Terry Pratchett Attacks JK Rowling for Marginalizing Other Writers  8/1/05

Author Terry Pratchett has accused JK Rowling of unfairly stealing the limelight from other fantasy writers with her increasingly popular Harry Potter books.

Pratchett is furious that best-selling writers like himself are being marginalized, due to the success of the Scottish writer's boy wizard books.

And he was so disgusted when Rowling declared she didn't realize Harry Potter was a fantasy and was "not a huge fan of the genre" he wrote a strongly-worded letter to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, accusing her of gaining popularity "at the expense of other writers".

He fumes, "Ever since The Lord of the Rings revitalized the genre, writers have played with it, reinvented it, subverted it and bent it to their times.

"It has also contained come of the very best, most accessible writing for children, by writers who seldom get the acknowledgement they deserve.

"The status of JK Rowling is being elevated at the expense of these other writers.

"And I'm not the world's greatest expert. But I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue that Harry Potter was fantasy."