"She never knew," Rowling said. "She would have loved this just in the sense any mother wants to know their child is successful. She would have been at every event I did. She would have had so much vicarious pleasure in seeing who I met and what I did. Not telling her, that's a massive regret."

Rowling had conceived the entire plot of Harry Potter while on a train trip in 1990. She began writing immediately, but didn't tell her mother, who died that December at the age of 45 after a 10-year battle with multiple sclerosis.

*****

"Mum dying had a profound influence on the books because I had been writing the Harry Potter series, and in the first draft his parents were disposed of really in quite the cavalier fashion," Rowling told Vieira. "Six months in, my mother died. I really think from that one moment on, death became a central, if not the central, theme of the seven books. How we react to death, how much we fear it. In many ways, all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death."

Even Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry Potter, had to ask about his character's fate. "I took him out to dinner, and at one point during dinner, he leant in and he said, 'Look, I've just gotta ask you. Do I die?'" Rowling said.

"I whispered, so no one else could hear, 'You get a death scene,'" she said. "But Dan is very smart. And I'm pretty sure he would have walked away from dinner thinking, 'Yeah, I get a death scene, but what does that mean? She didn't say, 'Yes, you die,' so I hope he's happy."

The British government rejected a plea to extend copyright laws for sound recordings to beyond 50 years on Tuesday, prompting the music industry to accuse it of not supporting musicians and artists. The music industry had won support from opposition politicians and a parliamentary committee in its bid for a copyright extension that would allow veterans such as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney to carry on receiving royalties in later life.

The government would have had to push the European Commission for a change in the law but said such a move did not seem appropriate as it would not benefit the majority of performers and could lead to increased costs. "The UK is a world-beating source of great music, so it is frustrating that on the issue of copyright term the government has shown scant respect for British artists and the UK recording industry," John Kennedy, head of the IFPI body which represents the international recording industry, said in a statement.

"Some of the greatest works of British music will soon be taken away from the artists who performed them and the companies that invested in them." The issue of copyright has become a hot topic in Britain as early hits from ageing acts approach the cut-off point, just as downloading music sparks a revival for back catalogues.

Under current rules, performers can earn royalties for 50 years from the end of the year when a sound recording was made. In comparison, novelists, playwrights and composers enjoy copyright protection for their life and 70 years afterwards. Cliff Richard, whose first hit "Move It!" from 1958 is approaching the cut-off point, has led the campaign to highlight the issue, with support from the likes of McCartney, Robbie Williams and The Who's Roger Daltrey.

The first two books from the agreement, The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics and The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics, will be released in September and October, respectively.

"Martha Stewart is unparalleled for her creativity, aesthetic, and vision in the lifestyle and cooking genres," said Lauren Shakely, senior vice president and publisher of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, Potter Craft, and Potter Style. "We are thrilled to extend our partnership and honored to continue to bring her ideas into the book marketplace."

*****

"I'm delighted to be continuing my work with Clarkson Potter, which has been my book-publishing home since 1982," Stewart said in a press release. "I am so pleased that this 10-book collaboration will debut with classic recipes from the pages of Martha Stewart Living. I have been cooking nearly all my life and understand the value of the clearly written, carefully tested, and unique recipes that home cooks will take pleasure in preparing with great results."

If it sounds as though Merriam-Webster is dropping its buttoned-down image with too much talk of "smackdowns" (contests in entertainment wrestling) and "telenovelas" (Latin-American soap operas), consider it also is adding "gray literature" (hard-to-get written material) and "microgreen" (a shoot of a standard salad plant.)

No matter how odd some of the words might seem, the dictionary editors say each has the promise of sticking around in the American vocabulary.

"There will be linguistic conservatives who will turn their nose up at a word like 'ginormous,'" said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president. "But it's become a part of our language. It's used by professional writers in mainstream publications. It clearly has staying power."

One of those naysayers is Allan Metcalf, a professor of English at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and the executive secretary of the American Dialect Society.

"A new word that stands out and is ostentatious is going to sink like a lead balloon," he said. "It might enjoy a fringe existence."

To my dear media, friends, and fans,

You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the "Rubinoos" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want To Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.

Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are "Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud" by the Rolling Stones and "Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend" by the Ramones. Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no merit to their claim.

And slap in the face #2

I was going to be the bigger person and not reply when I read Chantal Kreviazuk's article in Performing Songwriter magazine. Now that all the media have caught on to her little interview, I need to speak. Chantal's comments are damaging to my reputation and a clear defamation of my character and I am considering taking legal action. Chantal has accused me of taking a song idea from her because I happen to have a song on my new record with the same title.

For the record, I wrote a song with Evan Taubenfeld which coincidentally has the same title as a song Chantal had sent me a few years ago. Our songs have no similarities and opposite meanings, i.e. different lyrics, different melody, different genres. In Chantal's own words "the only similarity is in the title." I originally wrote this with Evan for his record and I ended up with it. Funny enough when I decided to put "Contagious" on my album we had to change the words from "she" to "he" in order for it to work on my record. There are hundreds of songs out there with the title "Contagious," 75+ on iTunes alone.

Chantal has also made false accusations about my writing skills. I am so over this topic. This letter is not about this. I am not going to sit here and defend my writing skills. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I know who I am and what I have done and accomplished and no one can take that away from me.

My decision to discontinue working with Chantal after co-writing together on my second record was simply based on the fact that we had no hits together. That is why her name is not on this record, despite her numerous attempts to be included, which were always denied. From my perspective this is a clear case of bitterness. Chantal is upset that she didn't get to be a part of my record. She did email me after the article came out apologizing and I forgive her but I have to put the truth out there so my fans are not confused by these false accusations.

Let it be crystal clear that I have not ripped anyone off or done anything wrong. I have never had to deal with anything publicly like this and surely never wanted to. I do not deserve this negative press and attention. I take pride in the songs that I write and appreciate the opportunities to work with some great writers and musicians.

My fans have been so dedicated to my music and it is because of them that I have this amazing career. Thank you again to my fans for continuing to be so supportive. This is a very positive time for me in my life. I have a very successful career and I feel very lucky to have accomplished all that I have. I am so thankful every day.

I would like to say more but my lawyers have advised me not to. Why is it when you get to a certain level people want to attack you?... and now I have said my piece.

Avril

Canadian punk princess Avril Lavigne is being sued by U.S. songwriters who claim that her smash hit "Girlfriend" sounds suspiciously like a track they took up the charts in the 1970s. Lavigne's manager, Terry McBride, says the pop starlet is one of several people named in a lawsuit filed July 2 that alleges striking similarities to the Rubinoos song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

The group's founder, Tommy Dunbar, filed the suit in California's Northern Federal District Court and also names Lavigne's publishing company Avril Lavigne Publishing and Lavigne's songwriting partner Dr. Luke as defendants. McBride says from Vancouver that the claim is baseless, noting that a musicologist he hired to study both tracks has deemed them completely different songs.

Still, McBride, also CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, admitted that he is considering settling the suit out of court if the costs of defending the case prove too high. The suit comes on the heels of a jab at Lavigne by fellow Canuck songstress Chantal Kreviazuk, who recently suggested to Performing Songwriter magazine that Lavigne stole one of her songs for the disc "The Best Damn Thing."

Things are tough all over, but arguably tougher for some. For many black writers, a writing life very rarely unfolds the way it does for so many white writers you could name: know you want to be a writer from the age of 10, get your first book published at 26, go on to produce slowly but steadily over a lengthy career. Even Morrison didn't follow that timeline: her first novel wasn't published until she was nearly 40 and had worked for a number of years as a teacher and then an editor at Random House. And she didn't quit that day job until urged to do so by Gottlieb in the mid-1970s, after Sula was published.

So what's holding us up? Sometimes it's just the ordinary difficulty of juggling family, writing and earning a living. But African-American writers also speak of a larger problem of what I'd call internal or cultural permission. It's just plain harder to decide to be a writer if you don't have a financial cushion or a long cultural tradition of people going out on that bohemian limb. Consider the case of Edward P. Jones. He published his first book, Lost in the City, in 1992 (he was 41 at the time) to much critical acclaim and a number of significant honors, if not huge sales. He returned to his day job at Tax Notes magazine, where he remained until he was laid off 10 years later. He then wrote The Known World in about six months — though he told me he'd been thinking about it nearly those whole 10 years. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize.

When asked why he didn't make the leap to full-time writing sooner, Jones spoke firmly: "If you're born poor or you're born working-class, a job is important. People who are born with silver spoons in their mouths never have to worry. They know someone will take care of them. Worrying about not having a job would have put a damper on any creativity that I would have had. So I'm glad I had that job."

The problem isn't just money, says Randall Kenan, a 1994 Whiting Award winner who published two critically acclaimed books of fiction in 1989 and 1992, and two nonfiction books since 1999: "I think among middle-class black folk, it's still a struggle to validate literature as a worthy way to spend your time."

I had a chance to speak with Angelina Jolie at the press junket for A Mighty Heart on Friday, and I asked her about a few of her upcoming (or potentially upcoming) projects. As for the one the fanboys care most about -- Sin City 2 -- she laughed when I asked her if she would do it, and then she smiled and simply said "It might be resurfacing." She had a little more to say about the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, which is moving forward very slowly, despite having the Plan B powerhouse of Pitt and Jolie behind it.

Angelina told me that the project is still on the table, but "the thing with Atlas is just, we all feel that it's one of those projects where if you can't do it right, you really can't touch it. So we have not had all the pieces come together. There's not been a director that's right to come on, or all of those elements. So until it does, you know, I certainly don't want to be a part of something that's just put together to hit 'this date.'"