JK Rowling commencement speech to be released as book

NEW YORK — A new book from J.K. Rowling will offer no magic – only words of wisdom.

Publisher Little, Brown and Company announced Tuesday that Rowling’s 2008 Harvard University commencement speech will be released in April as the book Very Good Lives. Proceeds will be donated to Lumos, a charity for disadvantaged children that Rowling founded, and to a financial aid program at Harvard.

In her speech, the “Harry Potter” author spoke of her early struggles as a writer and the importance of failure as a “stripping away of the inessential.”