Rowling hints on Harry Potter sequels

www.people.com - Friday, October 1, 2010

J. K. Rowling Hints to Oprah There Could Be More Harry Potter

By Hilary Shenfeld

Fans, rejoice – J.K. Rowling offered a bit of hope on Friday that, perhaps, the final Harry Potter story has yet to be told. 

"I could definitely write an eighth, ninth, tenth," the celebrated author, 45, told Oprah Winfreyduring an interview scheduled to air Friday. "I'm not going to say I won't. I don't think I will … I feel I am done, but you never know." 

Speaking in Edinburgh, where the interview took place, Rowling said she felt something of a loss upon finishing the saga's last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. "It was a bereavement," she said. 

Not that she's completely put down her pen. Rowling plans to write more books, and feels there is no need to match or top her previous achievement. 

"I did it. I'm really proud I did it," she said. "But this is a new phase." 

Billions, Yet Worries

And though she went on to become richer than Queen Elizabeth II – selling more than 400 million books about her young wizard and his pals – Rowling recalled that the Harry Potter series almost didn't happen. Turned down by 12 publishers before one finally agreed to print the first book, Rowling was informed by an agent: "You'll never make money selling children's books." 

Despite being a billionaire today, "I do still worry" about money, given her past history of being a single mother with so little cash she was close to being homeless, she said. She is now married to her second husband, anesthesiologist Dr. Neil Murray, and the couple have three children between them. 

Rowling said she has few regrets about her life, but one is that her mother, who died six months after Rowling started writing the first book, never got to see the phenomenal success of the series, which blossomed into several movies and a theme park in Florida. 

However, Rowling mentioned that she did turn down one opportunity – when Michael Jackson said he wanted to make a musical based on the books.