Tuesday 26th January 2016 saw J.K. Rowling awarded the PEN award of Free-Speech, which is given each year to an author that embodies the American organisation’s ideology of a free and just world. Particularly honoured for her charities Volant and Lumos, J.K. Rowling has aided institutionalized children, poverty and deprivation. PEN has awarded Rowling’s constant support for children and women around the world.
Rowling’s Harry Potter series is challenged by censorship across the globe and refuses to be defeated. Her work not only shows imagination through witchcraft and wizardry, but teaches readers of friendship and morals through her characters. Rowling without a doubt uses her work and crafts to create a world we can all delve into to escape the issues of the everyday life, even just for a moment. Through her creativity and work with these essential charities, J.K. Rowling embodies a fairer world in which all should have access to care and help, as well as freedom of literature and the imagination.
PEN are to present the Harry Potter author with this award on 16 May, at PEN’s literary celebration in New York. A well-deserved award for an incredibly talented and caring woman. Potter fans are taught “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light,” a fact that can definitely be applied to the world today, in light of recent news and events.
Jessica Rushton
Images: Johan Larsson via Flickr and Daniel Ogren via Flickr
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