In France, that is. The BBC announces today that the Harry Potter author has been created a Knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian award. Speaking in fluent French, JK Rowling thanked President Nicolas Sarkozy at the presentation ceremony in Paris, and apologized to the crowd for giving the evil nemesis of the series a French name. "Voldemort" means either thief or flight of death, which seems wonderfully appropriate. However, she assures her reading public that that bad guy is 100% English, and is grateful to the French for not holding a grudge.
And the President gracefully returned that he is grateful to her for getting French kids to read again.
Rowling received another accolade this very same week -- the highest of compliments from no less than Stephen King, who thinks she's a really good writer as well as being almost as successful as he is. The book blog of the Baltimore Sun reveals that in an interview with USA Today King slammed the newest mega-seller, Stephanie Meyer (who made vampires sexy), saying that she "can't write a damn," unlike Rowling, who is really good.
He also took aim at James Patterson, who is undoubtedly comforted by the news -- also reported by the BBC -- that he is the most borrowed author in British libraries. (One of the Harry Potters is the most borrowed single book.)
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