NPR : Potter Publisher Predicted Literary Magic:
Levine was at a children’s book fair in Bologna, Spain, in 1997 looking for international authors he could bring home, but nothing was clicking.
Finally, after describing his ideal book to a representative from the English publisher Bloomsbury, she made a reluctant offering.
“She sort of bit her lip, and said “I do have one thing … and we don’t even control the rights. You will have to go to the agent, and it is fantasy — I know that people aren’t really reading fantasy,'” Levine recalls.
Levine brought his galley copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone home and fell in love.
Book the VIIth will be on my doorstep Saturday and I should know how it ends by Sunday. It’s been quite a ride, both for the characters and for JK Rowling. Some audio clips at the page, talking about herself and the books.