New Canon! Johnstone article from 2000 now available in full

I was chagrined that we didn't have the "June" 2000 article that Herald writer Anne Johnstone cites in yesterday's piece; however I have located it and added it to the archive. The actual date of the article is July 8, 2000, even though the interview actually took place in June.

What is interesting is that the original version of the "death cannot be reversed" quote is different -- and more interesting -- than we were told yesterday. Can you spot the difference?

New Canon!

One of her fundamentals is that you can't reverse death: "That's a given. Without it the plot would fall apart, though in Book Seven you'll see just how close you can get to the dead. You can be brought back from being petrified and from injuries that in the real world are mortal, depending on the degree of skill that a particular wizard possesses. You can't go to any wizard and say 'Will you cure my terminally ill relative?' It's a mirror image of the real world in that sense."
[....]
Snape is a compendium of all the bullying teachers she ever encountered [actually a variation on similar comments on Snape].
[....]
In Philosopher's Stone I had a game of chess between Harry and Ron which Ron won by using a particularly violent bishop. My editor made me take it out. He didn't want me to have a bad bishop. Well, he's back, I have a different editor now." [This refers to GoF23, where Ron beats Harry at chess with the bishop.]

In the AQ "themes" area, this will be summarized as:
--Death is not reversible, even in the Wizarding World, though in Book 7 "you'll see just how close you can get to the dead."
--Snape is a compendium of all the bullying teachers she ever encountered.
--Jo had to remove a chess scene from Book 1 that featured Ron winning by using "a particularly violent bishop."

Later edit: Here is the chess passage from Goblet of Fire: Hermione "sat down to watch their chess match, which culminated in an exciting checkmate of Ron's, involving a couple of recklessly brave pawns and a very violent bishop." (GoF23) Context: Christmas holiday, before the Yule Ball.