J.K. Rowling reveals why she created alter ego Robert Galbraith

When Robert Galbraith’s debut novel, the mystery “The Cuckoo’s Calling,� was published in 2013, it received a smattering of decent reviews and very little attention. That all changed months later, when the book leaped to bestseller status after the true identity of the author was revealed: Galbraith was actually a pen name for J.K. Rowling, the creator of “Harry Potter.�

In an interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition� broadcast today, Rowling finally revealed why she created her secret alter ego, Galbraith.

“[T]here was a phenomenal amount of pressure that went with being the writer of Harry Potter, and that aspect of publishing those books I do not particularly miss,� Rowling said. “So you can probably understand the appeal of going away and creating something very different, and just letting it stand or fall on its own merits.�

The year before, Rowling had published her first novel for adults, “The Casual Vacancy.� Because it was the author’s first non-�Harry Potter� book, it was subject to tremendous scrutiny by the media, her fans and critics, who were lukewarm at best.

To protect her new project, a contemporary mystery series, Rowling closely guarded the secret of Galbraith’s identity. “My publisher didn’t know who I was when they first saw [“The Cuckoo’s Calling],� she told NPR.

Since being outed as Galbraith, Rowling has toyed with her dual identity, joking about it on Twitter. “We often take tea breaks together,� she tweeted about him earlier this year, adding, “My friend @RGalbraith’s first novel is going to be a TV drama on @BBCOne. He’s very excited, but expressing it with characteristic silence.�

Galbraith/Rowling’s new book, “Career of Evil,� the third in a series that began with “The Cuckoo’s Calling,� was released last month from Mulholland Books. The books feature detective Cormoran Strike, a disabled veteran and the son of a rock star.

Strike’s rock and roll heritage may be a reason the new book features plentiful references to the band Blue Öyster Cult, a favorite of Rowling’s (and of anyone who’s seen the now-famous “More cowbell!� sketch on “Saturday Night Live�).

Rowling told NPR that she sees part of herself in Strike. “[T]here are things that I like in him, and that I would like to feel that we share,� she said. “[A]t the point where we meet him in the very first book, he is absolutely on his uppers, in a way that I too have experienced, in that he is as poor as you can be without being homeless.�