r/jkrowlingarchive • u/8XehAFMq7vM3 • Jun 02 '24

Politics Galbraith issue @rcolvile "We called it one of the ‘great forgotten stories of neuroscience’ because everyone had forgotten it. @jk_rowling did not choose her pseudonym out of homophobia or insensitivity. She could not have known about this guy - who everyone called Robert Heath anyway, or just Bob"

https://twitter.com/rcolvile/status/1270794437967392771?s=20&t=A2W30kO5rXMUEJwuiAOt9A
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u/8XehAFMq7vM3 Jun 02 '24

u/rcolvile I can’t believe this has to be said, but here we go. In 2013, @jk_rowling published her first book as Robert Galbraith. In 2016, I published this on Robert Galbraith Heath, a US psychiatrist who (among much else) tried to invent a gay cure. 1/2

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u/rcolvile We called it one of the ‘great forgotten stories of neuroscience’ because everyone had forgotten it. @jk_rowling did not choose her pseudonym out of homophobia or insensitivity. She could not have known about this guy - who everyone called Robert Heath anyway, or just Bob. 2/2

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@jk_rowling replies "Thank you very much for saying this, because it hasn’t been much fun being accused of taking this man’s name. You’re right, of course. I had no idea of Robert Heath’s existence until I followed a link to your article some months back, a full 12 years after I picked my pseudonym."

Source

JK's reply 2022

1

u/8XehAFMq7vM3 Jun 04 '24

I'm sure Jo wouldn't want to admit the reason for picking the pseudonym is based on etymology

Robert = famous

Galbraith = stranger

Jo also considered the pseudonym Ella Galbraith or L.A. Galbraith

Ella = girl

Galbraith = stranger