J K Rowlings’ Harvard Commencement Speech: Imagination is Your Freedom

Hear the motivation speech J K Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter series, gave at Harvard. She stresses the crucial importance of imagination during a speech at Harvard University’s spring commencement, saying, “We do not need magic to transform our world.” She also spoke about the benefit of failure, recalling the humiliations of her time in poverty before her career took off with her string of novels about a bespectacled boy wizard.

A cute fact to point out is that right before the speech, some members of Harvard’s class of 1936 paid tribute to Rowling by carrying brooms during thier alumni procession.

View the transcript of her speech .

Who is J K Rowling?

Joanne Rowling, better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She is best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has won multiple awards and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history. You can learn more about her on her website, www.jkrowling.com

Video by Harvard Magazine