It appears everything that J.K. Rowling touches turns to gold.
The author made history again today when a book of fairy tales she hand wrote and illustrated sold for nearly $4 million at auction.
A London art agent came in with the winning bid and is now the proud owner of one of only seven copies of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” which is leather bound with silver mounts.
For Rowling, whose Harry Potter books have sold nearly 400 million copies and been translated into 64 languages, the sale means “Christmas has come early.”
But, not because she will be pocketing the $4 million payout, rather, the proceeds from the sale will benefit The Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded in 2005 by Rowling and Baroness Nicholson, a member of Britain’s House of Lords.
Rowling reportedly wrote the Beedle tales after finishing the seventh and final work in the Potter series and the book originally had been expected to sell for about $100,000. According to auction house managers, no one predicted the fairy tales would exceed the $1 million mark, let alone raise $4 million for the charity.
Rowling said the money from the book will “help institutionalized children who are in desperate need of a voice.”
MINNELLI’S GRAY DAY
The day hasn’t been as golden for a legendary Hollywood performer.
Liza Minnelli is back in the United States this afternoon after collapsing during a performance in Sweden.
According to her publicist, the 61-year-old entertainer was seen by a doctor at her Goteborg hotel, and then immediately placed on a flight to New York for medical treatment after tumbling off a concert stage.
Concert organizers say the Tony Award-winner was performing in a Christmas show Wednesday night when she passed out while walking offstage.
According to local media reports, concertgoers were shocked after witnessing Minnelli’s fall.
“We don’t yet know what happened, we are all very worried,” a concert organizer told local reporters shortly after Minnelli was whisked off stage.
According to Minnelli’s rep, the songstress was finishing up a four-night appearance with several Swedish entertainers in a show called “A Classic Christmas Night” when she collapsed.