About this episode

Solomon Schmidt discusses his upcoming biography of J.K. Rowling and the challenges faced in writing it.

(Credit: Neil Wilder, Edinburgh 1999, now in National Portrait Galley) Solomon Schmidt, author of A Pen to Change the World: The Life of J. K. Rowling ( Skyhorse, June 2026), sat down with us this week to discuss what moved him to write a Rowling biography at the height of her radioactivity as a supposed “transphobe” and the obstacles that Rowling, Inc., puts in the way of unauthorized biographers. He also shares the kindness and circumspection of the people who did agree to speak with him, to include Neil Blair and Jorge Arantes. The necessary links to the book’s Amazon page and to the two Hogwarts Professor reviews are here: * A Pen to Change the World: The Life of J.K. Rowling (Amazon.com) * A Pen to Change the World: The Life of J.K. Rowling (Amazon.co.uk) Uk Edition * A Pen to Change the World – the Biography of J. K. Rowling by Solomon Schmidt (Nick Jeffery) * Book Review: A Pen to Change the World - The Life of J. K. Rowling (John Granger) The second part of our conversation with Mr Schmidt will be posted next week. The first five questions he answered were: 1. What moved you to start this project? You've already written a biography of Alan Dershowitz and many more in the…

People in this episode

Host: John Granger

Guest: Solomon Schmidt

Topics covered

• biography
• J.K. Rowling
• literary criticism
• transphobia
• unauthorized biography

Keywords

• J.K. Rowling
• biography
• Solomon Schmidt
• transphobia
• literary criticism
• unauthorized biography
• Neil Blair
• Jorge Arantes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rowling Inc., National Portrait Gallery, Skyhorse, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

Books & works: A Pen to Change the World: The Life of J. K. Rowling

More episodes of Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast

• A Pen to Change the World: Conversation with Solomon Schmidt, Rowling-Galbraith Biographer (Part Two) · July 19, 2026 · 1h 43m
• The Mysterious Suicides of Leda Strike and Charlotte Campbell Revisited Post Hallmarked Man · June 19, 2026 · 1h 1m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast podcast page.