JK Rowling´s transgender row fallout excludes author from Platinum Jubilee list of great reads

JK Rowling´s transgender row fallout excludes author from Platinum Jubilee list of great reads, it has been claimed.

The Telegraph, on Sunday, April 17, has claimed that the Harry Potter author´s exclusion from the list has been ‘cancelled’ over her views.

Rowling, in a 2020 essay that sparked controversy, wrote that the “new trans activism” can threaten the safety of girls and women.

The Big Jubilee Read was compiled with the aim of celebrating 70 great reads from across the Commonwealth, one for practically every year of the Queen’s reign.

After a five-month quest to identify the perfect titles to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee, with choices championed by hundreds of readers, the BBC has published the result — its Big Jubilee Read — online.

A long list of 153 titles, which included Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was whittled down by a panel of librarians, academics, booksellers and other literary figures.

But Harry Potter didn´t make the cut.

In terms of sales and widespread popularity, Harry Potter is one of Britain’s biggest literary export of the past 70 years — yet JK Rowling makes no appearance on the Big Jubilee Read.

“There was a big discussion about JK Rowling,” Susheila Nasta, emeritus professor of modern literature at Queen Mary and Westfield University told The Sunday Times.

“She was on the long-list with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. A space was cleared for someone equally as good but whose work was not as well known. There were some very tricky decisions.”

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