JKR, Toronto Press Conference, Oct 22 2007

Toronto Press Conference, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 22 October 2007.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 
Interviewer: Toronto reporters 
Context: Toronto was the last stop on Rowling's 2007 "Open Book Tour." A few days previously Rowling had told fans in New York that Dumbledore was gay, so this dominated the questions. This press conference took place just before the reading at the Winter Garden Theatre and was was also where Jo was given the "Order of the Forest" Award for encouraging publishers to print books on paper from sustainable sources [more award info here]. 
Transcription credit: Meann and roonwit for Accio Quote! 
Video: http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/arts/web_exclusive_jk_rowling.html

자 드디어 결말 이후!! 이건 짧으니까 dumbledore related q 만 위로 빼내기

Highlights:

• There wasn't a point at which Rowling decided that Dumbledore was gay; she gradually realized it "very early on" while she was writing the first book.
  
• Rowling "probably" won't write a prequel.
• JKR: "He [Dumbledore] is my character, and as my character I have the right to say what I say about him."
• Most of the tweaking of the epilogue was to remove information; the biggest change was the addition of information about Teddy Lupin.
• Rowling still plans on working on a Hogwarts encyclopedia, but not immediately.
• Hermione would read Margaret Atwood's books; Harry and Ron don't read much as adults.

Q: [unintelligible, something about Dumbledore]

JKR: Ummm... because I was asked a very direct question at Carnegie Hall and the question was, which I have never been asked before... do you... given that one of the biggest themes in the books is love, did Albus Dumbledore ever find love? And the girl who asked it, I have to say, prefaced it with these wonderful statements about how the Harry Potter books have helped her be more fully herself. She's a teenager. So I answered honestly. I suppose the other half of that answer is that Dumbledore's ill-fated infatuation was a key part of the plot of book 7. You know, often with writing the Harry Potter books I felt like a salmon swimming upstream, there were so many theories and people wanted so much information in advance of the story that I... just to keep my sanity and keep my eye on my own plot, did not give masses away ahead of time because I needed to remain focused. So it's been very freeing, really, to finish and be able to be honest about the hinterland of the characters whether it's directly relevant to the plot or not.

Q.식별 불가, 덤블도어에 관한 질문

JKR: 음.. 카네기홀에서 굉장히 직접적인 질문을 받았고 , 음 한번도 받아본 적 없었던 질문이었는데요, 이 책의 가장 큰 주제가 사랑이라는 것을 고려한다면, 알버스 덤블도어는 사랑을 찾았었나요? (중략) 질문자는 십대 소녀였어요. 그래서 저는 정직하게 대답했습니다. 덤블도어의 불운하였던 열병(ill-fated infatuation)이 7권 줄거리의 키 파트였다구요. 

아시겠지만, 해리포터 책을 쓴다는건.. 물살을 거슬러 올라가는 연어가 된 기분을 느끼게 하는데요. 굉장히 많은 이론들이 있고, 사람들은 그 썰을 증명하기 위해서 더 많은 정보를 원해요. 그리고 전 저만의 줄거리를 지키기 위해서 정신을 똑바로 차리고 있어야 하죠. (중략) 

Q: At what stage in the [unintelligible] in writing the Harry Potter books did you conceive the notion of Dumbledore's [unintelligible] sexuality

JKR: Ummm, really, early on. I would say... all of the characters... I was writing for 7 years before the first book was published. The characters became, almost came, more and more into focus as I worked and... I can't honestly say there was a moment when I decided that, that was just something I knew or I came to know... so, umm, from very early on. Probably before the first book was published.

Q. 그럼 어떤 단계에서(알아들을 수 없음) ~ 덤블도어의(알아들을 수 없음) 섹슈얼리티에 대한 생각을 구상하게 되었었나요?

JKR: 음, 사실, 아주 초기 단계부터요. 모든 캐릭터들에 대한 내용은 1권이 나오기 7년전부터 구상되어있었어요. 그 때 캐릭터들이 거의 다 구상되었었고, 제가 작업을 하면서 좀 더 구체화된 것이죠. 언제 딱 결정했냐고 물으신다면 대답을 정확히는 못하겠어요. 그냥 제가 알고 있었거나 알게 된 것들이니까... 그러니까, 정말 아주 초기단계서부터요. 1권이 출판되기 전부터요.

Q: What would you say to some of the readers who were taken aback by the revelation that Dumbledore [unintelligible] not the kind of information they expected to find or change the way they feel about the [unintelligible]

JKR: Well, I suppose I would say that it certainly have never been news to me that a brave and brilliant man could love other men. So, ummm... I know that [chuckles] I know that it was a positive thing that I've said for at least one person because one man came out at Carnegie Hall. [chuckles] I'm not kidding. There you are. That's really all that I can say.

덤블도어의 숨겨진 이야기를 듣고 충격받은 독자들에게 전할 말이 있나요(알아들을 수 없음) 그들에게 이런 정보는 그들이 기대했던 것들이 아니거나/ 그들의 ~~에 대한 감상을 변화시킬 수 있죠

JKR:음 글쎄요, 제 생각엔.. 저한텐 그렇게 큰 뉴스가 아니예요. 용감하고 뛰어난 한 남자가 다른 남자를 사랑할 수 있었다는 사실이 말이죠.. 긍정적이란 걸 알아요, 제가 최소 한 명에게 말을 할 수 있었다는건... 카네기 홀의 그 남자분 덕택이죠. 전 농담하는게 아니예요. 

Q: Harry Potter has a universal appeal [unintelligible]

JKR: Very possibly. I see no reason why I wouldn't write a book with a female protagonist. It was simply that Harry arrived as Harry and I never at any point consider changing him into Harriet. I did, after I've been writing a while, I did stop and think "It's a boy." But by then Hermione was so real to me, and I think that Hermione, for me, is a fantastic character. She's so bright, she's so essential to the plot and so crucial in the way that they succeed ultimately in the seven books that I don't feel I've let the feminists down, personally.

Q: [unintelligible] political ramifications of Dumbledore coming out. Can you see that on a world wide scale, [unintelligible] for other countries not a tolerant to a gay lifestyle?

JKR: Ummm... I can't really answer that at the moment, you know, it's something that I said recently. I can't really answer that. It is what it is. He is my character and as my character, I have the right to know what I know about him and say what I say about him. There you go.

덤블도어의 커밍아웃으로 인해 political ramfications가 ~~~. 전세계적 스케일로 보시나요, 아니면 게이들에 관대하지 않은 다른 나라에선 ~~~일 수 있다고 보시나요?

JKR: 음.. 이 건에 대해선 대답을 못하겠다. 그는 내 캐릭터이고 내 캐릭터인 이상 나는 내가 그에 대해 알고 있는 것을 알 권리가 있고, 그에 대해 말할 권리가 있다. 

Q: Back to the outing of Dumbledore, I understand you said it's your character and you were asked about it which is why you revealed it, I guess I'm just curious about why not just write about it in the book? Why not reveal it in the book when you started?

JKR: Because it's ... I really think that is self evident. He's ... The plot is what it is, and he did have, as I say this rather tragic infatuation, but that is a key part of the ending of the story. So there it is, why would I put the key part of my ending of my story in book one? It's about the construction of the story. It's not ... It is what it is.

Q: Why not later then?

JKR: What do you mean?

Q: Why not in book 5, 6 or 7? Why not reveal it in the book?

JKR: Because if you were an author, you would understand, that when you write the ending, it comes at the end. [all laugh]

Q: So the ending was at the news conference I gather for you, when you revealed it publicly?

JKR: Not at all. No. This wasn't a news conference, this was a question and answer with a fan, and ... why is that the ending of the book? It is in the book he had ... it's very clear in the book he that he ... absolutely, a child will see a friendship, and I think a sensitive adult may well understand that it was an infatuation. I knew it was an infatuation.

-덤블도어의 아웃팅 건으로 돌아가서, 당신 캐릭터에 대해 이야기했던것 이해한다, 그리고 왜 그 사실을 드러내야했냐는 질문을 받으셨는데, 제가 단지 궁금한건-- 왜 책에서는 언급하지 않았던 것인가? 왜 처음부터 책에서는 드러내지 않았던것인지?

JKR: 왜냐하면... 그것 자체가 self-evident라고 생각했으니까. 줄거리 그 자체, 그의 행적들, 이 비극적인 열병이 이야기를 끌고왔던 결말의 핵심이다. 왜 결말의 핵심을 내가 1권부터 설명해야겠는가? 이야기의 구성과 관련된 문제일 뿐.

-그럼 왜 나중에는 밝히지않았는가?

JKR: 어떤 의미? 

-5, 6, 7권이 계속 있었지않은가. 왜 책 내에서 밝히지 않았냐는 말

JKR: 왜냐하면, 당신이 작가라고 치면, 이해하시겠지만, 결말을 쓰면 그냥 결말이 되어버리니까!

-그럼 엔딩이 대중에게 밝히는, news conference였던 것인가?

JKR: 전혀. 이건 기자회견같은것이 아니었고 그저 팬과 질의응답을 하는 것이었다. 왜 책 결말이 그렇게 났나요? 그가 읽었던 책 속에 있었던 것이고, 그 책의 내용은 아주 클리어하다... 완벽하게, 어린아이는 "우정"을 볼 것이고, 좀 더 주의깊은 성인이라면 그 감정이 열병(infatuation)이었다는것을 잘 이해할 수 있겠지. 나는 그것이 열병이었단 것을 알고 있다.

---

Q: [unintelligible] why the Harry Potter saga is such a huge success [unintelligible]

JKR: I've been asked that question a lot and I've always found it very difficult to answer. I feel that I should... there's an expectation I should know what the magical formula was but in truth I wrote what I liked reading. I wrote a complex plot with plenty of mysteries and surprises because that's what I liked and I wrote about characters that I was deeply interested in and engaged with so I assumed there are lots of readers out there like me. That's my answer.

Stacy Bolton: [unintelligible] what did you do to become successful as an author [unintelligible]

JKR: They should read a lot. Which is not me trying to sell more books. Because it's the only way to enlarge your vocabulary and to decide what makes good writing, what makes bad writing. And then they'll go through the phase of imitating their favorite authors, which is fine, because it's a good learning process. Then they need to decide themselves, I'm afraid, wasting a lot of trees. But [laughter] make sure their books are always printed on ancient forest-friendly paper. [laughter]

Gloria Martin: Did you ever consider writing as a prequel to the Harry Potter series focusing on Harry Potter's parents? - Show quoted text -

JKR: I have been asked that a couple of times and I've always said "is that not a little bit 'Star Wars Episode I'?" [laughter] Umm... I probably won't. But I'm gonna keep the 'probably' in there because I've said all the way through I think as early as book two or three, I was asked, why not more than seven? And I've always said "I'm not going to say 'never' because 'never' in my life has always acted as a red rag to a bull and I've immediately wanted to do whatever it is I said never to. So I'm going to say 'probably not'.

Q: I'm just wondering why you've waited until now to [unintelligible]

JKR: I actually answered that, first question.

Q: [unintelligible]

JKR: How much I had to tweak in the Epilogue? The changes I... Not so much, actually. Most of the tweaking was done to reveal less information, rather than more. As originally conceived, the Epilogue pretty much crowbarred in every possible piece of information I could give you about their future lives just because that was where I always knew I was heading. So I knew I had a lot of information and I when I first wrote that all down, that was the point I'm saying it for. The big tweak, I suppose, was Lupin's son. Because until the 5th book in the series, Order of the Phoenix, I had intended Lupin to stay alive. So then it became a focus of the epilogue - one of the focuses - to make sure that he knew, even if he doesn't physically appear, that he was okay.

Q: If not in book form, do you plan on continuing the franchise in any other medium? Last month the biggest entertainment launch in history was for a video game, and there are Harry Potter video games and other mediums. Do you plan on being a part of that and writing more sections of your world's story?

JKR: The only way, and the only plan I have, and it's a possibility that I have, is possibly to write an encyclopedia, which would be the way of putting in all the information, the extra information I have on all these characters. And I've always said, and I stand by that, that if ever I do that, the proceeds will be for charity and I'm not planning on producing that to milk the phenomenon as it were. So, yeah, I've said that all along, and I still may do that, but I've made no start on that. And it's certainly not something I plan on being my next project. I'd like to take a little time away from Harry's world before I go into that. I miss it. I really miss the world. But it's healthy. It's like the breakup of a marriage not to see each other for a while, and then maybe you can be friends afterwards.

이 유니버스로 책 형태 말고 다른 형태로 계속할 생각 없냐고 들어갔던 질문.. 원래 암것도 안하겠다고 했었는데 FB 나와서 놀라긴 했었지

-하나 가능성 있는건 encyclopedia 작성이라고.. 모든 정보와, 모든 캐릭터에 대한 이야기를 다 집어넣는 방식으로. 그리고 늘 말해왔지만 자선 목적으로 만들어질것이고 이득을 볼 생각은 없다.. 해리세계에서 좀 거리를 두고 싶다. 그립고 그립겠지만 계속 매여있는건 unhealthy하니까.. 결혼생활이 끝나서 한동안 볼 순 없겠지만 그 이후에도 친구로 지내는 그런것처럼..

Q: In honour of the international festival of authors, I was curious, considering all the authors that have done works for kids as well as adults, who would Harry's ultimate favourite author be? Ron's? Hermione's?

JKR: Well Hermione I think would be into Margaret Attwood. [all laugh] You know what, let's be honest, Harry didn't do a lot of reading except when he had to. [laughs] So I think to pick authors for either Harry and Ron if I'm absolutely honest, would be stretching a point a little bit, and it would be me being Hermioneish rather than truly reflective of their literatary tastes. Sorry.

Q: The last time you were here was before the first Harry Potter film had been shot and at the time you expressed some worry about it. What do you think has been the success ... has been key to the success of your books and made into films?

JKR: Well, I probably would say this, I'm very proud of the fact that we managed to keep the cast all British. I think that has lent a certain tone to the films that is authentic and has kept them very grounded in the books. They are also made in Britain... well on a tangential note that is less about the faithfulness of the translation that been great for the British film industry so I'm proud of that. Overall, its been great, it's been really, really wonderful, and Dan, Rupert and Emma particularly, who play the three main characters have grown so much as actors I think anyone watching the films would agree that. I'm very fond of the three of them, they feel like godchildren really. It's been a really wonderful experience actually.

Original page date 20 Sept 2007; last updated 20 Sept 2007.