As you may remember, we told you a while ago that Jo would be receiving the Freedom of the City of London for her services to children’s literature. Today she collected her award at Mansion House; home of the Lord Mayor.

Not many details of the event have been released as of yet, but we know that Jo arrived at Mansion House around 10:30am and spent some time signing for fans before going in to collect her award; she stayed until around 2:30pm. More details and pictures when we get them!

Will you be in London on the 8th May? If you are, you’re in luck- Jo will be too! London’s Lord Mayor David Wootton has nominated Jo to become a Freeman of London, and the ceremony will take place at Mansion House on the 8th. In response to her nomination Jo said:

Both my parents were Londoners.  They met on a train departing from King’s Cross Station in 1964, and while neither of them ever lived in London again, both their daughters headed straight for the capital the moment that they were independent.  To me, London is packed with personal memories, but it has never lost the aura of excitement and mystery that it had during trips to see family as a child. I am prouder than I can say to be given the Freedom of the City, which, on top of all the known benefits (and few people realize this), entitles me to a free pint in The Leaky Cauldron and a ten Galleon voucher to spend in Diagon Alley.

Congratulations to Jo on this new honour to add to her huge list!

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The Great Exhibition, a British exhibition which celebrates Britain’s achievements in creative talent, tourism, business, and people, has launched a national competition called The Greats of Great Britain, in which all of the ‘Great’ people of the United Kingdom are nominated to compete for the award of ‘Best in Britain 2012′. Unsurprisingly, J.K. Rowling – along with 197 others – has received recognition under the ‘Celebrated People & Talents’ category.

Jo is currently at 42nd on the list with 142 votes, directly behind glass artist Colette Halstead. Help Jo improve her ranking by voting via this link.

Scholastic recently released their list of “100 of the Greatest Books For Kids” & Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ranked in at #6.

The rankings, released by Scholastic Parent & Child magazine, are aimed at “generating controversy and conversation,” says Nick Friedman, the magazine’s editor in chief.

In that spirit, why is J.K. Rowling’s groundbreaking debut, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, only No. 6, chosen to represent the entire series?

It’s “undoubtedly one of the greatest in history,” Friedman says, but “it is only 15 years old and hasn’t had time to be as firmly established.”

Beyond literary merit and popularity, he says, the list was chosen to include a variety of genres for different ages — from infants to middle schoolers — and to be “culturally representative.”

A team of literacy experts and “mom bloggers” nominated nearly 500 titles. Friedman and four other editors at the magazine made the final decisions. Source.

Last week, it came out that in 1961, C.S. Lewis nominated J.R.R. Tolkien for the Nobel Prize in Literature and that Tolkien was summarily dismissed by the committee. As far as I know, there has never been much public discussion of Tolkien’s merits as a Nobel laureate, but it was still interesting to see some behind-the-curtains commentary on his candidacy. Anders Osterling articulated the central objection to Tolkien, who he said “has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality.”

Anyone who follows the literature Nobel at all will not be surprised by this; they know that the Nobel is interested in writing that is decidedly literary (and increasingly that is under-appreciated and/or political). This makes sense, as the award is the ultimate arbiter of what literary excellence means.

But what does literary excellence mean? In his will that established the prizes, Alfred Nobel wanted the Literature award to go to “to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” This phrase is as ambiguous as it is telling; the “ideal direction” of literature is not stated, but the award clearly is intended for authors whose work strives toward some kind of literary ideal.

These days, we know better than to claim any central, unyielding quality that makes a written work literary, but we can get a sense of what literary means to the Nobel committee by looking at some recent commendations. The most recent winner, Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, received the award “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.” 2009’s laureate, German writer Herta Müller, was cited for her “concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose” that “depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.”

The structure of these two commendations is repeated in most of the recent award descriptions, and shows how the committee imagines the highest achievement of literature–the combination of exemplary craft (concentration of poetry, condensed, translucent images) and important subjects (“the landscape of the dispossessed” and “fresh access to reality”). This formulation feels both reasonable and desirable, as it captures both the aesthetic and topical demands most readers of literature value.

But it is also a limited formulation of what the “ideal direction” of literature might be. There are other ways of thinking about what literature’s goals should be, and the one that jumps to mind for me is reading itself. Reading is an end in itself and therefore writing that inspires people to read does indeed work in “an ideal direction.” And what living author has inspired more people to read and more love of reading than J.K. Rowling?

Put the artistic imperative aside for the moment and consider this: she is the formative writer for millions and millions of children. She doesn’t write great sentences, and it would be hard to argue that the subject matter is hugely important. But the questions, characters, stories, and values in her work have resonated with the world.

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As promised, photos from the awards ceremony were added to the gallery! Doesn’t Jo look beautiful!

[x020]- Public Appearances > 2011 > Receiving An Award From Edinburgh University

As we said on our Twitter, Jo Rowling has received an award for her charity work for Edinburgh University.

Last year Ms Rowling donated £10m to fund the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at the university, which will focus on developing treatments for multiple sclerosis and other degenerative neurological conditions.

Princess Anne succeeds the Duke of Edinburgh, who stepped down as chancellor in 2010. Prince Philip had held the role since 1953.

Party Against Privilege protesters campaigned outside the ceremony at the Old College on South Bridge.

During the ceremony, the princess, who is the university’s eighth chancellor, presented an award to Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

The author received a University Benefactor’s award, which is given to individuals or organisations that have made significant contributions to the life of the university.

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We’re currently working hard to bring you pictures and video of Jo receiving her award. The event was streamed live on the web but it was not announced until the event was starting that Jo would be present. Despite this, IHOR’s eyewitness has reported a “huge mob” of people outside the area where the ceremony took place (however, some of this mob may have been part of the protest aimed at the Princess Royal).

The first picture of Jo at the ceremony can be found below and here, courtesy of Twitter user @GeorginaGossip. Jo is standing up in her ceremonial robes.

The tally is in and the blue ribbon for the best loved book at 2011 county fairgoes to J.K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series.

More than 1213 unique votes were cast at the library booth during the four days of the county fair. Eight hundred twenty-eight titles were identified.

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Forbes’ latest “100 Most Powerful Women” list was released today. Jo was No. 61!

#61Joanne (J.K.) Rowling

Celebrity/Lifestyle

Age: 46

British author JK Rowling arrives in Trafalgar Square, in central London, for the World Premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the last more »

View Joanne (J.K.) Rowling’s full profile »

J.K. Rowling has traced her family tree as part of the Who Do You Think You Are? television series. She discovered that she comes from a long line of single mothers.

But despite this, the author with a fortune valued at £530 million by the Sunday Times Rich List, was once voted the most influential woman in the UK.

The Harry Potter creator was voted top by leading magazine editors.

The writer, who recently donated £10 million to set up a new multiple sclerosis research clinic in Edinburgh, was chosen for her writing skills, tenacity to succeed and philanthropic nature, the National Magazine Company said.

The list was compiled to mark the centenary of the National Magazine Company which currently publishes 20 magazines including Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Harper’s Bazaar, Men’s Health, Esquire and Cosmopolitan.

The List:

• J.K. Rowling
• Victoria Beckham
• The Queen
• Shami Chakrabarti
• Cheryl Cole
• Samantha Cameron
• Cath Kidston, designer
• Kate Moss
• Dame Vivienne Westwood
• Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson

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