Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's 2008 Harvard Commencement address. J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. For more on the 2008 Commencement Exercises, read "University Magic. " President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education. Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.
Margaret Wertheim: The beautiful math of coral. Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world.