At which university did J.K. Rowling deliver her 2008 commencement address?

J.K. Rowling delivered her 2008 commencement address at Harvard University.

She spoke at Harvard’s 357th Commencement on 5 June 2008. Her address was titled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” Rowling discussed her early adult difficulties, including financial hardship and uncertainty about her future, before becoming a published author.

The speech emphasized that failure can remove distractions and reveal what matters, while imagination can help people understand experiences beyond their own. It became one of Rowling’s most widely discussed public speeches and was later published as a small book.

Harvard University is sometimes confused with the University of Exeter in accounts of Rowling’s education. Exeter is where Rowling studied, completing a degree in French and Classics. Harvard, by contrast, was the institution where she gave the commencement address.