Katherine and Andy Anderson, both of Lawrence, traveled to Carnegie Hall in New York recently to meet J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Andy Anderson was one of two Kansans who won the sweepstakes for the event.

Two Harry Potter fans from Kansas recently met author J.K. Rowling after being selected from a pool of thousands who entered a Scholastic J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour Sweepstakes.

Andy Anderson, a 19-year-old Kansas University freshman, and Emily Hughes, 9, of Shawnee, were among 1,000 winners who could invite one guest to meet Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, on Oct. 19 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Rowling answered questions, read an excerpt from her final book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and signed books.

“I was so excited at the time, I probably stuttered over myself,” Anderson said. “She’s really pretty and has a great sense of humor.”

Anderson took his sister, Katherine, a 22-year-old Kansas University junior. They both applied online this summer when they were traveling in Europe.

“It’s one of those contests where you think no one ever wins these things,” Andy Anderson said.

Not only did he not expect to win, but as he said, delayed his winning by three days, because he ignored the unknown number calling his cell phone in mid-September. It was Scholastic representatives trying to tell him he was selected to meet Rowling.

“I loved the whole concept; everybody that went there was a big Harry Potter fan,” Andy Anderson said. He compared the energy at the event to a football game.

The Andersons appreciated the questions, they said, because they gleaned new insights into the book, including the much-talked-about detail about Dumbledore.

“The big breaking news everyone is talking about is Dumbledore is gay,” Katherine Anderson said.

She said Rowling said, “Well actually, I’ve always pictured Dumbledore as gay.”

“There was definitely a big applause for that,” she said.

Katherine Anderson said Rowling read excerpts from the book.

“It was amazing because she did all these cool voices,” she said. “Now every time I read a book, I’m sure I’ll hear her voice.”

Katherine Anderson began the series when she was 11 and encouraged her brother and mother to read them, too.

“It’s been a bonding thing for the three of us,” she said. “It’s something multiple generations can get pleasure out of. It’s a nice thing to keep going over the years.”

Another young fan, Emily Hughes, traveled on a plane for the first time, to visit New York City for the first time and met Rowling on her ninth birthday.

“It’s one of the books she started reading on her own when she was in first grade,” said her father, Michael Hughes. “Actually in kindergarten I started reading a chapter to her at night, and within months she was pointing out words I missed. She’s been an avid reader ever since.”