the world.
During the question and answer portion of the evening, Patchett proposed several interesting questions to which Rowling had equally if not more intriguing answers. Below are some quote highlights from Rowling:
– Rowling has said on numerous occassions that she has not read E.L. James’ hugely successful book Fifty Shades of Grey, and during the event said, “The difference is that people have sex in my book, but no one enjoys it.” Rowling and Patchett both went on to say that neither of them had read the popular book, with Patchett adding, “Everyone tells me the writing is terrible.”
– An audience member submitted a question asking Rowling what fictional place (magical or otherwise) would Rowling like to live, to which she replied, “I still walk in and out of Hogwarts.”
– Patchett brought up Pottermore to Rowling, asking what made her interested in doing something so unique, to which Rowling replied, “I saw a possibility of giving a high quality product across loads of territories.”
– Rowling also said that her biggest challenge from moving from children’s genre to the adult genre in The Casual Vacancy was writing in a structure that didn’t include a central character.
– Patchett brought up the fact that there may be young children that will see J.K. Rowling’s name on the book and want to read it, to which Rowling replied it “might be appropriate for the right 14 or 15-year-old, but not any younger than that.”
Following the stage event, all 2,500 cheering fans lined up row-by-row to meet Rowling and acquire a copy of The Casual Vacancy which she also signed. Hypable staff members John, Tariq, Jen, Laura, Sarah and Kristen met up with authors Elizabeth Eulberg, Beth Revis and Victoria Schwab, just before the event started outside of Lincoln Center and took this great photo:
Did you attend last night’s event in NYC? Let us know what you thought of the event in the comments below!
Hypable will continue to cover The Casual Vacancy as Jo finishes her Stateside promotion.