Interviews
Books and Writing

The spotty schoolboy and single mother taking the mantle from Roald Dahl

Interview with The Independent, 29 January 1999.

Notable quotes:

The names of Dahl and C S Lewis are frequently mentioned alongside Ms Rowling’s, a comparison at which she has balks. “C S Lewis is quite simply a genius and I’m not a genius,” she said. “And while I think Dahl is a master at what he did, I do think my books are more moral than his. He also wrote very overblown comic characters, whereas I think mine are more three-dimensional.”

Potter was drawn with spectacles because, Ms Rowling said, she had worn thick glasses as a child and was frustrated that “speccies” were swots but never heroes.

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The spotty schoolboy and single mother taking the mantle from Roald Dahl
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