J.K. Rowling Becomes French Knight
J.K. Rowling has now received the highest civilian award in France. The honor is becoming a knight of the Legion of Honour. This honorary title was given to J.K. Rowling by the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Paris. As part of the speech of accepting the awarded, which she delivered in fluent French, Rowling apologized for using a French word to name the main villain of the Harry Potter series. I thought was interesting to learn that Voldemort means either theft or flight of death in French. She said that despite the name he is 100% British. The name was chosen as “a name that evokes both power and exoticism” and she thanked the French for not holding a grudge because of her use of the word.
The President of France praised Rowling for getting kids to read again, which is something she has helped encourage throughout the world. Interestingly Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was a bestseller in France before it was even sold in a French language version, which made it the first English language book to top the book sales chart in France.
J.K. Rowling is not the first Rowling to become a French knight. Her great-grandfather was made a knight of the Legion of Honour for his actions during the first World War. He was made a true knight of the legion, as he was French. J.K. Rowling is only an honorary knight of the legion, as she is not French and a foreigner can only be an honorary knight of the order.
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