1999

What happened in 1999?
Two major events: On June 2nd, Book 2 was published in America, closely followed by Book 3 (UK and US release) on September 8th. As a result, 1999 was a frenzied year for Potter publicity.

Her American book-signing tour became an exercise in crowd control as the venues were mobbed by huge numbers of fans.

1999 also saw her first online chat, something Rowling has continued to do as her popularity forced her to increasingly limit public appearances.

Rating 1999 Title & highlights* Links Type
**** Jan 17 Harry's Fame
Scotland on Sunday
  • The Forest of Dean (where she grew up) was an influence on her settings.
  • Hagrid's accent is a Chepstow specialty; he is the only character who comes specifically from the Forest of Dean area.
  • In shape Hagrid is modelled on the Welsh chapter of Hells Angels who'd swoop down on Chepstow and hog the bar, "huge mountains of leather and hair."
  • As she writes book 4: "Everyone's in love with the wrong person, it's brilliant."
text interview
** Jan 26 We are wild about Harry
The Herald
(Glasgow)
text report
** Jan 29 The spotty schoolboy and single mother taking the mantle from Roald Dahl
The Independent
(London)
text report
** Feb? British Book Award acceptance speech
The Magical World Of J K Rowling
text speech
**** Feb 16 Who hasn't met Harry?
Guardian Unlimited
  • Harry had to be an orphan, so he had no fear of letting his parents down.
  • Hogwarts had to be a boarding school because "half the important stuff happens at night!"
  • Book seven will see him come of age – face his destiny.
text interview
**** Early spring? Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: An Interview with J.K. Rowling
Amazon.com
  • JKR: "Most of the spells are invented, but some of them have a basis in what people used to believe worked. We owe a lot of our scientific knowledge to the alchemists!"
text interview
***** Mar 19 Barnes and Noble interview
Barnesandnoble.com
  • JKR: "Potter was the name of a brother and sister who I played with when I was very young. We were part of the same gang and I always liked that surname."
  • JKR: "I spent a lot of time inventing the rules for the magical world so that I knew the limits of magic. Then I had to invent the different ways wizards could accomplish certain things. Some of the magic in the books is based on what people used to believe really worked, but most of it is my invention."
  • In book 7, Harry will be 17, which means he will be "of age." He will become a full wizard and be able to use his magic outside school.
  • Nobody knows where magic comes from – sometimes it is inherited, sometimes only one person in a family has it.
  • JKR: "There is a character who does manage in desperate circumstances to do magic quite late in life, but that is very rare...."
text interview
**** Mar 31 Of magic and single motherhood
Salon
  • JKR: "The wizards represent all that the true 'muggle' most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit!"
text interview
** Apr 12 The Wizard of Hogwarts
Time
text contains interview
June 2, 1999: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets published in the U.S.
**** June 21 Interview
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
text interview
*** June 21 Fiction Drills
Time Magazine
text editorial
*** June 28 J.K. Rowling Discusses the Adventures of Harry Potter
CBS News: This Morning
text interview
**** July Talking With ... J.K. Rowling
Book Links
(U.S.)
  • The last chapter of the last book is written, and deals with what happens to the survivors afterward.
  • Harry will, in the long term, get back at Dudley.
text interview
*** July 3 Wizard with Words
Telegraph Magazine
(London)
text interview
July 8, 1999: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban published in the U.K.
** July 8 Just Wild About Harry
The Scotsman
(Edinburgh)
text book review
** July 9 They're Wild About 'Harry'
Entertainment Weekly
(U.S.)
text report
* July 12 Harry Potter's real life model was no sluggard on tricks
The Guardian Unlimited
(UK)
text report
*** July 12 Spell Binder
People Magazine
(U.S.)
text interview
** July 26 Abracadabra!
Time
text report
** Aug 1 James Naughtie talks to JK Rowling
BBC Radio 4
text interview
*** Aug 23 Magician for Millions
Newsweek
(U.S.)
text report
*** Aug 27 Oh, to hide behind a cloak of secrecy
The Herald
(Glasgow)
text interview
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban published September 8th (U.S.)
*** Sep The Truth about Harry
School Library Journal
(U.S.)
  • Are you planning to kill off Ron? JKR: "I can't let on too much."
  • Quidditch is pronounced KWI-ditch. (Stress on the first syllable).
text interview
**** Sep 8 Barnes & Noble chat transcript
Barnesandnoble.com
  • Hermione is pronounced "Her-MY-oh-knee".
  • Harry's middle name is 'James.'
  • Will Sirius ever be proven innocent? Or have you not decided yet?
    JKR: I have decided, but if I answer it gives away something quite important in the plot, so I'd rather not...however, Sirius will be back in future books.
  • We will be hearing more from Crookshanks.
  • Lupin is "one of her favorite character in all seven books."
  • Aragog will appear in later books.
  • We will be seeing Mr Weasley's car again.
  • Hogwarts is in Scotland.
text chat
*** Sep 9 Phenom Harry Potter casts a spell over his author, too
USA Today
text interview
**** Sep 12 Harry Potter Book Sales Skyrocket Around the World
CBS News: 60 Minutes
(U.S.)
text interview
*** Sep 20 Wild about Harry
Time Magazine
(U.S.)
text interview
* Oct 4 Maggie's is Magic, says creator of Harry
Evening News
(Glasgow)
text report
Rowling begins a 3-week book tour of the U.S.
**** Oct? The Magical World of J K Rowling: Author of Harry Potter (video excerpt)
text
video
interview
**** Oct? Harry Potter Author Works Her Magic
Family Education
  • Snape is fun to write, because he is a "deeply horrible person."
  • There were lilies in Kew gardens called ‘Hogwarts.'
text
video
interview
***** Oct 12 J.K. Rowling interview
The Connection
(WBUR Radio)
  • Character of Harry came into her head "fully formed" and she worked backwards to create the stories.
  • Voldemort, Malfoy, Quidditch are all invented names.
  • Mrs. Norris [Filch's cat] comes from Jane Austen.
  • Dumbledore "old English word meaning bumblebee. Because Albus Dumbledore is very fond of music, I always imagined him as sort of humming to himself a lot."
  • Hagrid is "a dialect word - you'd had a bad night. Hagrid is a big drinker - he has a lot of bad nights."
  • McGonagall was a "very, very, very bad Scottish poet."
  • Hermione is a name from Shakespeare chosen because Hermione needed an unusual name.
  • Hermione is a "caricature of what I was when I was 11."
  • It took 5 years to finish the first book and to plot out the remaining 6; Book 4 was plotted when she was pregnant with Jessica.
  • Some storylines are inspired by folklore, but most of it "comes out of my head."
  • JKR collects names; some characters had 8 or 9 names before she found the right one. Naming is "crucial" to her.
  • Malfoy means bad faith.
  • Snape is loosely based on a sadistic teacher she had.
  • JKR: "everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that, because there's more to him than meets the eye...."
  • JKR thinks that that the thought of Snape in love is a "very horrible idea" and is stunned that someone wonders if Snape might fall in love. We will find out why in book 7.
  • Hagrid is a "West country" yokel, from the part of Britain where she grew up.
  • "Harry is someone is forced for such a young person to make his own choices." [nice description of how Harry, Hermione and Ron all complement each other].
  • JKR admires "bravery in all forms."
  • Neville is comical, but "actually quite a tragic figure to me as well because there's a lot of Neville in me - this feeling of just never being quite good enough."
  • Harry is more alone than most children; he doesn't have a safety net.
  • One of Harry's classmates ends up teaching at Hogwarts, and it is not Ron.
  • We will find out the significant information about Harry's mother in 2 parts: books 5 and 7. Both are "very important in what Harry ends up having to do."
  • One of the rules she has for her books is that "Magic cannot bring dead people back to life…. Once you're dead, you're dead."
text
audio
interview
** Oct 12 'Harry Potter' magic draws thousands
Telegram & Gazette
(Worcester, MA)
text report
*** Oct 13 J.K. Rowling interview,
All Things Considered (NPR Radio)

text
audio
interview
*** Oct 13 Interview
The Rosie O'Donnell Show

text
offsitevideo
interview
** Oct 13 Why I Paid So Much for a Children's Book (Arthur A Levine)
New York Times
text eyewitness
??? Oct 14 interview
Today Show
??? interview
*** Oct 14 Students Meet the Real Wizard Behind the Harry Potter Craze
The Record
(NJ)
text interview
*** Oct 14 A wizard of words puts a spell on kids: 'Potter' author visits school in Monclair
The Star-Ledger
(Newark, NJ)
text contains interview
** Oct 14 Harry Potter author defends her work
Associated Press
text report
*** Oct 16 Harry Potter's creator meets her public: Author J.K.Rowling answers questions from students at a school in Montclair
The Star-Ledger
(Newark, NJ)
  • "Dursley [...] is the name of an actual town in England."
  • In future books, JKR says she will attempt to show why "Voldemort is who he is."
  • 10 different first chapters were written for Book 1.
text interview
*** Oct 17 Harry Potter's Toughest Foe
Sunday Herald
(Glasgow)
text report
*** Oct 17 Pottermania - Focus - Profile - J.K. Rowling
The Sunday Times
(UK)
text report
**** Oct 18 All about Harry Potter from quidditch to the future of the Sorting Hat
The Boston Globe
  • The fact that Harry has his mother's eyes is very important to a future book.
  • JKR: "There is more to the Sorting Hat than what you have read about in the first three books."
  • Harry's role in the trio is to be their conscience.
text interview
** Oct 19 The Magic of Harry Potter: Series Bewitches and Bothers
Newsday
(NY)
text report
*** Oct 19 Harry Potter casts spell over Washington
Reuters
text report
***** Oct 20 National Press Club author's luncheon
NPR Radio

  • How she came up with Quidditch as a concept.
  • The idea for the series came to her in 1990.
  • She can't tell us if she imagines Harry growing up because it will ruin the plot of book 7 for us.
  • She doesn't like to tell people the titles of her books until they are finished; it is a superstition of hers.
  • Why she signs her books with her initials (J.K. instead of Joanne).
  • Hermione's name is from Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, but "my Hermione bears very little relation to that Hermione, but it just seemed the sort of name that a pair of professional dentists, who liked to prove how clever they were ... do you know what I mean ... gave their daughter a nice, unusual name that no-one could pronounce!" Hermione needed an unusual name because she was so swotty and annoying.
  • "The only reason you'll ever see an eighth Harry Potter book is if I really, in ten years time, burn to do another one, but at the moment I think that's unlikely."
  • Hagrid and Voldemort are both in their 60s.
  • Harry will not train to be an animagus; his "energies are going to be concentrated elsewhere and he's not going to have time to do that."
  • She won't tell us what happened to Harry's grandparents.
  • Harry & Hermione are platonic friends, "but I won't answer for anyone else, nudge, nudge, wink, wink."
text
audio
interview
*** Oct 20 Charmed, I'm Sure
The Washington Post
text interview
***** Oct 21, re-broadcast December 24 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling
Diane Rehm Show
(NPR)
  • Reads the scene in Ollivander's from Book 1
  • JKR: "Harry has been born to shoulder a certain burden."
  • Jo says she does a certain amount of research into creatures and magic that people used to believe in, when she is writing about them. About a third of the stuff that crops up people used to genuinely believe in, the rest is made up by Jo.
  • JKR speaks of researching specific ghosts, implying that one or more of the ghosts in the books are based on ghosts from folklore.
  • Most people don't care much about Hermione – in the sense that they think she is too clever and will get through it somehow.
  • JKR: "In my world wizards come of age at 17 - age 17. So in book 7 you'll see Harry come of age, which means he's allowed to use magic outside school, and you'll see the end of that school year."
  • Quidditch is a completely made up word – JK filled 5 pages of notebook with words beginning with Q before she hit 'quidditch' and knew it was right.
  • In Quidditch it is possible to catch the snitch and lose the game – if the other team is more than 150 point ahead – but this happens more at higher levels where scoring is a bit higher. At school level, if you catch the snitch then, normally, if you catch the snitch, you'll win.
text
audio
interview
** Oct 21 'Harry Potter' goes to Washington
Post-Gazette National Bureau
(Pittsburgh)
text report
*** Oct 21 3 Stories Done, 4 To Go
Richmond Times-Dispatch
text report
** Oct 21 Writer's wizardry with words welcomed: Young fans mob British author at signings
The Washington Times
text report
** Oct 22 Is Harry Potter Evil? (Judy Blume)
New York Times
text commentary
**** Oct 22 Just wild about Harry: Dedicated fans of a young wizard have Scottish scribe J.K. Rowling to thank
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
text interview
** Oct 22 No end in sight for Pottermania
Chicago Sun-Times
  • JKR said she couldn't answer questions about religious content until the end of the seventh book.
text report
** Oct 22 America's just wild about Harry's charming creator
The Scotsman
text report
** Oct 26 Enchanted with Potter Literature: Fans line up for hours to get their books signed
The Orange County Register
  • JKR says she pronounces Voldemort "Voldemor not "Voldemort but she is the only one.
text report
*** Oct 28 A Fantastic Success for J.K. Rowling
Columbus Dispatch
(Columbus, Ohio)
text interview
** Oct 30 Harry Potter Fans Delight in Seeing Author
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)
text interview
*** Oct 30 Harry Potter's Wizard: Creator of children's book series tours Bay Area
The San Francisco Chronicle
  • The twelfth use of Dragon's blood is oven cleaner, but JKR has "very good reason" for not telling us the rest.
text interview
* Nov 1 Hurry, Harry!
Newsweek
  • Harry will never become an animagus.
text report
** Nov 1 Keeping Up With Harry
Publisher's Weekly
text report
*** Nov 3 'Harry Potter' Author is Just a Kid at Heart
Columbus Dispatch
(Columbus, Ohio)
text interview
** Nov 14 Joanne Kathleen Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter
Sunday Gazette-Mail
(Charleston, SC)
text report
*** Nov 14 A Way with Wizards: Author J.K. Rowling Brings Bespectacled Harry Potter to Life
Modesto Bee (Modesto, CA)
text report
*** Nov ? Interview of J.K. Rowling
Donny & Marie Show (ABC)
text interview
*** Dec 7 As Happy as Harry in the Cafe Society
Evening News
(Edinburgh)
text interview
** Dec 13 On the Road Again
Publishers Weekly
text report
  Diane Rehm Show, see October 21, 1999
*** Dec 31 J.K. ROWLING: The 25 Most Intriguing People Of '99
People
  • "I constantly rewrite she says. "At the moment, the last word is 'scar.'"
text interview
Rating 1999 Title & highlights* Links Type

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

Original page date 21 September 2006; last updated 25 October, 2007

If you know of additional articles, please contact us