J.K. Rowling and Joanne Harris in death threat row

J.K. Rowling has hit back at a mocking tweet by Society of Authors chair Joanne Harris by accusing her of “betrayal”.

Harris, author of 1999 bestselling novel Chocolat, posted a Twitter poll asking whether other writers had “ever received a death threat (credible or otherwise)” on Saturday. This was shortly after Rowling received a death threat for tweeting her outrage at the stabbing of Salman Rushdie.

In response, Rowling told The Times that trans rights advocate Harris had “consistently failed” to defend female authors who disagreed “with her personal position on gender identity ideology”, and allowed women to be intimidated into silence.

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What did Harris say?

The row erupted after Rowling tweeted her support for Rushdie after he was seriously injured in an attack in New York on Friday. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, received a message that said “don't worry, you are next”.

Harris then tweeted her death threats poll, with the response options being “Yes”, “Hell, yes”, “No, never” and “Show me, dammit”.

The tone of the Twitter poll, said the Daily Mail, suggested that the Society of Authors chair had some “scepticism” over “how serious the threats were”.

How has Rowling responded?

Rowling told The Times that she had “received no communication whatsoever from Harris expressing sympathy for the death and rape threats I’ve received”.

She added that Harris had “consistently failed to criticise tactics designed to silence and intimidate women who disagree with her personal position on gender identity ideology and has said publicly, ‘Cancel isn’t a dirty word. We habitually cancel things we no longer want.’

“I find it impossible to square the society’s stated position on freedom of speech with Harris’s public statements over the past two years and stand in solidarity with all female writers in the UK who currently feel betrayed by their professional body and its leader,” said Rowling, who has faced widespread condemnation over her views on gender identity.

Harris fired back that she was “wholly against threats of any kind, to anyone, regardless of their politics, opinions or views. That includes J.K. Rowling, or anyone whose opinions I might sometimes disagree with.

“Some of you may have noticed the volume of harassment I get on a regular basis from certain gender-critical people. This is entirely because I signed a letter supporting trans rights three years ago. I still support trans rights. The same people are behind this latest stunt.”

In a series of tweets Harris said she had deleted the poll as she felt she had “got the tone wrong”, and replaced it with a new version as she felt it is “important to see the extent of this problem”.