What is the title of J.K. Rowling’s 2015 book based on her Harvard commencement address?

J.K. Rowling’s 2015 book based on her Harvard commencement address is titled Very Good Lives.

The book reproduces and expands the address she delivered at Harvard University in 2008. Its subtitle is The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, which was also the title of the original speech. The volume includes illustrations by Joel Holland and was published by Sphere in the United Kingdom and Little, Brown in the United States.

Proceeds from the book supported Lumos, the charity founded by Rowling to help disadvantaged children. It also supported Harvard University financial-aid programs. This charitable publishing context distinguishes Very Good Lives from Rowling’s novels and companion books about the wizarding world.

A common mix-up is to give the subtitle as the book’s main title. The subtitle identifies the speech and summarizes its themes, but the short published book is called Very Good Lives. The work is nonfiction and motivational rather than a fictional narrative.