Well, my softball team lost, but I had a grand time in NYC at the JK Rowling, John Irving, and Stephen King event. My brother came down from Boston to join me for the event since he’s a huge Stephen King fan. I’ll give a rundown of the event here, but I think there are videos available at fan sites.
First, Whoopi Goldberg introduced the whole event. She was moderately funny, and some of her side comments made it clear that she hadn’t actually written the material in front of her (she skipped whole paragraph-jokes at one point). She let us know that we were going to see lots of famous people tonight — more than just the highly successful authors, and welcomed Kathy Bates onto the stage so that she could intro Stephen King. Each author got their own mini-stage with a seat to read from. King’s looked very rural (true to his Maine roots) and he read a story about a kid that throws up at a pie eating contest and makes everyone else vomit.
Next came the guy from Homicide: Life on the Street to introduce John Irving. Irving sat in a high-brow, leather chair befitting of the academic that he is. Irving read from Owen Meany — the part where Owen convinces Barb and Rev Wiggin to change the Christmas pageant. Marc and I agreed that the Volkswagen scene would have been funnier, but as the WaPo pointed out, the chosen scene was more kid-friendly.
Next, Jon Stewart came out to introduce Jo. He received the second loudest applause of the evening. Jon cracked jokes about Mel Gibson, his kids being Potter maniacs (funnier since his youngest if 5 months old), and how books are killing his television career. The audience corrected him on his pronunciation of Rowling (rhymes with bowling). At long last, Rowling was welcomed on stage, to a half-standing-ovation. She read from Half-Blood Prince — the scene where Albus tells Tom Riddle that he is a wizard.
JK, as well as the others, answered questions. Alas, we couldn’t torture any information out of her that pertains to Book 7. We found out that all potions have a magical element to them (thus a Muggle can’t brew a potion), and that Ollivander has chosen his wand cores because of the magical creatures indigenous to the UK — and because Phoenix, Dragon, and Unicorn were JK’s favorite :) Stephen King admitted that he gets scared of everything and intimated that he once got a good story idea while having sex.
The Tuesday crowd apparently got JK to reveal that Dumbledore is actually dead.
I took some pics on my cell phone but they turned out terribly: better ones are here.
Update: I forgot to post the question I submitted. Nedless to say, I wasn’t picked:

You’ve said the first characters you thought of were: Harry, Ron, Hagrid, Nearly Headless Nick, and Peeves — all male. From the Order to the Marauders, women seem to be in the minority when it comes to important roles in the books. And while I find Hermione’s blurring of gender lines positive, it seems that the characters with feminine traits are either mean (Umbridge) or trivial (the twins). I would love your thoughts on feminine role models in your books.