Here are the the most magical things JK Rowling has ever done

1. Pointing out that gay people just look like... people

The author was hailed an "inspiration" after being asked by a young Harry Potter fan why Dumbledore was gay.

"I wonder why you said that Dumbledore is a gay because I can’t see him in that way," asked Ana Kocovic. "Maybe because gay people just look like… people?” Rowling replied.

2. Going from "the biggest failure I knew" to becoming one of the most celebrated authors on the planet

In her new book Very Good Lives, Rowling explores what she calls the "benefits of failure" by charting her journey from being “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless” to what she is today.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.

3. Sending a letter from Dumbledore to a 15-year-old who lost her entire family:

JK Rowling sent a handwritten letter believed to be written from the perspective of Albus Dumbledore to Cassidy Stay, a 15-year-old survivor of a shooting in Houston, Texas, that left both her parents and her four siblings dead. Stay had quoted Dumbledore at a memorial event for her family.

4. Putting a terminally-ill nine-year-old child in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

Natalie McDonald, who died of leukaemia, is the only real person named in the Harry Potter novels. Rowling reportedly sent her the plot of the novel because she was not expected to live until its publication date.

5. Working to transform the life of orphans:

JK Rowling's children's charity Lumos works in countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. Rowling funds the running costs, meaning that all donations are spent on the charity's work. Its stated aim is to end the practice of institutionalising children in orphanages worldwide by 2050.

6. Saying this about tax:

7. Giving so much to charity that she fell off the Forbes billionaire list:

"New information about Rowling's estimated $160 million in charitable giving combined with Britain's high tax rates bumped the Harry Potter scribe from our list this year,” Forbes said in 2012.

8. Helping a reader who went on to play Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films when she had an eating disorder:

Irish actress Evanna Lynch credits the author for giving her hope. In a 2010 interview, she said she had written to JK Rowling when she was ill with anorexia. "I told how I looked up to her. She wrote back and was like a counsellor.

"She told me anorexia is destructive, not creative, and the brave thing was not to succumb to it. I told her I'd love to be in the films and she encouraged that but said I'd need to be well to do so. In the end I think that's why I recovered."

9. Saying this when told her record for selling books had been overtaken by Fifty Shades Of Grey:

Just think how many books I could've sold if Harry had been a bit more creative with his wand.

10. This perfect response to a question about whether Voldermort was a virgin:

11. And finally, this is what she told Harvard students about failure:

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

Please note: This article was updated on March 31.

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