J.K. Rowling gave the Commencement speech at Harvard University yesterday, and stressed the importance of imagination.

There were brooms and banners and quite a few younger children in attendance, academic robes and an honorary degree awarded.

Rowling, who did not go straight from college graduation to a incredibly successful career as a writer, spoke of failure, of how it had changed her, of how she'd learned from it, and ultimately emerged stronger and wiser. She talked about working with Amnesty International, and it's ability to use human empathy for victims of unspeakable horror to act on behalf of those victims. She said that apathy can lead to evil, for by not fighting it, we collude with it.

Rowling spoke of imagination, the force she believes can help transform the world, saying: "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

The full text of the her speech is available at Harvard Magazine.

Rowling received an honorary doctor of letters degree and had a tribute paid to her by members of the class of 1936: some carried brooms, according to AP.  

I have heard that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton vie for the best commencement speaker: this year, Tony Blair was at Yale, and Stephen Colbert at Princeton. While Tony Blair, who would be the Muggle Prime Minister of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, has influenced world affairs more, I think that both Colbert, who has made us laugh, and Rowling, who has given us much joy and started many children down the path to reading, have been a positive, happy influence as well.