MuggleNet Throwback: Video of JK Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Speech June 5, 2008

On June 5, 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered an amazing Commencement Address titled, The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.

From her speech:

“Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.”

To read the entire manuscript, head on over to our J.K. Rowling Section right here.

What would it be like for you to have J.K. Rowling deliver your graduation speech? Let us know in the comments below.