Which university hosted J.K. Rowling’s 2008 commencement address?

Harvard University hosted J.K. Rowling’s 2008 commencement address.

Rowling delivered the address at Harvard’s 357th Commencement on 5 June 2008. Her speech, titled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” discussed how failure can strip away inessential concerns and how imagination can encourage empathy.

The address became widely known because Rowling connected personal setbacks with later achievement. She described a difficult period after university and before Harry Potter’s publication, while stressing that the speech was not a simple celebration of success.

Harvard awarded Rowling an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the ceremony. The event is sometimes confused with an Oxford or Cambridge appearance because Rowling studied at the University of Exeter and attended the University of Paris for part of her education, but the 2008 commencement speech was at Harvard.