Writer deletes ‘disgusting’ Rowling poll

WRITER Joanne Harris last night faced calls to resign as chairman of the Society of Authors after she was accused of mocking JK Rowling with a ‘tasteless’ Twitter poll about death threats.

After tweeting her support for Sir Salman Rushdie in the wake of his stabbing on Friday, Miss Rowling received this response: ‘Don’t worry, you are next.’

Miss Harris, 58, wrote: ‘Fellowauthors... have you ever received a death threat (credible or otherwise).’ The response options were ‘Yes’, ‘Hell, yes’, ‘No, never’ and ‘Show me, dammit’, suggesting scepticism about how serious the threats were.

Novelist Simon Edge described the poll, which was later deleted, as ‘indefensible’ and said it’s ‘high time’ the Chocolat author stepped down. And writer Julie Bindel said it was ‘disgustingly inappropriate’. Police are investigating a report of an ‘online threat’ made to Miss Rowling.