God save Rowling!
HPANA reports some not so positive opinions about Rowling winning 'Greatest Living British Writer' award in UK's Book Magazine poll.


According to Daniel Woolstencroft from Blogcritic:
For Rowling to be given this accolade above such talented and accomplished writers as Iain Banks, Philip Pullman, and Salman Rushdie is nothing short of outrageous. For her share of the votes to be three times that of Pratchett is downright appalling.

Rowling's prose is deeply unimaginative, when compared to the vast majority of the other authors on this list. Her content is unoriginal, even if she is dismissive of her peers and cites other sources as the inspiration for her work. And she's not exactly the most prolific author in the world.

While Times online writer Anna Burnside states:

So it came as something of a surprise to discover that readers of The Book Magazine have voted JK Rowling as the greatest living writer in Britain. How can this be? She is no more the greatest living writer in Britain that George Galloway is the greatest living statesman, or Jack Vettriano is the greatest living artist. She is not even the greatest living writer of children's books. She had one good idea that became a formula that she has now worked into the ground.


Predictably, HP fandom explodes:

HPANA editor says:

Now this editor asks the question - Can we wrong? My answer to that question of course would be a resounding NO. Ms. Rowling has entertained millions of readers across the globe, yet when given this title by her fans her writings are called 'unimaginative' and the results of the poll are called 'depressing.'

Why is it when a writer chosen by her fans for such a title, we are deemed as not knowing what we are talking about? We, her fans, do not know a good book when we read it, yet we wait breathlessly for the next saga in the series. We mourn and cheer for our favorite characters, we may disagree with a certain storyline, but we will pick up the next book and enjoy it for what it is. Are we to be denied the enjoyment of Rowling's imagination just because some 'writers' deem our choice as wrong?

Why is it that every time Ms. Rowling's achieves an honor there are some that come out of the woodwork to spew the reasons why she shouldn't be given all of these accolades? I cannot really say, but some would say that sour grapes are a reason, and while they all seem to say that they do not begrudge Ms. Rowling her success, I would have to disagree.

In the end, the opinion of the above mentioned authors are just that, their opinions, and everyone is entitled to their own, even this editor.

Some comment highlights:

Lily_Evans says:


I am seriously appalled that someone could EVER call Jo's work "unimaginitive"! I mean, her books are the most famous in history! They are read around the globe! They are a hit, they are a marval, they are art in itself! I am not saying that the other writers on the list are not wonderful or important, but JK Rowling deserves recognition, and it is wrong to say that those votes count for nothing!

Oh, yes, because HP books succeess had nothing to do with publicity, movies and merchandizing.

lorrin_angel says:


I can't believe people would say stuff like that. Those people probley never picked up the book and read it that is how it goes judge something with out trying it. Those people are rude and need to get a life.


Or maybe most of the voters didn't read any of authors of the list other than Rowling?

magiclover13 says:


What?!? How could they think that! I think she is a really great author!!!

I still think that they don't know what they're thinking. Just because they didn't like her stories doesn't mean that nobody else likes them. That's really unfair how they put down her writing. Oneof them didn't even read the whole series! They can't judge the whole series by one book. And I doubt that they can write anything as brilliant as JK Rowling.
F.Y.I. If you click on the link to Daniel Woolstencroft's article and scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a place for comments.

Inciting trolling, eh? Nice.

Siriusly Depressed says:


Oh my dear Merlin...

How can you say that JKR is not a good writer when just one of the fansites has 80,000 members, and there are many more fansites and she has insired 250498 fics to be written on fanfiction.net (I just checked!)... not to mention the fact that all of JK's books are known accross the world when (with all respect to Pratchett & Pullman, who I love most of their books dearly) some of thier books are not even nearly as well known...

Good grief, yes, we know Pratchett & Pullman are great writers, adn I'm a huge fan of their works as well, but JKR was VOTED for... You know, the VOTE! As in the thoguht of the majority - yeah, some people hate HP, but they should get over it and accept that HP is one of the best series of books ever written and it appeals to almost everyone, no matter how much they bash JK, it isn't going to change that fact!

Urgh! *goes off and rants on about bashers*

Yep, people, apparently "well known book"="good literature". Also the fact that most of the voters probably didn't know any of the other authors other than Rowlings makes it a very fair poll. /ends sarcasm.

krissiebear says:


!?!?! How can he say that she isn't the greatest British writer? I don't see why she shouldn't be allowed the title, she is probably the most successful writer of this time period, beyond the United Kingdom, and for the entire globe. People feel the need to belittle her because they are jealous of her achievenments, or do not approve of the Harry Potter series because if the witchcraft. They need to get lives.

So critics are jealous and they think HP is ZOMG evil because it is about withcraft. Obviously she missed that Rowling is not the only author in that list who writes about magic.

Slytherins Heir says:


They have a point I like J.K but she is not the greatest out there.She only created Harry Potter that doesn't make her a God.

Finally someone with a sane opinion!

SoKKaPLaYaNPoTTeRGeeK says:


OMIGOSGH!!!!!!! she so deserves that title!!! Her books are read WORLD WIDE!!! they are translated to different languages!!!!!! They are made into movies!!! billions of copies are sold!!! the seventh edition is the most highly anticipated book since the Lord of The rings!!! SHE DSESERVES THE DANG TITLE!!!!!

If she weren't the greatest then no one would read her books!! she si a damn fine writer and deserves the award! The reason authors like Phillip Pullman didn't win is because his books ARE NOT AS GOOD!!! and im not making this crap up! I've read his books and would take the HP books anyday!! HP combine the right amount of mystery, suspense, romance, adventure and scince fiction!!! THE BOOKS ARE MORE THAN GREAT THEY ARE UNBELIVEABLY FANTASTIC!

O_o

Padma Patil says:


Have these writers actually read the books? Or are they using only second-hand information? Because if they had indeed read the books, even if they liked another author better, surely they wouldn't post half of those comments!

Have most of the voters read other thing different to HP?

Dragon_ Lady says:


I'm not sure I even want to read their reasons as I already know that there going to be of a negative nature and I know that I am not going to agree with them so why read it?????
SOUR GRAPES!!!
Politics!!
or Personal Problems!!!
are more than likely the motives behind this.
Why does anyone CARE what these people say,they need attention and a contravery.
There are always people like this who can't or will not accept a person's abilities.
Usually because their own are LACKING!!!!!
]
Talk about jumping to conclusions.

Fairy Foozle says:


(is trying very hard to not punch these people)

So in other words, they are calling a whole community of people stupid. They are calling Stephen King stupid for enjoying the books too. They are calling everyong on this website stupid for enjoying unoriginal material! (fumes for the next hour)

There's a difference between enjoying the books and thinking Rowling is ZOMG! the best writer ever!!11eleventyone1111!!

ilovemagic says:


I have to say that I can see and agree with both sides of this. I love her books, they have become my and a lot of people's obsessive hobby. However, I've been reading her favorite books, the ones she put on that bookshelf, and the ones she's talked about in interviews. I've read a couple dozen of them now, and I see that she has taken her favorite things from her favorite books and woven them together to create HP. She has many character names in common with Sayers, she uses Austen's method of creating twists, she's talked about using romance to camouflage motives like Sayers, she's matching Austen and Sayers development of a relationship, from Paul Gallico's Manxmouse comes the prophecy and boggarts, a ton of things come from The Little White Horse, and then individual impressive magical things come from E. Nesbits books about magic. She isn't trying to hide this, she's recommending that we read the very books in which we will find these things. She's also talked about how she has taken things from mythology and magic and twisted them a bit to be her own. She's pulled in a great number of things, and she's using alchemy for an overall framework, so what she's putting together is an impressive compilation, but it's not impressive because she thought it all up. But I didn't realize this until I read her favorite books, and neither would most people. I have been a little more disappointed every time I find another example of this, but HP is still my favorite hobby and obsession.

Yay! yet another sane opinion

witch46 says:


Wow. Really. I think those people will be getting hate mail for the rest of their lives! Seriously, is it even possible not to like Harry Potter??? It's everywhere, now there is absolutely no kid who grows up not knowing Harry's name!!!:D

Inciting to hate mail? Again, very nice.


There are many more comments there, even if some of them are repetitive, so if you are interested go ahead and explore on your own!

Crossposted in harmonywank.
ETA:
I found the confirmation of what I already suspected:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/index.php?articleID=8427
The Book Magazine poll was an online poll, where everyone could vote, and HP fans sites gave the link for people to vote.
That clearly explains why Rowling won.