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JK Rowling talks "The Casual Vacancy", Harry Potter at London's Southbank Centre
As reported, JK Rowling will be doing a live event at the Southbank Centre in London this evening to promote Thursday's release of The Casual Vacancy, where she will be reading an excerpt from the book and take audience questions.
We will be live-updating the story with new comments, information, and quotes released by Rowling during the event, and add photos from her press call beforehand. Stay with us as we watch JK Rowling live. Please note that the video below is not embeddable; simply click on the video below to watch the live stream.
• JK Rowling admitted she got chills when she saw the massive Voldemort blow-up during rehearsals of the London Olympic summer games, as it was an idea she once had in the past.
• She admitted she didn't read reviews for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for ages after it came out, and felt the same about the final book as she did The Casual Vacancy, in a sense of total finality.
• Rowling joked that she got her literary ideas on vehicles (train for Potter, plane for Casual Vacancy) and that she'd have to be on a space shuttle for her next idea. She got the idea for The Casual Vacancy on a plane ride in summer 2007 to promote Deathly Hallows' release. The idea that came to mind was 'local politics sabotaged by teenagers.'
• She admitted that before she began the book she believed her next project would be a book of children (then and now still half-written), but was driven more to write The Casual Vacancy.
• The teenagers in The Casual Vacancy are much different than Harry, Ron, and Hermione in that they are more 'contemporary.'
• As there is a prominent Sikh family in the book, Rowling did a great deal of research on the religion. She got the idea of having a prominent Sikh family from a friend she had years ago of the faith.
• She said Harry Potter was not a Christ figure, but there were strong Christian themes in the series.
• She admitted that the Barry/Harry similarity was something she had not consciously been aware of, and did consider naming the character Kevin (luckily nothing rhymed with Hermione).
UPDATE: The live-stream is now over, before fan questions were aired. We hope to receive information and footage from that soon.
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JK Rowling talks "The Casual Vacancy", Harry Potter at London's Southbank Centre 
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Nice dress, Jo!
