"Everything we do in life is an attempt to deny death," she said on commenting on the theme of death in her novels.

"I feel very drawn to religion, but at the same time I feel a lot of uncertainty. I live in a state of spiritual flux. I believe in the permanence of the soul," Rowling said in her only interview with a Spanish newspaper to date.

"I find it a pity that Clinton and Obama have to be rivals because both of them are extraordinary," Rowling said.

And Professor Dumbledore says, in book 7, after the chapter where Harry faces the death: "Don't pity the dead Harry, but pity the living. And, above all, those who live without love." Someone who says this had to live both experiences: life, death, and lack of love.

JKR: Yes, it deals with the idea that if you treat a person brutally, that person is going to become brutal. That is something that you don't learn. We keep mistreating people, with the hope that they learn. But the only they learn is to be brutal, and the cycle repeats again. How can we stop this process? If I give you the answer, I'd be a politician and not a writer. But that process must stop. Because all we do is convert the people in assassins.

What makes you happy?

JKR: Family and work, obviously. I consider myself so lucky to have a family. When I had my daughter I already felt lucky. Although I divorced, I thought: at least I have a daughter. Many women can't have children. And I am lucky enough to find another great man and have two more kids. My children are, above all, the most important. Although it's difficult to compare writing with being a mom.

Do you still write at hand?

JKR: Yes. The pen is my magic wand and it has atrophied my finger after using it so much.