Former Speaker Wrote All Harry Potter Books, Sources Confirm
WASHINGTON—Following news that author J.K. Rowling had secretly authored the crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pen name Robert Galbraith earlier this year, multiple reports confirmed today that Rowling, widely known as the author of the popular Harry Potter series of books, is actually the longtime pseudonym of former house speaker Newt Gingrich, who created the boy wizard and penned all seven of the bestselling novels. “Assuming a fake identity really gave me a lot of freedom to build out the world of Hogwarts and flesh out the characters without drawing unwanted attention to myself or having the novels associated in any way with my political career,” Gingrich said in a statement, confirming reports he wrote the first four books in the fantasy series while still in office, but wrote the remainder before his 2012 presidential run. “I am happy readers enjoyed my books, as I myself have always felt a very strong personal connection to Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione, and all of my other characters. Honestly, I miss them all every day.” Gingrich went on to say while he mostly tried to keep his political life separate from his fiction, the character of Ron Weasley was based almost entirely on Tom Daschle.