J.K. Rowling
Could J.K. Rowling be Oxford’s next chancellor?
Among my generation of Oxford graduates – late fifties, early sixties – there is currently a great deal of talk…
What happened to Stephen Fry’s belief in scientific reason?
Here’s my question for Stephen Fry after he said his trans friends had felt ‘deeply upset’ by some of the…
J.K. Rowling and the death of nuance
There are few good things to say about the public conversation around transgender issues, which all too often shows us…
Harry Potter and the strange absence of J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts this weekend for a 20th anniversary special. He was joined in the Gryffindor common room…
The best children’s books: a Spectator Christmas survey
J.K. Rowling Poignant, funny and genuinely scary, The Hundred and One Dalmatians was one of my favourite books as a…
Contains moments of spellbinding banality: Radio 4's The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed reviewed
The interview podcast is a genre immoderately drawn to gimmicks, as the logical space of possible formats is gradually exhausted.…
Animal magic: children’s books for Christmas
J.K. Rowling has written a book for children — and you know what? It’s a charmer. The Ickabod(Hachette, £20) was…
The Disneyfication of the moral universe
‘I’m sitting here struggling for words and my friend nailed it: “She was our Princess Leia.”’ With those words, Dr…
JK Rowling’s fundamental mistake
I had my first doubts about Lord Hall, the former director-general of the BBC, when he addressed a group of…
Welcome to the world you created, J.K. Rowling
Welcome to the world you created, J.K. Rowling
Our collective nervous breakdown
It’s being sold by some as a glorious revolution, but what Western culture is really experiencing is a garden variety…
Can’t stand free speech? You’re fired!
Since the whole world is in crisis, a crisis in the world of publishing might seem like a niche issue.…
Speak up for J.K. Rowling
Nerds everywhere are frantically googling tattoo removal services this week, as the author who inspired their ink failed to STFU…
A mess: Fantastic Beasts reviewed
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the sequel to the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find…
A brief history of unicorns
After the England football team beat Tunisia at this summer’s World Cup, they celebrated with a swimming-pool race on inflatable…
Unhappy days
Scriptwriters love to feast on the lives of children’s authors. The themes tend not to vary: they may have brought…
Second thoughts
I had planned to review David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s new Channel 4 sitcom Back without constantly referring to their…
Do myths and folklore damage children’s brains?
Children’s fantasy literature has never been just one thing. Animal fables, folk and fairy tales were not originally intended for…
James Runcie’s diary: A Willie’s shock at the SNP
I am writing a play about Dr Johnson and his Dictionary. It will be performed in Scotland later this year.…
UKIP: The First 100 Days, Channel 4, review: a sad, predictable, desperate hatchet job
Just three months into Ukip’s shock victory as the party of government and already Nigel Farage’s mob are starting to…
J.K. Rowling is just too nice – and too lucky – to satirise publishing
J.K. Rowling’s second novel under the Robert Galbraith moniker is a whodunit set in the publishing industry. This isn’t a…
Dan Snow's diary: Making World Cup history
Could there be a more timely advert for the Better Together campaign than on the field of sport? What the…
It’s the summer of the topless man – and there’s nothing we can do to stop it
Topless men. What does that mean, then? I was opposite one on the tube the other day, heading north from…
