Boyfriend trouble made Rowling invent Quidditch!
20 May 2013 12:20 PM GMT
A fight that J K Rowling had with her boyfriend, in a Manchester hotel room, resulted in the idea that led to creation of the most gripping sport in ‘wizarding world’.
Quidditch - the sport which is one of the most famous elements of the Harry Potter books; played using broomsticks, hoop goals and a flying ball with wings, was created by Rowling following a tiff with her then boyfriend.
Personal scribbles by Rowling in her signed, annotated first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, containing insights into how she wrote it, will be unveiled to the world on Monday in London.
On 21 May, the book - the first in the record-breaking series of Harry Potter creations will go under hammer, in an auction.
The book also has a few tables, giving a fascinating insight into how Rowling planned out the plot lines of the Harry Potter books.
Rowling writes, ‘I wrote the book in snatched hours, in clattering cafes and in the dead of night. For me, the whole story of how I wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is written invisibly on every page and legible only to me.’
‘Quidditch was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then-boyfriend,’ she writes alongside the text. I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. It infuriates men, which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.’
The scribbles also include 22 ink illustrations showing how Rowling intended her characters to look. This is part of a unique collection of 50 personalised books, with extensive authorial annotations, offering a fascinating insight into each author’s creative process and the genesis and nature of their work.
Proceeds from the auction by Sotheby’s will benefit writers’ association English PEN to defend the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and across the world. First edition copies of works by 50 of UK and Commonwealth’s most outstanding contemporary writers - Nobel laureates and Booker prize winners, will be offered for sale, each of which have been annotated, commented on and illustrated by the author.
Highlights of the 50 works to be auctioned on 21 May include Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone among others.
Quidditch - the sport which is one of the most famous elements of the Harry Potter books; played using broomsticks, hoop goals and a flying ball with wings, was created by Rowling following a tiff with her then boyfriend.
Personal scribbles by Rowling in her signed, annotated first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, containing insights into how she wrote it, will be unveiled to the world on Monday in London.
On 21 May, the book - the first in the record-breaking series of Harry Potter creations will go under hammer, in an auction.
The book also has a few tables, giving a fascinating insight into how Rowling planned out the plot lines of the Harry Potter books.
Rowling writes, ‘I wrote the book in snatched hours, in clattering cafes and in the dead of night. For me, the whole story of how I wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is written invisibly on every page and legible only to me.’
‘Quidditch was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then-boyfriend,’ she writes alongside the text. I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. It infuriates men, which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.’
The scribbles also include 22 ink illustrations showing how Rowling intended her characters to look. This is part of a unique collection of 50 personalised books, with extensive authorial annotations, offering a fascinating insight into each author’s creative process and the genesis and nature of their work.
Proceeds from the auction by Sotheby’s will benefit writers’ association English PEN to defend the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and across the world. First edition copies of works by 50 of UK and Commonwealth’s most outstanding contemporary writers - Nobel laureates and Booker prize winners, will be offered for sale, each of which have been annotated, commented on and illustrated by the author.
Highlights of the 50 works to be auctioned on 21 May include Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone among others.
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