Back in July of 2007, Scholastic Books announced that J.K. Rowling was going to be coming to the United States for a book tour. She would be making three stops, in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City. The L.A. and New Orleans dates were for randomly selected schoolchildren in the area only, but the New York City stop was for fans of all ages. The only catch was that the audience would be chosen by sweepstakes. Devoted fans could print and fill out entry forms in the hopes of being one of the 1,000 names drawn. So, I absent-mindedly filled out two forms, one for my husband and one for me, and mailed them away to Scholastic headquarters in NYC.
In September, I got a call from Scholastic – my husband's name had been drawn! We were going to New York to meet J.K. Rowling!
The event took place on Friday, October 19th at 7:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall. We got there a little before 6:30 p.m. and the line to get in was literally stretched around the block. Luckily, they had assigned seats at random and we got to sit in the posh upper box and had a great view of the whole event. Here’s a picture of me with our “golden” tickets as we enter to be seated (I am also wearing my cool new S.P.E.W. shirt to voice my support for the rights of house elves).
Once everyone had settled in, Keith Olbermann (for some reason) came out to introduce her. After a few minutes of discussing the Harry Potter phenomenon, they played a short video about J.K. and then she came out to thunderous applause. The people at Carnegie Hall kept asking us not to take pictures, but no one was listening. Here’s a picture of Ms. Rowling on stage before she began to read.
She chose a selection from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – the scene where Ron rejoins Hermione and Harry in the woods after running out on them. After she finished reading, she took questions from the audience. The questions had been submitted in advance and the askers were seated right up in the front row. She gave some excellent answers and also dropped this little tidbit of information.Following the question and answer session, they began to clear people out of their seats to line up to have books signed. Because we were on the second level we had to wait about an hour or so (though, as a sweet older woman sitting next to me said, “you could wait longer than this for a ride at Disneyworld!” So true, random lady. So true!). The signing moved extremely fast given the efficient assembly-line method the people from Scholastic had put in place. Audience members shuffled past a table were Jo was signing the books and could say hello as their copies were signed. If someone lingered too long, the Scholastic folks would gently keep him or her moving. Here’s a picture of her signing books taken from our spot in the balcony.
As we were cleared out to move down into line, I started to get a little nervous. What was I going to say to her in my two seconds of allotted time? Hi, I like your books. Um, yeah, me and billions of other people. As I was turning phrases over in my mind we approached the table and I became a little starstruck (even though I am generally an extremely calm and cool person). Here was our exchange:Me: (with a timid wave and smile) Hello.
J.K. Rowling: (pointing to my shirt and exclaiming) Oh, S.P.E.W.!
Me: (touching my shirt and smiling) Yeah… um…
My Husband: (to the rescue) Ms. Rowling, my wife just loves you.
J.K. Rowling: And I love her shirt!
Scholastic Representative: Don’t forget to take a signed book.
Me: (dazed) Um… ooops… thank you.
Yes, I totally blanked and almost forgot to take a copy of the book. Very smooth. Very cool. Luckily for me, my husband was there to say something halfway normal and redeem my two seconds. I was also a little surprised that J.K. Rowling hadn’t seen a ton of S.P.E.W. shirts before. After all, I bought this shirt online from the Warner Brothers store, so certainly she had to give the okay for it before they produced it. But then again, she’s a busy lady so maybe she didn’t. I also did not realize that she was so passionate about the rights of house elves in real life.
Overall, Jo Rowling seemed like a super nice, funny, and down-to-earth person. You can tell she really enjoys meeting fans and talking with them. She seemed genuinely touched by everyone’s excitement and compliments. She shook hands with and hugged many people who expressed their gratitude and joy over these books. I was honestly moved by her deep appreciation for her fans.
And, as my dad said, we have now met our first billionaire.
Some more pictures from the event:
Outside Carnegie Hall on Friday morning...
My husband and I in the balcony before the reading...
J.K. Rowling on stage answering questions...
Me holding my signed copy of the book outside Carnegie Hall...
The page she signed in one of our books. You can see the small hologram over the picture. This certifies that our copy is authentic (that and I was there when she signed it)...
Too cool, right? It was easily one of the best days of my life!
-- Lisa
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