joanne rowling biography

J.K. Rowling

Who Is J.K. Rowling?

J.K. Rowling, is a British author and screenwriter best known for her seven-book Harry Potter children's book series. The series has sold more than 500 million copies and was adapted into a blockbuster film franchise.

Rowling was born Joanne Rowling on July 31, 1965, in Yate, England. She adopted her pen name, J.K., incorporating her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for the latter initial (Rowling does not have a middle name).

While struggling to support her daughter Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on her first book in the Harry Potter series. The idea for the book reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990.

READ MORE: J.K. Rowling's Incredible Rags to Riches Story

'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone'

After a number of rejections, Rowling finally sold her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, for the equivalent of about $4,000; it hit shelves in June 1997. The word "Philosopher" in the book’s original title was changed to "Sorcerer" for its publication in America.

The book was the start of a seven-book series chronicling the life of the young wizard Harry Potter and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'

The second book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , came out in July 1998.

'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'

The third book in Rowling's series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , hit shelves in July 1999. By the following summer, the first three Harry Potter books had earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages.

'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'

The phenomenal response to Rowling's books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , became the fastest-selling book in 24 hours ever. The book saw a first printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

After a postponed release date, the fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , hit bookstores in June 2003.

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'

The sixth installment, released in July 2005, sold 6.9 million copies in the United States in its first 24 hours. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the biggest opening in publishing history.

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'

Prior to its July 2007 release, the seventh and final installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was the largest ever pre-ordered book at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores and at Amazon.com. Rowling does not plan to write any more books in the series, although she has not entirely ruled out the possibility.

READ MORE: Harry Potter : The Real-Life Inspirations Behind J.K. Rowling's Characters

'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'

This collection of five fables mentioned in the Harry Potter book series, The Tales of Beedle the Bard , was released on December 4, 2008, at a tea party for 200 schoolchildren at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Rowling donated all royalties from the book to the Children's High Level Group (which has been renamed Lumos ), a charity that she co-founded to support institutionalized children in Eastern Europe.

'The Casual Vacancy'

Rowling's first book aimed at adults, The Casual Vacancy , was published in September 2012. The novel, a dark comedy about a local election in the small English town of Pagford, received mixed reviews.

A book review in The New York Times called the novel "disappointing" and "dull." A review in The Telegraph , however, gave the book three out of five stars, stating that “Jane Austen herself would admire the way [Rowling] shows the news of Barry’s death spreading like a virus round Pagford."

'Cuckoo Calling,' 'The Silkworm,' 'Career of Evil,' and 'Lethal White'

In April 2013, Rowling broke into a new genre, crime fiction, with a novel she published under the pen name Robert Galbraith. In the first few months following the release of Cuckoo Calling , the novel had modest sales and received positive reviews. Sales for the work skyrocketed in July when its author's identity was discovered.

According to Bloomberg News, Rowling said that "I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name."

Rowling published three more books under the pen name Robert Galbraith: The Silkworm in June 2014 and Career of Evil , released in October 2015, followed by Lethal White in September 2018.

'Very Good Lives' (Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech)

In April 2015, Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in book form as Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination .

The self-improvement guide offers personal anecdotes and advice on how to embrace failure and use your imagination to succeed. Proceeds from the book benefit Lumos, Rowling’s non-profit children’s organization.

‘Harry Potter: A History of Magic’

In 2017, Rowling announced on her website that she would publish two new books for an exhibition at the British Library that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the publication of her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .

The books, Harry Potter: A History of Magic (described as the adult version) and Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of Magic (the kid-friendly version), were released on October 20th and feature manuscripts, original illustrations and an exploration of the Harry Potter characters and magic.

In May 2019, it was reported that Rowling would be publishing four more Harry Potter stories. However, the author cleared up the confusion on her website, explaining that the “bite-sized e-reads” contain no new material. The A Journey Through… e-books were adapted from a companion audiobook to History of Magic narrated by Natalie Dormer.

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'Harry Potter' Movies

A film version of Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , was released in November 2001 and was directed by Chris Columbus and starred Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson and Rupert Grint .

In its opening weekend in the U.S., the film debuted on a record 8,200 screens and smashed the previous box-office record, earning an estimated $93.5 million ($20 million more than the previous record-holder, 1999's The Lost World: Jurassic Park ). It ended the year as the top-grossing movie of 2001.

The second and third films in the series — Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), directed by Columbus, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), directed by Alfonso Cuarón — each enjoyed similar record-breaking box-office success. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , directed by Mike Newell, was released in 2005.

The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , directed by David Yates, was released in 2007. The film featured a script by screenwriter Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, scriptwriter of the first four films.

The film version of the sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, directed by Yates, was released in July 2009. The final film for the seventh book in the series was released in two installments: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011), both directed by Yates .

'Fantastic Beasts' Film Series

In 2013, Rowling announced a new film series with Warner Bros. According to Entertainment Weekly , Rowling explained that the movies, based on her 2001 Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, would draw from "the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years," but "is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the 'Harry Potter' series, but an extension of the wizarding world."

Developed from a script by Rowling — her screenwriting debut — and starring Eddie Redmayne , Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in November 2016. Following in the footsteps of Rowling's previous creations that made it to the big screen, Fantastic Beasts dazzled audiences with its depictions of sorcery and grossed more than $800 million worldwide.

The film's sequel generated controversy ahead of its planned November 2018 release date for the decision to include Johnny Depp in the cast. During a time when influential Hollywood actors and executives were coming under fire for past indiscretions, fans were troubled by the allegations of domestic abuse that contributed to Depp's divorce from Amber Heard.

However, in late 2017, both Rowling and Warner Bros. issued statements in support of Depp. “The filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies,” said Rowling.

In 2014, Rowling published a short story about grown-up Harry Potter and a Hogwarts school reunion on her website Pottermore . Since the site launched, she’s added more stories and information about all things Harry Potter.

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Play

In June 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , a two-part play written by Jack Thorne and based on an original idea by Thorne, Rowling and director John Tiffany, debuted on the London stage to a sold-out audience.

Although she had originally stated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be the final book in the series, the play features an adult Harry Potter and has been officially touted as the eighth installment of the series.

The play’s cast differs from that of the original films. The next month, as with her previous books, fans lined up at bookstores pending the midnight release of Jack Thorne’s script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child .

Husband and Children

On December 26, 2001, Rowling married anesthetist Dr. Neil Murray at the couple's home in Scotland. They have two children together, David (born in 2003) and Mackenzie (born in 2005). Rowling has one child, Jessica (born 1993), from her previous marriage.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: J.K. Rowling
• Birth Year: 1965
• Birth date: July 31, 1965
• Birth City: Yate, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: J.K. Rowling is the creator of the 'Harry Potter' fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.
• Fiction and Poetry
• Astrological Sign: Leo
• University of Exeter
• St Michael's Primary School in Winterbourne
• Wyedean School and College
• Interesting Facts
• Before J.K. Rowling published her 'Harry Potter' series, she was a single mom on welfare.
• As of 2017, Rowling's net worth is about $850 million dollars.

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: J.K. Rowling Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/jk-rowling
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 29, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I still had a daughter that I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
• Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.
• Hopefully, after 'Harry,' I'll still be publishing. That's what I want.
• For a few years, I did feel I was on a psychic treadmill, trying to keep up with where I was. Everything changed so rapidly, so strangely. I knew no one who'd ever been in the public eye. I didn't know anyone—anyone—to whom I could turn and say, 'What do you do?' So it was incredibly disorienting.
• The worst that could happen is that everyone says, 'That's shockingly bad.'
• You don't expect the kind of problems wealth brings with it. You don't expect the pressure.
• Anything is possible if you've got enough nerve.
• To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
• Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.

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Humble beginnings

Harry potter and success, harry on the big screen and on stage, writing for adults, honors and controversy.

What did J.K. Rowling write?

How did j.k. rowling become famous.

• Do adults read children's literature?

J.K. Rowling

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What is J.K. Rowling famous for?

J.K. Rowling is the British author who created the popular and critically acclaimed Harry Potter series (seven books published between 1997 and 2007), about a lonely orphan who discovers that he is actually a wizard and enrolls in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In addition to the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling wrote such companion volumes as Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (2001) and cowrote a story on which the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016) was based. Her adult fiction includes The Casual Vacancy (2012) and the Cormoran Strike series (as Robert Galbraith).

J.K. Rowling started writing about Harry Potter after graduating from the University of Exeter. After a brief marriage and the birth of her daughter, Rowling settled in Edinburgh and lived on public assistance between stints as a French teacher and writing. After many rejections, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published to immediate success.

What is J.K. Rowling’s real name?

J.K. Rowling was born Joanne Rowling. After her publisher recommended she use a gender-neutral pen name, she chose J.K., adding the middle name Kathleen. She published her crime fiction series, which includes The Cuckoo’s Calling , under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Recent News

J.K. Rowling (born July 31, 1965, Yate, near Bristol, England) is a British author, creator of the popular and critically acclaimed Harry Potter series, about a young sorcerer in training.

After graduating from the University of Exeter in 1986, Rowling began working for Amnesty International in London , where she started to write the Harry Potter adventures. In the early 1990s she traveled to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, but, after a brief marriage and the birth of her daughter, she returned to the United Kingdom, settling in Edinburgh . Living on public assistance between stints as a French teacher, she continued to write.

The first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997; also published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ), was released under the name J.K. Rowling. (Her publisher recommended a gender-neutral pen name; born Joanne Rowling, she used J.K., adding the middle name Kathleen.)

The book was an immediate success, appealing to both children, who were its intended audience, and adults. Featuring vivid descriptions and an imaginative story line, it followed the adventures of the unlikely hero Harry Potter, a lonely orphan who discovers that he is actually a wizard and enrolls in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The book received numerous awards, including the British Book Award. Succeeding volumes— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)—also were best sellers, available in more than 200 countries and some 60 languages. The seventh and final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was released in 2007.

The Harry Potter series sparked great enthusiasm among children and was credited with generating a new interest in reading. Film versions of the books were released in 2001–11 and became some of the top-grossing movies in the world. In addition, Rowling wrote the companion volumes Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (2001), which was adapted into a film series (2016, 2018) that featured screenplays by Rowling; Quidditch Through the Ages (2001); and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)—all of which originated as books read by Harry Potter and his friends within the fictional world of the series. Proceeds from their sales were donated to charity.

She later cowrote a story that became the basis for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , which premiered in 2016 and was a critical and commercial success, winning an unprecedented nine Olivier Awards, including best new play. In the production, Harry is a husband and father but is still struggling with his past, while his son Albus must contend with his father’s legacy . A book version of the script, which was advertised as the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, was published in 2016. Two years later the play transferred to Broadway, and in 2018 it won six Tony Awards , including best new play.

Rowling made her first foray into adult fiction with The Casual Vacancy (2012; TV miniseries 2015), a contemporary social satire set in a small English town. In 2013 it was revealed that the author had penned the crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling , using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The Silkworm —the second book in the series, which centred on the detective Cormoran Strike, a down-on-his-luck war veteran—was released in 2014. Later installments included Career of Evil (2015), Lethal White (2018), Troubled Blood (2020), and The Ink Black Heart (2022). A television series based on the books premiered in the United Kingdom in 2017 and in the United States the following year. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rowling began serializing a new children’s book, The Ickabog , for free online; it was published in November. She described the fairy tale , which was unrelated to Harry Potter, as an exploration of “truth and the abuse of power.” She later published The Christmas Pig (2021), about a boy who loses his favourite toy and then embarks on a fantastical quest to find it.

Rowling was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001. In 2009 she was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honour .

However, in June 2020, Rowling drew unaccustomed criticism for taking exception on social media to an article that referenced “people who menstruate.” In part, Rowling tweeted “‘People who menstruate .’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out.” Rowling’s comments were seen as being unsympathetic to or out of touch with the transgender community . Some of the actors in the Harry Potter series, including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson publicly opposed the author, while others, including Ralph Fiennes , Helena Bonham Carter , and Robbie Coltrane expressed support.

J.K.Rowling Official Site

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My mother and father were both Londoners. They met on a train travelling from King's Cross station to Arbroath in Scotland when they were both eighteen; my father was off to join the Royal Navy, my mother to join the WRNS (the women's equivalent). My mother said she was cold, my father offered her a half share in his coat, and they got married just over a year later, when they were nineteen. Both left the navy and moved to the outskirts of Bristol, in the West of England. My mother gave birth to me when she was twenty. I was a rotund baby. The description in 'Philosopher's Stone' of the photographs of 'what appeared to be a beach ball wearing different coloured bobble hats' would also apply to the pictures of my early years. My sister Di arrived a year and eleven months after me. The day of her birth is my earliest memory, or my earliest datable memory, anyway. I distinctly remember playing with a bit of plasticine in the kitchen while my father rushed in and out of the room, hurrying backwards and forwards to my mother, who was giving birth in their bedroom. I know I didn't invent this memory because I checked the details later with my mother. I also have a vivid mental picture of walking into their bedroom a little while later, hand in hand with my father, and seeing my mother lying in bed in her nightdress next to my beaming sister, who is stark naked with a full head of hair and looks about five years old. Although I clearly pasted together this bizarre false memory out of bits of hearsay when I was a child, it is so vivid that it still comes to mind if I ever think about Di being born.

Di had - and still has - very dark, almost black hair, and dark brown eyes like my mother's, and she was considerably prettier than I was (and she still is). As compensation, I think, my parents decided that I must be 'the bright one'. We both resented our labels. I really wanted to be less freckly-beach-ball-like, and Di, who is now a lawyer, felt justifiably annoyed that nobody had noticed she was not just a pretty face. This undoubtedly contributed to the fact that we spent about three quarters of our childhood fighting like a pair of wildcats imprisoned together in a very small cage. To this day, Di bears a tiny scar just above her eyebrow from the cut I gave her when I threw a battery at her - but I didn't expect to hit her, I thought she'd duck! (This excuse didn't cut much ice with my mother, who was angrier than I had ever seen her). We left the bungalow when I was four and moved to Winterbourne, also on the outskirts of Bristol. Now we lived in a semi-detached house with STAIRS, which prompted Di and I to re-enact, over and over again, a clifftop drama in which one of us would 'dangle' from the topmost stair, holding hands with the other and pleading with them not to let go, offering all manner of bribery and blackmail, until falling to their 'death'. We found this endlessly amusing. I think the last time we played the cliff game was two Christmases ago; my nine-year-old daughter didn't find it nearly as funny as we did. The small amount of time that we didn't spend fighting, Di and I were best friends. I told her a lot of stories and sometimes didn't even have to sit on her to make her stay and listen. Often the stories became games in which we both played regular characters. I was extremely bossy when I stage-managed these long-running plays but Di put up with it because I usually gave her star parts.

There were lots of children around our age living in our new street, among them a brother and sister whose surname was Potter. I always liked their name, whereas I wasn't very fond of my own; 'Rowling' (the first syllable of which is pronounced 'row' as in boat, rather than 'row' as in argument) lent itself to woeful jokes such as 'Rowling stone', 'Rowling pin' and so on. Anyway, the brother has since cropped up in the press claiming to 'be' Harry. His mother has also told reporters that he and I used to dress up as wizards. Neither of these claims is true; in fact, all I remember of the boy in question was that he rode a 'Chopper', which was the bicycle everybody wanted in the seventies, and once threw a stone at Di, for which I hit him hard over the head with a plastic sword (I was the only one allowed to throw things at Di). I enjoyed school in Winterbourne. It was a very relaxed environment; I remember lots of pottery making, drawing and story writing, which suited me perfectly. However, my parents had always harboured a dream of living in the country, and around my ninth birthday we moved for the last time, to Tutshill, a small village just outside Chepstow, in Wales. The move coincided almost exactly with the death of my favourite grandparent, Kathleen, whose name I later took when I needed an extra initial. No doubt the first bereavement of my life influenced my feelings about my new school, which I didn't like at all. We sat all day at roll-top desks facing the blackboard. There were old inkwells set into the desktops. There was a second hole in my desk, which had been gouged out with the point of a compass by the boy who had sat there the year before. He had obviously worked away quietly out of the sight of the teacher. I thought this was a great achievement, and set to work enlarging the hole with my own compass, so that by the time I left that classroom you could comfortably wiggle your thumb through it.

My secondary school, Wyedean, where I went when I was eleven, was the place I met Sean Harris, to whom Chamber of Secrets is dedicated and who owned the original Ford Anglia. He was the first of my friends to learn to drive and that turquoise and white car meant FREEDOM and no more having to ask my father to give me lifts, which is the worst thing about living in the countryside when you are a teenager. Some of the happiest memories of my teenage years involve zooming off into the darkness in Sean's car. He was the first person with whom I really discussed my serious ambition to be a writer and he was also the only person who thought I was bound to be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time. The worst thing that happened during my teenage years was my mother becoming ill. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is a disease of the central nervous system, when I was fifteen. Although most people with multiple sclerosis experience periods of remission - when their illness stops progressing for a while, or even improves - Mum was unlucky; from the time of her diagnosis onwards she seemed to become slowly but steadily worse. I think most people believe, deep down, that their mothers are indestructible; it was a terrible shock to hear that she had an incurable illness, but even then, I did not fully realise what the diagnosis might mean.

I left school in 1983 and went to study at the University of Exeter, on the south coast of England. I studied French, which was a mistake; I had succumbed to parental pressure to study 'useful' modern languages as opposed to 'but-where-will-it-lead?' English and really should have stood my ground. On the plus side, studying French meant that I had a year living in Paris as part of my course. After leaving university I worked in London; my longest job was with Amnesty International, the organisation that campaigns against human rights abuses all over the world. But in 1990, my then boyfriend and I decided to move up to Manchester together. It was after a weekend's flat-hunting, when I was travelling back to London on my own on a crowded train, that the idea for Harry Potter simply fell into my head. I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. To my immense frustration, I didn't have a functioning pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. I think that perhaps if I had had to slow down the ideas so that I could capture them on paper I might have stifled some of them (although sometimes I do wonder, idly, how much of what I imagined on that journey I had forgotten by the time I actually got my hands on a pen).

I began to write 'Philosopher's Stone' that very evening, although those first few pages bear no resemblance at all to anything in the finished book. I moved up to Manchester, taking the swelling manuscript with me, which was now growing in all sorts of strange directions, and including ideas for the rest of Harry's career at Hogwarts, not just his first year. Then, on December 30th 1990, something happened that changed both my world and Harry's forever: my mother died. It was a terrible time. My father, Di and I were devastated; she was only forty five years old and we had never imagined - probably because we could not bear to contemplate the idea - that she could die so young. I remember feeling as though there was a paving slab pressing down upon my chest, a literal pain in my heart. Nine months later, desperate to get away for a while, I left for Portugal, where I had got a job teaching English in a language institute. I took with me the still-growing manuscript of Harry Potter, hopeful that my new working hours (I taught in the afternoon and evening) would lend themselves to pressing on with my novel, which had changed a lot since my mother had died. Now, Harry's feelings about his dead parents had become much deeper, much more real. In my first weeks in Portugal I wrote my favourite chapter in Philosopher's Stone, The Mirror of Erised. I had hoped that when I returned from Portugal I would have a finished book under my arm. In fact, I had something even better: my daughter. I had met and married a Portuguese man, and although the marriage did not work out, it had given me the best thing in my life. Jessica and I arrived in Edinburgh, where my sister Di was living, just in time for Christmas 1994.

I intended to start teaching again and knew that unless I finished the book very soon, I might never finish it; I knew that full-time teaching, with all the marking and lesson planning, let alone with a small daughter to care for single-handedly, would leave me with absolutely no spare time at all. And so I set to work in a kind of frenzy, determined to finish the book and at least try and get it published. Whenever Jessica fell asleep in her pushchair I would dash to the nearest cafe and write like mad. I wrote nearly every evening. Then I had to type the whole thing out myself. Sometimes I actually hated the book, even while I loved it. Finally it was done. I covered the first three chapters in a nice plastic folder and set them off to an agent, who returned them so fast they must have been sent back the same day they arrived. But the second agent I tried wrote back and asked to see the rest of the manuscript. It was far and away the best letter I had ever received in my life, and it was only two sentences long. It took a year for my new agent, Christopher, to find a publisher. Lots of them turned it down. Then, finally, in August 1996, Christopher telephoned me and told me that Bloomsbury had 'made an offer.' I could not quite believe my ears. 'You mean it's going to be published?' I asked, rather stupidly. 'It's definitely going to be published?' After I had hung up, I screamed and jumped into the air; Jessica, who was sitting in her high-chair enjoying tea, looked thoroughly scared. And you probably know what happened next.

J. K. Rowling

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J. K. Rowling was born in 1965, and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She studied at Exeter University, where she gained a French and Classics degree, and where her course included one year in Paris. As a postgraduate she moved to London to work at Amnesty International, doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa.

She started writing the Harry Potter series during a Manchester to London King's Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.

This first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), was an unprecedented success. The novels in the series which have succeeded it have topped bestseller lists, won numerous awards, and been translated into over sixty languages. Worldwide, the Harry Potter books have exceeded sales of 300 million copies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as a film in 2001, adapted by Steve Kloves, and an adaptation of the second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), was released in November 2002. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (directed by Alfonso Cuaron) followed in 2004, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , directed by Mike Newell, was released in November 2005 in the UK and US. The subsequent film adaptations - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , and the two-parter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - were directed by David Yates and released between 2007 and 2011.

J. K. Rowling's initial aim was to write seven books in the Harry Potter series. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  was published in 2003, and the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in 2005. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was published in 2007. She has also written two small volumes which appear as the titles of Harry's school books within the novels - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages, which were published in 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.

J. K. Rowling has honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, US, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews, Napier University, Edinburgh, and University of Edinburgh. She was awarded an OBE for her services to children's literature in 2001, and became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002. In 2010 she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2012, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of novels, published between 1997 and 2007, have become the biggest sellers in the history of children’s writing. She founded the children’s charity ‘Lumos’, which aims to end the institutionalisation of children in orphanages worldwide. In November 2013, The Independent newspaper reported that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) topped a poll to find Britain’s favourite children’s book.

Her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy , was published in 2012; she also published the crime novels  The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015) and Lethal White (2018) under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. In 2016 she collaborated with the playwright Jack Thorne and theatre director John Tiffany; together they created the story for the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the script of which was written by Thorne.

Critical perspective

In the opening scene of harry potter and the philosopher’s stone (1997), an owl and a cat observe the safe arrival of an orphan baby at the door of the dursley family of number four, privet drive, little whinging, in surrey. the owl is headmaster dumbledore of hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, while the cat is professor mcgonagall, who re-assumes human form to declare of baby harry: ‘every child in our world will know his name’ could any author have ever written a more prophetic sentence its meaning unfolds over the course of seven volumes of epic adventures for the schoolboy wizard in the world of magic - and of course is now equally true in our own non-magical world of ‘muggles’. the unprecedented commercial success of the books, several big box-office films, and a great deal of merchandise and publicity have ensured that ‘harry potter’ continues to be one of the most recognizable brand names in the world – and j.k. rowling herself is no doubt the best-known british author worldwide..

The key factor in the ‘Harry Potter’ phenomenon seems in retrospect to have been the eagerness with which adult readers embraced a saga originally intended for the children’s book market. The supreme storytelling qualities of the books, crowded with quirky characters, developing year by school year towards a final climactic conflict between Good and Evil, the witty inventiveness and slyly satirical exchanges; all this, and much more, has vastly entertained readers of all ages and nations. The books have had a marked impact upon the publishing industry, promoting fantasy literature for both children and adults. Perhaps their most beneficial effect has been to make reading a fashionable activity again, whether in private or public. The journalist Allison Pearson commended ‘Harry Potter’ for what she called ‘the dense, knitted, pleasurable sound of children reading’ ( Daily Telegraph,  27 September 2012).

Critics were quick to point out the extent to which the books are indebted to previous classic children’s authors, from Ursula LeGuin to Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton to T.H. White and Tolkien (not forgetting Tom Brown’s Schooldays or Anthony Buckeridge’s amusing ‘Jennings’ books of boarding school life). A less-remarked precedent is the Gothic Novel. Hogwarts after all is a place haunted by ghosts, with monsters in its bowels, moving portraits, disappearing rooms and secret passageways, plus the ever-present threat of Dark Forces. Outside is the Forbidden Forest complete with centaurs, spiders the size of horses, hippogriffs and other magical creatures (the latter under the erratic control of kindly half-giant Hagrid, Harry’s special friend). What sets J.K. Rowling apart, however, is her ability to construct a fantasy realm in fantastic detail, alternate funny and scary episodes, while sustaining readers’ interest to the point of addiction. We really must know what happens in the next chapter, the next book. The years that Rowling reputedly spent in planning the overall architecture of the story were well spent. As author she acts as a good teacher, directing the lessons (we as readers learn wizardry alongside Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione, school bully Draco Malfoy and his cronies), ending each year with a satisfying competition between rival houses or schools.

Such a vast drama requires a good supporting cast: eccentric teachers (Snape, Slughorn, Lupin, Trelawney) and pupils variously appealing or objectionable. The latter naturally grow up over the course of seven years from childhood into teenagers, so romantic entanglements complicate the action of the last few books. Harry himself is attracted to Cho Chang and, more lastingly, to Ginny Weasley. The beauty of Hogwarts as a concept is that it is simultaneously old-fashioned (a steam train from Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross starts each year) and contemporary (in its co-educational and multicultural ethos). Pupils have to pass exams, cope with bullying, and have the latest items from Diagon Alley’s magical shopping. The school itself comes under increasing pressure from the Ministry of Magic.

Harry is the Arthurian hero, guided and protected by Dumbledore (Merlin by analogy) until he is able to undertake his destiny: to avenge the killing of his parents by arch-enemy Lord Voldemort. Essential to the saga is the progressive revelation of Voldemort’s own back-story, his family history, and his ambition: to not only rule the magical world but to defeat death itself. In his evil desires he thus becomes a true tragic hero. The parallels between these two orphans grow ever closer as their final confrontation looms in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).

We recall that Harry began life in Little Whinging, suburban Surrey, being grudgingly raised for his first ten years by the awful Dursley family. Their grotesque domestic habits and class-conscious obnoxiousness seem to connect with at least some of the inhabitants of Pagford, the ‘picturesque’ village in which Rowling’s first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy (2012), is centered. But Pagford and its downmarket neighbour Yarvill contain no magic; what they do have is a myriad of serious domestic problems and troubled children. The plot concerns the sudden death of a popular teacher and councillor, Barry Fairbrother, and the machinations that ensue as factions on the local council seek to fill the vacancy to their advantage. It is fair to say that the novel has had a very mixed reception. Some commentators have praised its acute social satire and bold difference from Rowling’s previous fiction. Others, notably Allison Pearson, have called it ‘a shock’ to readers, ‘sometimes funny’ but by the conclusion ‘howlingly bleak’ ( Daily Telegraph , 27 September 2012).

Rowling’s skill at coordinating a large cast of adults and children is again evident. The opening scenes in which news of Fairbrother’s demise spreads around the village, and numerous infidelities revealed, are excellent. The most compelling characters are teenagers: feckless Krystal Weedon, self-harming but plucky Sukwinder, and especially Fats. His arrogant determination to disregard ‘restrictive morality’ and be ‘the baddest of them all’ is somewhat reminiscent of Tom Riddle. Indeed, as Allison Pearson points out, ‘Harry Potter’ too contains evil acts, deaths and sadness but also redemption. Joanne Rowling’s ‘powers of enchantment’ will no doubt be regenerated to enthrall her international readership in future books.

Dr Jules Smith, updated 2013

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J. K. Rowling

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Who Is J.K. Rowling?

J. K. Rowling is the author of the hugely popular Harry Potter books.

Dates: July 31, 1965 --

Also Known As Joanne Rowling, Jo Rowling

J. K. Rowling's Childhood

J.K. Rowling was born at Yate General Hospital as Joanne Rowling (with no middle name) on July 31, 1965, in Gloucestershire, England. (Although Chipping Sodbury is often mentioned as her birthplace, her birth certificate says Yate.)

Rowling's parents, Peter James Rowling and Anne Volant, met on a train on their way to join the British navy (the navy for Peter and the Women's Royal Naval Service for Anne). They married a year later, at age 19. At age 20, the young couple became new parents when Joanne Rowling arrived, followed by Joanne's sister, Diane "Di," 23 months later.

When Rowling was young, the family moved twice. At age four, Rowling and her family moved to Winterbourne. It was here that she met a brother and sister who lived in her neighborhood with the last name Potter.

At age nine, Rowling moved to Tutshill. The timing of the second move was clouded by the death of Rowling's favorite grandmother, Kathleen. Later, when Rowling was asked to use initials as a pseudonym for the Harry Potter books to attract more boy readers, Rowling chose "K" for Kathleen as her second initial to honor her grandmother.

At age eleven, Rowling began attending the Wyedean School, where she worked hard for her grades and was terrible at sports. Rowling says that the character Hermione Granger is loosely based on Rowling herself at this age.

At age 15, Rowling was devastated when given the news that her mother had become seriously ill with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease. Instead of ever entering remission, Rowling's mother grew increasingly sick.

Rowling Goes to College

Pressured by her parents to become a secretary, Rowling attended the University of Exeter beginning at age 18 (1983) and studied French. As part of her French program, she lived in Paris for a year.

After college, Rowling stayed in London and worked at several jobs, including at Amnesty International.

The Idea for Harry Potter

While on a train to London in 1990, having just spent the weekend apartment-hunting in Manchester, Rowling came up with the concept for Harry Potter. The idea, she says, "simply fell into my head."

Pen-less at the time, Rowling spent the remainder of her train-ride dreaming about the story and began to write it down as soon as she arrived home.

Rowling continued to write snippets about Harry and Hogwarts but wasn't done with the book when her mother died on December 30, 1990. Her mother's death hit Rowling hard. In an attempt to escape the sorrow, Rowling accepted a job teaching English in Portugal.

Her mother's death translated into more realistic and complex feelings for Harry Potter about his parents' deaths.

Rowling Becomes a Wife and Mother

In Portugal, Rowling met Jorge Arantes and the two married on October 16, 1992. Although the marriage proved a bad one, the couple had one child together, Jessica (born July 1993). After getting divorced on November 30, 1993, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh to be near Rowling's sister, Di, at the end of 1994.

The First Harry Potter Book

Before starting another full-time job, Rowling was determined to finish her Harry Potter manuscript. Once she had completed it, she typed it up and sent it to several literary agents.

After acquiring an agent, the agent shopped around for a publisher. After a year of searching and a number of publishers turning it down, the agent finally found a publisher willing to print the book. Bloomsbury made an offer for the book in August 1996.

Rowling's first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ( Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was the U.S. title) became hugely popular, attracting an audience of young boys and girls as well as adults. With the public demanding more, Rowling quickly got to work on the following six books, with the last one published in July 2007.

Hugely Popular

In 1998, Warner Bros. bought the film rights and since then, extremely popular movies have been made of the books. From the books, the films, and the merchandise bearing Harry Potter images, Rowling has become one of the richest people in the world.

Rowling Marries Again

Between all of this writing and publicity, Rowling remarried on December 26, 2001, to Dr. Neil Murray. In addition to her daughter Jessica from her first marriage, Rowling has two additional children: David Gordon (born March 2003) and Mackenzie Jean (born January 2005).

The Harry Potter Books

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (June 26, 1997, in U.K.) (called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S., September 1998)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (July 2, 1998, in U.K.) (June 2, 1999, in the U.S.)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (July 8, 2000, in both U.K. and U.S.)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (June 21, 2003, in both U.K. and U.S.)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 16, 2005, in both U.K. and U.S.)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 21, 2007, in both U.K. and U.S.)
• J. K. Rowling Family Tree
• 28 Lighthearted Quotes and Dialogue From the Harry Potter Series
• Using Harry Potter to Learn German
• Top Colleges for Harry Potter Fans
• The Harry Potter Controversy
• Are, Hour, and Our: How to Choose the Right Word
• 10th (or 11th) Grade Reading List
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• Exercise in Identifying Prepositional Phrases
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Biography Online

Facts J.K. Rowling

J.K.Rowling was born July 31, 1965, Yate, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Spouse: Neil Murray (m. 2001), Jorge Arantes (m. 1992–1993)

Her three children: Jessica Arantes, Mackenzie Murray, David Murray

• She wrote her first book, “Rabbit,” about a rabbit with measles aged six in 1971.
• After her mother praised ‘Rabbit’ – Rowling replied ‘then get it published’ – admitting she didn’t know where that idea came from.
• Her first school – St Michael’s Primary School, was founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More.
• She was the Head Girl at Wyedean School and College
• In 1982, she took the entrance exams to Oxford University but didn’t pass.
• She graduated from the University of Exeter with a BA in French and Classics
• After university J.K.Rowling worked as a researcher for Amnesty International and continues to support the charity financially.
• Rowling was living on state benefits when she was writing the first Harry Potter book. She became a multi-millionaire within five years.
• Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died during the writing of Harry Potter.
• Rowling has stated her mother was a big influence on the Harry Potter series.
• The frightening dementors in the Harry Potter books were created to reflect her period of clinical depression.
• The idea for the Harry Potter series came whilst she was stuck on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990.
• She mentions the inspiration came unannounced, and she furiously wrote them down:

“I really don’t know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head.”

• She began writing the first page of Philosopher’s Stone in her flat by Clapham Junction that evening.
• She wrote the first three chapters of her first Harry Potter book in Porto, often whilst listening to Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.
• In 1993, after her first marriage broke down she moved to Edinburgh with three chapters of the Philosopher’s Stone in her suitcase.
• J.K. Rowling stated in 2000, that she loved inventing the names of her imaginary world. She even wrote many names on the back of an aeroplane sick bag. – “I invented the names of the Houses on the back of an airplane sick bag. This is true. I love inventing names, but I also collect unusual names so that I can look through my notebook and choose one that suits a new character.” – J. K. Rowling.
• Seven years after graduating, as an unemployed single mother, Rowling felt she was ‘the biggest failure I knew” But also this failure was liberating
• Rowling finished her first Harry Potter book in Edinburgh, often writing in local cafes because she wanted to take her child out for walks.
• In first editions of Harry Potter, her author name was Joanne Rowling, but fearing boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, she used J.K.Rowling.
• Her first fan letter was from a girl called Francesca Gray – who addressed her as: ‘Dear Sir…’
• Twelve publishing houses rejected her original Harry Potter manuscripts. Her book was finally taken on by Bloomsbury, who gave her a small advance.
• In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher’s Stone with an initial print run of 1,000. First editions can now go for between £16,000 and £25,000
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released on 8 July 2000 selling 372,775 copies on its first day in the UK
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on 16 July 2005, sold nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, released on February 2007 sold 11 million copies on its first day.
• In 2018, the seven-book Harry Potter series has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide;
• The character of Hagrid is supposed to be based on a big, intimidating ‘Hell’s Angel’ from the West Country who used to sit down and talk about his petunias.
• J.K. Rowling stated when she planned book, initially, Ron’s dad was destined to die after the attack by deadly snake Nagini in Order of the Phoenix. However, she changed her mind, as she felt the book needed good fatherly figures.
• Over the course of the eight Harry Potter Films, the scar of Harry Potter was applied to Daniel Radcliffe or his stunt double a total of 5,800 times.
• Rowling said her parents met at King’s Cross station, creating the idea for platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross.
• The global brand of Harry Potter is worth an estimated $15 billion
• She was a big fan of Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, Dickens and J.R.R. Tolkien.
• Rowling stated her most influential writer was Communist and civil rights activist Jessica Mitford. Mitford went to Spain to fight in the Civil War against fascist Franco.
• Rowling identifies herself as a Christian, though not a committed Christian.
• Referring to criticisms of witchcraft in her books, Rowling has stated: “I believe in God, not magic.”
• Her adult book ‘The Casual Vacancy’ was written under a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.
• In September 2011, Rowling was named a “core participant” in the Leveson Inquiry into press intrusion. Rowling has often faced harassment from the press.
• In October 2010, Rowling was named the “Most Influential Woman in Britain” by UK magazine editors.
• March 2, 2001 was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by H.R.H. Prince Charles.
• In 2004, Forbes claimed Rowling’s worth was $1 billion, making her the first billion-dollar author. But, Rowling claimed she was not so rich as that.
• She has supported the British Labour party with a £1 million donation.
• J.K.Rowling has supported several charities, such as Gingerbread (supporting single parent families), Comic Relief and Lumos.
• In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality
• In 2001, the Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint by Rowling over a series of unauthorised photographs of her with her daughter on the beach in Mauritius published in OK! Magazine .
• In 2017, her net worth is estimated at $650 million. The Harry Potter movie franchise has grossed over $7.7 billion.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “ Facts J.K. Rowling” , Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net – 12th Dec. 2016, Last Updated. 5th November 2019.

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J.K. (Joanne) Rowling biography

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J.K. (Joanne) Rowling

How to pronounce J.K. (Joanne) Rowling: rolling

J.K. (Joanne) Rowling Biography

Joanne Kathleen Rowling (pronounced rolling) was born on July 31st, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England. Her sister, Di, was born a little under 2 years later. Rowling can remember telling stories from early on and writing down her first story when she was 5 or 6 years old - about a rabbit called Rabbit who got the measles and was visited by friends including a giant bee called Miss Bee. She moved house twice while growing up. The first was from Yate, just outside Bristol, to Winterbourne - also close to Bristol. In Winterbourne she was friends with a brother and sister whose surname was Potter. She says she always liked the name, and preferred it to her own because the children always made annoying jokes about rolling pins! Her family moved again when she was nine years old - to Tutshill near Chepstow in the Forest of Dean. After attending Tutshill Primary School she went to Wyedean Comprehensive. She describes herself as having been quite, freckly, short-sighted and rubbish at sports. Her favorite subject was English followed by languages. She used to tell stories to her friends - usually involving them all doing heroic and daring deeds that they wouldn't dare to do in real life. She went to Exeter University straight after school and studied French, having been encouraged by her parents who said that this could lead to a great career as a bilingual secretary. Jo left home at eighteen for Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of £50 for overdue books at the University library. Her knowledge of Classics would one day come in handy for creating the spells in the Harry Potter series, some of which are based on Latin. On graduating from Exeter she moved to London and spent a few years working a series of jobs including being 'the worst secretary ever', and being a researcher at Amnesty International. Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King's Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper. In 1990, at the age of 26, she moved to Portugal to teach English. She says that she loved teaching English. She taught in the afternoons and evenings, leaving the mornings free for writing. At this time she was starting work on her third novel (the first two having been abandoned as being 'very bad'). The new book was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was sent off to wizard school. While in Portugal she met and married a Portuguese journalist, Jorge Arantes. Their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993. After their marriage ended in divorce, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, to be close to her younger sister, Di. Jo brought with her the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . She set herself a deadline - to finish the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher - and, of course, to try and get it published. She wrote at a café table while Jessica was napping. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to finish the book and, after a number of rejections, she eventually sold Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone for the equivalent of about USA $4,000 to Bloomsbury (UK). By this time Rowling was working as a French teacher (being serenaded down the corridors with the first line of the theme from Rawhide "Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep those wagons rolling...') A few months later Arthur A Levine Books/Scholastic Press bought the American rights for enough money that she was able to give up teaching. The book was published in the UK by Bloomsbury Children's Books in June 1997 (at the time of writing 1st editions of this book are on the market for upwards of 12,000 UK pounds/ USA $20,000). Thereafter the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, and the Smarties Prize. Renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , the book was published in the USA in September 1998 by Arthur A Levine Books/Scholastic Press, with illustrations by Mary Grandpre. The sequel, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets was published in the UK in July 1998 and in the USA in June 1999. The third book, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, was published in the UK in July 1999 and in the USA in September 1999. In 1999 Rowling became an international literary sensation when the first three installments of the Harry Potter series took over the top 3 slots in the New York Times bestsellers list - after achieving similar success in the UK. This resulted in the New York Times introducing a bestseller list for children's literature - a relief to many adult authors vying for the top slots on the list and an honor for Rowling. By Summer 2000, the first three books had sold over 35 million copies in 35 languages and earned approximately $480 million. In July 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had a first printing of 5.3 million copies with advance orders of over 1.8 million. By 2000, Ms. Rowling had sold at least 30 million copies of the first three books which had been printed in 35 languages, earning approximately $400 million. The fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix was published in 2003 with a first print run of 8.5 million copies (USA). 5 million copies were recorded sold in the USA on the first Saturday after it was published. Barnes and Noble reported selling 286,000 copies in just one hour. By 2003 at least 192 million copies had been sold in over 200 countries, and the books have been translated into at least 55 languages, including Latin. In 2003 she was estimated to be the richest woman in England - a position previously held by the Queen. The sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was published simultaneously in multiple countries on July 16th 2005. The seventh, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was published in July 2007. In 2001, the film adaptation of the first book was released by Warner Bros., and was followed by six more book adaptations, concluding with the release of the eighth film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 , in 2011. The first two movies were directed by Chris Columbus who also directed Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire . The third movie was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth movie, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire directed by Mike Newell, was released in 2005. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix followed in 2007. Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince was released in November 2008, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was released in November 2010. The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 , was released in July 2011. The Harry Potter series has sparked new enthusiasm amongst children for books. Having said that, Rowling's books are not free from criticism - some Christian fundamentalists, express concern that the books promote and encourage satanic practices. On the other hand, other Christians applaud the books for the themes of courage, loyalty, justice, honesty and fairness that they portray and compare them to books such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Rowling says she wrote Harry Potter when "I was very low, and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad." Will there be another Harry Potter book? For sometime Rowling has insisted that she will not write another Harry Potter book, but in an article in Time Magazine in January 2008 she confessed to "weak moments" when she feels like succumbing to the pressure from her many fans, including her her 14-year-old daughter Jessica. Rowling says, "If - and it's a big if - I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I've already told his story. "But these are big ifs. Let's give it ten years." In the meantime, Rowling has launched Pottermore.com, a website where fans can participate in "…an online experience based around the Harry Potter books, which includes exclusive new information from [Rowling]." In September 2012 Rowling published her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy , to huge sales but mixed reviews. In July 2013 it was revealed that she was the author of the The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, published in April 2013 by Mulholland Books (a division of Hachette). The book received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly ("a stellar debut") and Library Journal ("totally engrossing") and, at the time that the pseudonym was revealed had sold perhaps 1500 copies in hardcover in the UK and 500 in the USA. In 2016, J.K. Rowling collaborated with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany on an original new story for the stage. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two is now running at The Palace Theatre in London's West End. The script book was published (Little, Brown) to mark the play's opening in July 2016, and instantly topped the bestseller lists. ' Also in 2016, J.K. Rowling made her screenwriting debut with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , a further extension of the Wizarding World, released to critical acclaim in November 2016. A prequel to Harry Potter, this new adventure of Magizoologist Newt Scamander marked the start of a five-film series to be written by the author. J.K. Rowling has been married to Dr Neil Murray since 2001. They live in Edinburgh with their son, David (born 2003) and daughter, Mackenzie (born 2005).

J.K. (Joanne) Rowling's website This bio was last updated on 06/11/2017. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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J.K. Rowling

• Born July 31 , 1965 · Yate, Gloucestershire, England, UK
• Birth name Joanne Rowling
• Height 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
• Joanne Rowling was born in Yate, near Bristol, a few miles south of a town called Dursley ("Harry Potter"'s Muggle-family). Her father Peter Rowling was an engineer for Rolls Royce in Bristol at this time. Her mother, Anne, was half-French and half-Scottish. They met on a train as it left King's Cross Station in London. Her sister Diana is about 2 years younger than Joanne. In 1971, Peter Rowling moved his family to the nearby village of Winterbourne (still in the Bristol vicinity). During the family's residence in Winterbourne, Jo and Di Rowling were friends with neighborhood children, Ian and Vikki Potter. In 1974, the Rowling family moved yet again, this time to Tutshill, near the Welsh border-town of Chepstow in the Forest of Dean and across the Severn River from the greater Bristol area. Rowling admits to having been a bit of a daydreamer as a child and began writing stories at the age of six. After leaving Exeter University, where she read French and Classics, she started work as a teacher but daydreamed about becoming a writer. One day, stuck on a delayed train for four hours between Manchester and London, she dreamed up a boy called "Harry Potter". That was in 1990. It took her six years to write the book. In the meantime, she went to teach in Portugal, married a Portuguese television journalist, had her daughter, Jessica, divorced her husband and returned to Britain when Jessica was just three months old. She went to live in Edinburgh to be near her sister, Di. Her sudden penury made her realize that it was "back-against-the-wall time" and she decided to finish her "Harry Potter" book. She sent the manuscript to two agents and one publisher, looking up likely prospects in the library. One of these agents that she picked at random based on the fact that she liked his name, Christopher Little, was immediately captivated by the manuscript and signed her on as his client within three days. During the 1995-1996 time-frame, while hoping to get the manuscript for "Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone" published, Rowling worked as a French teacher in Edinburgh. Several publishers turned down the manuscript before Bloomsbury agreed to purchase it in 1996. - IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]
• Spouses Neil Murray (December 26, 2001 - present) (2 children) Jorge Arantes (October 16, 1992 - November 30, 1993) (divorced, 1 child)
• Children Jessica Isabel Rowling-Arantes David Gordon Rowling-Murray Mackenzie Jean Rowling-Murray
• Parents Peter Rowling Anne Rowling
• Relatives Diana Rowling (Sibling)
• Was inspired to create the character of Hagrid after overhearing a muscular biker worry that the petunias he cared for were not doing very well.
• When the first "Harry Potter" novel was published, the publisher asked her to use initials rather than her first name, because boys would be biased against a book written by a woman. Since she only had one given name, they then asked her to make up another initial; she took "K." from her favorite grandmother, Kathleen.
• Is the first author billionaire, according to Forbes magazine (2006).
• After spending six years writing the first installment of her "Harry Potter" novels, Rowling was rejected by nine publishers before London's Bloomsbury Publishing signed her on.
• Finished writing the final novel in the fantasy franchise three weeks ago - and marked the occasion by leaving graffiti in a Scottish hotel. Eagle-eyed guests at the five-star Balmoral Hotel spotted a line from the best-selling author scrawled in black pen on the back of a marble bust in a room Rowling occupied. She wrote, "J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on January 11, 2007.".
• [Asked by an interviewer about the next "Harry Potter" novel] Well, it will be a papery object with pages inside.
• [on her daughter, Jessica] Kids at her school will sidle up to me and say, "Does Jessica know what happens in book 4? Does Jessica know the title of book 4?" And I keep saying, "No! There is no point kidnapping her, taking her around back of the bike shed, and torturing her for information."
• Bigotry is probably the thing I detest most. Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.
• I had an American journalist say to me, "Is it true you wrote the whole of the first novel on napkins?" I was tempted to say, "On teabags, I used to save them."
• I gave my hero a talent I'd love to have. Who wouldn't want to fly?

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• J.K. Rowling
• In the Classroom

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England.

She wrote her first book,  Rabbit , at the age of six and wanted it published.

Favorite Childhood Books

‘The Little White Horse’ by Elizabeth Goudge

‘Manxmouse’ by Paul Gallico

‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis

She moved with her family to Tutsill (a small village within the parish of Tidenham in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.

Jo and her sister, Dianne, attended Wyedean Comprehensive School and College.

Rowling loved school and was much like Hermione Granger though she says,

“I hope I was neither as clever or as annoying as Hermione!”

Jo began to attend secondary school at Wyedean Comprehensive where she met Séan Harris, to whom  The Chamber of Secrets is dedicated.  He owned the original Ford Anglia.  He was the first person she told about wanting to be a writer and he was confident she would be successful.

Rowling went to the University of Exeter, on the south coast of England where she studied French at her parents’ suggestion.  She really wanted to study English Literature but her parents argued that she wouldn’t be able to do anything with that particular degree.

She graduated from the University of Exeter with a BA in French and the Classics.

She began working in London as a researcher for Amnesty International, an organization that campaigns against human rights abuse.

“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before…”

Jo moved to Manchester with her boyfriend.

She was travelling back to London on a crowded train when the idea for  Harry Potter “simply fell into her head.”

She didn’t have a pen, and was too shy to ask to borrow one, so she sat on a delayed train for four hours and thought about the story.

She began to write ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ that night, although those first pages were nothing like the published book.

On December 30th, Jo lost her 45 year old mother to multiple sclerosis.  The loss of her mother inspired the early demise of Harry’s parents.  She regrets that her mother was never able to read  Harry Potter .

J.K. Rowling moved to Portugal to work as an English teacher at a language institution.  This was a very dark and trying period of her life as she struggled to make amends with her mother’s death.

“I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded … and the fears of my parents, and those I’d had for myself, had both come to pass. By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.” “Nine months after my mother’s death, desperate to get away for a while, I left for Portugal. I took with me the still-growing manuscript of Harry Potter, hopeful that my new working hours (I taught in the afternoon and evening) would lend themselves to pressing on with my novel.” “In those first weeks in Portugal I wrote what has become my favourite chapter in the Sorcerer’s Stone, “The Mirror of Erised” – and had hoped that, when I returned from Portugal I would have a finished book under my arm.”

J.K. Rowling married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on October 16th.

Rowling’s first daughter, Jessica Isabel Arantes Rowling, was born on July 27th in Portugal.

In November, Jo separated from her husband.

She and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in December to be near her sister.

“Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” ~  J.K.. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address

Rowling obtained Christopher Little as her literary agent.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s   Stone was rejected by twelve publishers before Bloomsbury, a small publishing company in London, agreed to publish the book.  Interestingly enough, the decision to publish was largely due to the fact that eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury’s chairman immediately fell in love with book after reading just one chapter.  All-in-all, it took one year before J.K. Rowling found a publisher.

Rowling was granted £8,000 ($12,990.40) by the Scottish Arts Council which allowed her to take care of her daughter, Jessica, and work on the second book in the series,  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Joanne’s publisher suggested that she use a pen name because he thought young boys might be wary of a book written by a woman.  Since Joanne doesn’t have a middle name, she selected the letter ‘K’, for ‘Kathleen’, the name of her paternal grandmother.

In April, Scholastic Books bought the American United States publishing rights to  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released on June 26th.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  was published on July 2nd.  It went to Number One in the adult hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication.

In September, Scholastic Books published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone  in the United States as  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Booksellers Association Author of the Year

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published on July 8th.  It went to Number One in the UK adult hardback bestseller charts for four weeks.

British Book Awards Author of the Year

Joanne began supporting the work of Gingerbread (originally known as ‘One Parent Families’).  Gingerbread provides support and advice for single parents as well as campaigning on their behalf to highlight their needs and those of their children.

Joanne created her own charitable trust, Volant, which supports projects that alleviate social deprivation, with an emphasis on women’s and children’s issues.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on July 8th.  The book had a record first print run of one million copies in the UK and quickly broke all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first day of publication.

In 2001, J.K. Rowling received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, for services to children’s literature.

In March,  ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’  and  ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’ were published.  Both books are Hogwarts school books and were originally published in aid of Comic Relief.  Sales of the books raised over £17 million ($27,604,600).  Copies published since 2009 generate a donation of £1.15 ($1.87) to the charity.

On November 16th,  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters in London and became a huge box office success.

J.K. Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray on the 26th of December, in a private ceremony at their country home in Scotland.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  opened in theaters in the UK and the US on November 15th.

J.K. Rowling became patron of the Scotland MS Society.  Her support for the charity included planning and hosting fundraising events, lobbying, and raising awareness of the disease, as well as contributing significant funds for research in Scotland.  She stepped down as Patron of the charity in 2009 but continues to fund MS research directly through the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic.

J.K. Rowling’s son, David, was born on March 24th.

On June 21st,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  was published in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia. This fifth instalment in the series broke all records that had been set by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as it became the fastest selling book in history.

On September 10th, J.K. Rowling accepted the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord at a ceremony in Oviedo, Spain.  The award is an annual prize, awarded by the Prince of Asturias (heir to the throne of Spain) to individuals, entities or organizations that make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban  opened in theaters in the UK on May 31st.

WH Smith Fiction Award

The youngest of J.K. Rowling’s three children, her daughter, Mackenzie, was born on January 23rd.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  was published in the UK, US and other English-speaking countries on July 16th. This, the sixth book in the series, also achieved record sales.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  is the fourth film in the Harry Potter series. It was released on November 18th, in the UK.

J.K. Rowling co-founded the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) with Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP, inspired by a press report she read about children in caged beds in institutions in the Czech Republic. (In 2010 the charity became Lumos, and changed its remit slightly. Lumos works to end the systematic institutionalisation of children across Europe, and to see them placed into safe, caring environments.)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  won the British Book of the Year award.

Joanne Rowling takes an honory position as President of Gingerbread.

J.K. Rowling was honoured with a Blue Peter Gold Badge. The Blue Peter badge is a special award given to viewers, fans and individuals who have been recognized by the award-winning BBC children’s television programme of the same name.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  opened in theaters on July 12th.

Although  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  is a single novel, this seventh instalment in Harry’s adventures was subsequently the basis for two films. As the final book in the series, it was published in the UK, US and other English speaking countries on July 21st.

J.K. Rowling produced seven individual copies of a volume of wizarding fairy-tales called  The Tales of Beedle the Bard .  She gave of the copies to the individuals who had been most closely associated to Harry.  The seventh book was sold at an auction in December and sold for £1.95 million ($3,166,410).  The proceeds were donated to the charity Lumos to help institutionalized children.  After the auction, the book was published for the general public.  Lumos receives £1.61 ($2.61) of each book sold.

J.K. Rowling was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 from the British Book Awards (now known as The Galaxy National Book Awards).  The British Book Awards is a series of awards bestowed by an academy of members from the British book publishing industry.

In June, J.K. Rowling delivered the Commencement Address at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. Her speech was titled, ‘The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.’  Her speech ended,

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better…”

On the December 4th,  The Tales of Beedle   the Bard  was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group (now Lumos).  Lumos receives £1.61 ($2.61) of each book sold.

The Edinburgh Award

James Joyce Award, University College Dublin

South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement

J.K. Rowling was named Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur at a ceremony conducted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in France.  Under normal circumstances, membership of the Legion d’Honneur is restricted to French nationals. However, foreign nationals who have served France or the ideals it upholds, may receive a distinction – which is held in the same high regard as Legion membership.

In April,  Harry Potter: The Exhibition  opened in Chicago, Illinois, featuring artifacts and props from all eight Harry Potter films.   http://harrypotterexhibition.com/

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  opened in theaters on July 15th.

J.K. Rowling was the first recipient of a new award, the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This prize is distinct from the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, as it recognizes works that are expected to have the same enduring appeal as the Danish master’s characters.

J.K. Rowling donated £10 million ($16,224,000) towards the foundation of a new clinic at the University of Edinburgh. The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will support patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as conducting major research into neuroregeneration. The facility is named after Jo’s mother, who died of multiple sclerosis aged 45, and will open officially in 2013.

In 2005, J.K. Rowling co-founded the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) with Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP, inspired by a press report she read about children in caged beds in institutions in the Czech Republic. In 2010 the charity became Lumos, and changed its remit slightly. Lumos works to end the systematic institutionalisation of children across Europe, and to see them placed into safe, caring environments.

Oprah Winfrey interviewed J.K. Rowling. In this interview, the two women spoke candidly about not only her success, but also many of the emotional challenges J.K. Rowling has overcome during her life.  They talked about depression; poverty; the trials of single parenting, and the importance of love as a theme that has become a well-known constant in each of J.K. Rowling’s books.

On June 18th,  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter  opened in Universal Orlando Resort, Florida. This re-creation of Hogsmeade allows guests to visit detailed replicas of the shops and establishments from the films, whilst the magnificent full-sized Hogwarts castle houses the groundbreaking attraction Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I  opened in theaters in the UK and the US on November 19th.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2  opened in the UK and the US on July 15th. It had the biggest opening weekend of all time, both domestically and internationally, and is currently the third highest ranking film worldwide.

Pottermore opened to the public on April 14th.  Pottermore is a website where fans can discover more about the world of Harry Potter and access exclusive new content about the characters, places and objects in these much-loved stories.

The Casual Vacancy , Rowling’s first novel for adults, was released on September 27th in the both the UK and the US.

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Salient Women

Biographies of extraordinary women

Biography of Joanne Rowling, British novelist

Biography of Joanne Rowling, sympathetic British author who achieved surprising publishing success with her “Harry Potter” novels.

The first novel was followed by six others. The “Harry Potter” series has been one of the literary phenomena in history.

Joanne Rowling, creator of the character Harry Potter

At the beginning of 1994, an unknown Joanne Rowling had been writing this fantastic novel, with an old typewriter.

She did it sitting at the table in an Edinburgh cafe, while taking care of her young daughter, Jessica.

The novel tells the adventures and adventures of Harry Potter, an orphan boy, with magical powers and capable of escaping at will to a fantasy world.

The first book was titled “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” The set of books sold by Joanne Rowling until the end of 2008, exceeds 500 million copies.

The Harry Potter novels were made into a movie, and have been huge at the box office.

Biographical information of the writer Joanne Rowling

Joanne Rowling was born in a small town, near Bristol, in the southwest of England.

She was born on July 31, 1965. Two years later, in 1967, her parents, Peter Rowling and Anne Volant, had their second daughter, Dianne.

Peter Rowling was an engineer for the Rolls-Royce company. Anne Volant was Scottish.

Joanne calls herself Jo, saying that when she was little no one called her Joanne, unless they were mad at her. They called her sister Di.

Due to her father’s work, the family soon moved to Winterbourne. This is a large town also close to Bristol.

Joanne attended an elementary school in town, Saint Michael’s School.

Joanne’s first director at St. Michael, Alfred Dunn, is believed to have inspired the character of “Albus Dumbledore,” the powerful and kind-hearted wizard from the Harry Potter series.

As a child, Joanne Rowling enjoyed writing fantastic stories.

When she was five or six years old, she made up the story of a bunny that had measles and was visited by her friends and by a giant bee.

As a teenager, her great-aunt gave her an old copy of Jessica Mitford’s autobiography. Joanna then read all the books written by Jessica Mitford.

This British writer and journalist (1917-1996) became her hero.

Joanne Rowling attended high school at the Wyedean School .

Sean Harris, her best friend, owned a turquoise Ford Anglia. Joanne was inspired by that Ford, to describe a car that appears in one of her books.

Literary beginnings of the author of Harry Potter

In Winterbourne, another of Joanne and Dianne’s friends was named Ian Potter.

When Joanne started writing her first novel, she borrowed that last name to give life to her famous fictional character.

A few years later, the Rowlings moved to a rural area of ​​Gwent County called the Forest of Dean.

There in the field, the two sisters enjoyed the pleasure of playing in the field and walking near a river.

But, at the new school that Joanne and Dianne attended, one of the teachers became a subtle enemy of Joanne.

The hated professor Mrs. Morgan, went on to embody one of the most evil characters in the Harry Potter novels.

However, Joanne Rowling was a diligent student.

Possessing a prodigious imagination, she became famous for her love of telling stories to a small circle of friends, who listened carefully to her narration of long stories at recess times.

Studies and beginnings of her professional career

In 1982, Joanne Rowling failed to enroll at Oxford University.

Then, on the advice of her father, she studied French and classical philology at the University of Exeter.

After obtaining the double degree, she continued with a year of studies in Paris, in order to master French.

She then moved to London.

In the capital, she got a job as a bilingual researcher and secretary at Amnesty International .

As an Amnesty International official, she participated in investigative work on human rights violations in French-speaking Africa.

Beginning of her literary career

One day in June 1990, she had to travel by train from Manchester to London; On the way, the train had problems and the trip was delayed for 4 hours.

During that long wait, she came up with the idea of inventing “ a school of witches and wizards. “

Suddenly, the idea of a boy who did not know he was a wizard came to her mind until he received an invitation to attend a magic school.

The plot began with Harry Potter, and then all the characters and situations came to the fore in her head.

As soon as Joanne entered her apartment, she began to write what she had been imagining while waiting on the train.

Unfortunately, in those months her mother passed away, as a result of multiple sclerosis that had affected her for 10 years.

Joanne Rowling was deeply saddened, dropped everything and went to teach English abroad.

It was 1990, and Joanne Rowling was 25 years old when she went to Portugal.

Joanne Rowling’s marriage

In Porto, Joanne Rowling fell in love with Jorge Arantes, a journalist from Portuguese television.

They were married in October 1992.

Soon after, they had a daughter who Joanne Rowling named Jessica, after Jessica Mitford.

Unfortunately, alcoholism and Jorge Arantes’s infidelities made Joanne Rowling leave him in November 1993.

The mother and daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, to be close to Dianne Rowling, Joanne’s sister.

Immediately, in March 1994, Joanne Rowling began the judicial process to obtain a restraining order against Jorge Arantes.

In August 1994, she formally filed for divorce, which was granted.

All these months were very hard for young Joanne Rowling. But her daughter Jessica gave her the strength not to bend.

Jobless and living on state subsidies, Joanne Rowling completed her first novel by writing in various cafes.

She went to those places because taking her baby for a walk was the best way to put her to sleep.

It is interesting to remember another young Scottish mother who, a century earlier, under similar family circumstances, emigrated to the USA as a maid and ended up being one of the most outstanding astronomers at Harvard.

Her name was Williamina Fleming.

History of the first Harry Potter novel

In 1995, Joanne Rowling finished her original for “ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ” on her old typewriter.

She decided to go to the agency “ Christopher Little Literary Agents ” to represent her in the search for a publisher who would like to publish her novel.

This agency commissioned one of its readers (Bryony Evans) to do a first reading of the first three chapters of Joanne Rowling’s original.

In the face of the enthusiastic response from Bryony Evans, the agency “ Christopher Little Literary Agents ” agreed to represent Joanne Rowling in the search for a publisher.

Initially, they sent the book to twelve publishers, all of which rejected the manuscript.

A year later, in 1996, the president of a small British publishing house in London received a copy of the book.

The publisher’s name was Barry Cunningham and he ran the Bloomsbury Publishing House.

Seeing that the novel was a fantastic story, Barry Cunningham commissioned his eight-year-old daughter (Alicia Newton) to read the first chapter.

The girl devoured the writing and immediately asked her father for the second chapter.

This had a decisive influence on the fact that in 1997 the Bloomsbury Publishing House agreed to publish 1,000 copies of the book.

And she offered an advance of £ 1,500 to Joanne Rowling.

The novel for children was titled “ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .”

Five months later, the book won the “ Nestlé Children’s Book Award .”

Soon after, the novel won the prestigious ‘ British Book Award ‘, in the Children’s Book of the Year category, and later, the ‘ Best Children’s Book Award ‘.

In the United States, this first novel by Joanne Rowling was published under the title “ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone .”

Harry Potter novels go to the movies

In October 1998, Warner Bros bought the film rights to the first two “Harry Potter” novels.

On November 16, 2001, the first film version of “ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ” was released.

The continuation of the Harry Potter stories

Joanne Rowling had made a spectacular leap to world fame as a writer of children’s novels.

Barry Cunningham and the Bloomsbury Publishing House lacked time to plead with Joanne Rowling to allow the publication of her second novel.

• The second novel was titled “ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets .” It was published in July 1998.
• Just over a year later, in December 1999, the third novel, “ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, ” was published. This one won the “ Best Children’s Book Award “. Joanne Rowling was the first person to win the award three times, and over 300,000 copies were sold in Britain in one year.
• Joanne Rowling and Barry Cunningham delayed the release of the fourth Harry Potter novel, to allow time for the first three to spread. The fourth book, “ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire “, was released simultaneously in the United Kingdom and in the United States, on July 8, 2000. This fourth novel broke sales records in both countries. In Britain 775 copies of the book were sold on the first day. In the United States, the book sold three million copies in the first 48 hours, breaking all records for book sales.
• The publication of the fifth novel took about three years. It was in 2003 and it bore the title of “ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix .”
• The sixth book, “ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ,” came out on July 16, 2005. It also broke sales records, selling nine million copies in the first 24 hours on the market.
• The seventh and last Harry Potter book “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ” was released on July 21, 2007. Only in the UK and the USA, 11 million copies were sold on the first day launch.

“ Harry Potter ” became a global trademark, valued at approximately £ 7 billion.

The series has been translated into 74 languages, as the Harry Potter books sparked interest in reading among young people.

Harry Potter Movies

The movie “ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone “, released on November 16, 2001, was quickly followed by the film version of the second novel “ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets .”

• On June 4, 2004 the film based on the third novel, “ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban “, was released.
• The movie “ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire “, version of the fourth novel, was released on November 18, 2005.
• Two years later, in July 2007, the “ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ” movie was released. It corresponded to the fifth novel.
• The film version of the sixth novel, “ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ,” was released on July 15, 2009.
• The last book in the series, “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows “, was divided into two parts, one of which was released on November 19, 2010 and the other on July 15, 2011.

In drafting the contract, the production company Warner Bros ( Warner Brothers Pictures ) took into account the wishes and opinions of Joanne Rowling.

One of the main stipulations, was that the films had to be shot in Great Britain with a totally British cast.

Joanne Rowling was especially involved in the choice of the main characters.

She chose Daniel Radcliffe ( Harry Potter ), Emma Watson ( Hermione Granger ) and Rupert Grint ( Ron Weasley ).

The Coca-Cola company was the winner of the contest for providing products to the film series.

To do this, Joanne Rowling demanded that they donate 18 million dollars to the American foundation “ Reading is Fundamental. “

The Harry Potter films were a worldwide success in their ten-year premiere of the different adaptations of each of the seven books.

After ending the Harry Potter series, Joanne Rowling continued to write children’s books. Among them:

• Fantastic beasts and where to find them
• The crimes of Grindelworld
• T he Tales of Beedle the Bard

Her overflowing imagination and her passion for the magical world of children has notably enriched fantasy literature.

Joanne Rowling also wrote adult novels

She still writes under the pseudonym J. K. Rowling.

This pseudonym was because, before publishing the first novel, Bloomsbury Publishing House feared that readers would be reluctant to buy books written by a woman.

They asked her to use two initials and not her first name.

As a second initial, she chose the letter K in honor of her paternal grandmother Kathleen.

Her first adult novel, “ Un unexpected vacancy ,” was published in September 2012.

In April 2013, she published her second book for adults, “ The song of the cuckoo ”, in which she ventures into the black genre.

Current situation of the writer Joanne Rowling

More than 20 years have passed since little Alice Newton had the unexpected privilege of being the first girl in the world to read the first two chapters of “ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .”

It can be said that this 8-year-old daughter of editor Barry Cunningham was essential to the beginning of Joanne Rowling’s meteoric career.

From being a complete stranger, struggling financially and living on a modest pension as an unemployed person, Joanne Rowling became a wealthy and popular woman.

In Europe and especially in the United States, crowds of children accompanied by their parents endured long lines in bookstores, to get hold of the latest adventures of the little magician.

Since then, Joanne Rowling is the first person to earn a billion US dollars from writing books.

She is currently the second richest female artist in the world.

In 2001, she bought a luxurious 19th century estate near the River Tay in Aberfeldy, Scotland.

She also owns a house in Edinburgh, and a £ 4.5 million mansion in Kensington, West London.

Joanne Rowling’s marriage to Neil Murray

On December 26, 2001, Joanne Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born June 30, 1971), a medical anesthetist.

They had two children: David (born March 24, 2003) and Mackenzie (born January 23, 2005).

Jessica, the daughter she had with the Portuguese Arantes, has always lived with Joanne.

Little Jessica was a silent witness to the early Harry Potter novels.

Joanne Rowling has received numerous awards and honors.

In 2003, in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, she became the first writer to receive the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord .

There is no doubt that her greatest reward has been the hundreds of thousands of children who have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books and movies.

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J.K. Rowling - Biography

The harry potter author is a doting mother.

When the first film of her Harry Potter series was released in November 2001, children's author JK Rowling 's total earnings topped the £70 million mark. The books have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold more than 325 million copies worldwide, and the success of the franchise has made its creator thus far the only billionaire author in existence. All of which is a far cry from the writer's experiences while penning the original manuscripts. At the time, Joanne was struggling to raise a baby daughter alone on a £70-a-week welfare cheque in a mice-infested flat in Edinburgh. "Until you've actually been there," she said, "you've no idea how soul-destroying it is to have no money. It is a complete loss of self-esteem." The once dreamy girl who liked playing at witches and wizards was forced to draw on all her resources. "I could not afford the luxury of writer's block and so I wrote with intensity," she recalls. 

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital on July 31, 1966, and grew up in a loving family. Her father, Peter, was an engineer, and mother Anne, a half-French half-Scottish homemaker who stayed at home to care for Joanne and her younger sister Di. When Joanne was 14, her mother was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. The best-selling author-to-be wrote her first story, Rabbit, when she was just five years old, and both parents were keen to nurture their elder daughter's imagination. Although she later opted to study French at Exeter University - where she arrived clutching a boxful of short stories - at Wyedean Comprehensive School Joanne's favourite subject was English.

Early Career

 After graduating from Exeter, she headed for London where she landed a job as a bilingual secretary and researcher with Amnesty International. Writing remained a passion, and it was during this period that the seed of the magical Harry Potter stories was planted. In 1990, during a train journey between Manchester and London's King Cross, Joanne mapped out the tale of an orphan who discovers he is a wizard. It was the beginning of a project which would bear fruit six years later. The same year that Joanne was laying the groundwork for Harry Potter, her mother succumbed to the illness she had fought since her early 30s. 

Nine months later Joanne , then 24, moved to Portugal to try and come to terms with her loss. While there she met and married Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes, but divorced him shortly after the birth of their daughter. Penniless, she returned to Edinburgh to be near her sister Di. A single mum with a child to care for, she was unable to resume full-time work, but desperately needed to support them both. The result was the manuscript for her first novel, written in cafes while her daughter slept because their home was too cold to stay in. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone was an almost instant success. Numerous awards followed, and Joanne was offered an unprecedented sum for the book's American rights. 

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Harry potter.

Her sudden fame enabled her to raise the profile of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Scotland - in memory of her mother - and led to a role as the ambassador for the National Council For One Parent Families. Joanne remains fiercely protective of her private life, especially since her secret marriage to Dr Neil Murray in December 2001. The couple's first child, a boy, was born in March 2003, just three months before her eagerly awaited fifth book, Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix , hit the shelves. Their second child, daughter Mackenzie, was born in early 2005. 

In 2007, Joanne hit a milestone in her writing career, when she penned the final chapters of the last installment of the spellbinding boy wizard series, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows . "I was in a hotel room on my own. I was sobbing my heart out," she remembers of the time. "I downed half a bottle of champagne from the mini-bar in one and went home with mascara all over my face. That was really tough." The end of Harry didn't mark Joanne's retirement from the world of writing, though. In March 2008 she revealed she had once again taken to frequenting Edinburgh cafes, with the intention of writing another novel for youngsters. "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy," she said.

• J K Rowling

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J.K. Rowling

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Introduction

(born 1965). British author J.K. Rowling captured the imagination of children and adults alike with her best-selling series of books about Harry Potter , a young sorcerer in training. The books were critically acclaimed as well as wildly popular around the world and were credited with generating a new interest in reading among children, the books’ intended audience.

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, near Bristol, England. She grew up in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, Wales. She loved reading and wrote her first story at the age of six. After graduating from the University of Exeter in 1986, Rowling began working for Amnesty International in London, England. The idea for the Harry Potter stories came to her during a train ride in 1990, and she began writing the magic adventure while sitting in cafés and pubs. In the early 1990s she traveled to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. After a brief marriage and the birth of her daughter, she returned to the United Kingdom, settling in Edinburgh, Scotland. Living on public assistance between work as a French teacher, she continued to write, often on scraps of paper and napkins.

Harry Potter

After being rejected by several publishers, Rowling’s first manuscript was purchased by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in 1996. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), which was known in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone , was an immediate success. It was released under the name J.K. Rowling. (Her publisher recommended a gender-neutral pen name; she used J.K., adding the middle name Kathleen after her grandmother.) Featuring vivid descriptions and an imaginative story line, the book followed the adventures of the unlikely hero Harry Potter, a lonely orphan who discovers that he is actually a wizard and enrolls in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The book received numerous awards, including the British Book Award. All six succeeding volumes— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)—were also best sellers.

While working on the Harry Potter books, Rowling wrote the companion books Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages (both 2001) as well as The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008). They all originated as books read by Harry Potter and his friends within the fictional world of the series. Rowling later cowrote a story that became the basis for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , which premiered in 2016 and was a critical and commercial success. A book version of the script, which was advertised as the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, was published in 2016.

Movie versions of the first seven Harry Potter books appeared between 2001 and 2011. They were as successful as the books and became some of the top-grossing movies in the world. Rowling wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them (2016) and for the second movie in the series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018).

Other Works

In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Rowling began to release free online installments of a new children’s book,  The Ickabog . Later that year it was published as a book. The fairy tale was unrelated to Harry Potter. She later published  The Christmas Pig  (2021), about a boy who loses his favorite toy and embarks on a quest to find it.

Rowling also wrote fiction intended for adults. In 2012 she published The Casual Vacancy , a contemporary social satire set in a small English town. It was turned into a TV miniseries in 2015. In 2013 it was revealed that Rowling had written the crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling , using the pen name Robert Galbraith. The book centered on the detective Cormoran Strike, a down-on-his-luck war veteran. Other books in the series include The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), Lethal White (2018), and Troubled Blood (2020). A television series based on the books premiered in the United Kingdom in 2017 and in the United States the following year.

Rowling was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2001. In 2009 she was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.

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Biography of J.K. Rowling

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Gloucestershire, England. Her parents, Peter James Rowling and Anne Rowling (née Volant), met during a train ride from King’s Cross Station to Scotland, where they both intended to join the Royal Navy. When Anne complained of being cold on the train, Peter offered to share his coat with her, and the couple was married a little more than a year later. After their marriage, Peter and Anne left the navy and moved to the outskirts of Bristol, where Anne gave birth to Joanne Rowling and, less than two years later, a second daughter, named Dianne.

When Rowling was four years old, the family moved to Winterbourne, a nearby village. Although the two sisters frequently fought, they were extremely close, and Rowling would amuse Dianne by telling her imaginative stories, many of which she would write down. These stories would inspire long, dramatic scenarios that were enacted during their playtime, with the girls playing all of the parts. During their time in Winterbourne, Rowling also became friendly with a brother and sister who lived across the street and had the last name of Potter, a name which Rowling admitted she liked much more than her own.

In 1974, when Rowling was nine years old, the family moved again, this time to the country village of Tutshill in Wales. Almost at the same time as the family’s move, Rowling suffered the loss of her favorite grandmother, Kathleen (whose name she would eventually add to her own to come up with the pen name, J.K. Rowling). She finished her primary school studies at St. Michael’s Primary School, whose benevolent headmaster, Alfred Dunn, would supposedly serve as the inspiration for Professor Dumbledore.

At the age of eleven, Rowling began studying at Wyedean Comprehensive School and College. Lacking any natural athletic ability and with few friends, the lonely Rowling dedicated herself to her studies and her love of literature. Her interest in literature and writing was fueled when her aunt gave her a copy of Jessica Mitford’s autobiography, Hons and Rebels . Rowling promptly read all of Mitford’s other books and became a huge fan of the author. Interestingly, Rowling has commented on her studious adolescence, saying “Hermione is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was 11, which I'm not particularly proud of.” Rowling also supposedly based another Harry Potter character on an individual from Wyedean: John Nettleship, the head of science during her time at the school, has acknowledged himself as the inspiration for the malignant Professor Snape.

Despite her problems at Wyedean, Rowling continued to foster a secret hope of becoming a writer throughout her adolescence. This hope was encouraged by her close school friend, Sean Harris, to whom she dedicated the second book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . Rowling’s teenage years were also made more difficult when her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

In 1983, Rowling graduated from Wyedean and began attending Exeter University for her B.A. in French. Although Rowling wanted to study English, her parents convinced her that a career as a bilingual secretary would give her more stability than a job in literature could. After graduation, Rowling moved to London and began to work as a bilingual secretary for Amnesty International, an organization that campaigns against human rights abuses. Rowling admits that she was not a very good secretary; instead of taking notes during meetings, she would jot down story ideas.

During a train ride from London to Manchester in 1990, Rowling first came up with the idea of a young boy who does not know that he is a wizard. Too shy to ask any of the other passengers for a pen, Rowling kept the ideas in her mind until the train arrived in Manchester, and then she immediately began to work on the story. Shortly after this initial inspiration, Rowling’s mother finally succumbed to multiple sclerosis, dying in December of 1990. Her death was a huge blow to Rowling and would greatly influence the direction of the story about the young wizard and the loss of his parents.

Still devastated by her mother’s death, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1991 to work as an English teacher at a language institute. She brought her ever-growing book manuscript with her and, during her first week in Portugal, wrote the twelfth chapter of the book, “The Mirror of Erised.” While in Portugal, Rowling met and married a Portuguese journalist and gave birth to a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. However, the marriage was rocky, and, in December of 1993, Rowling returned to Britain with her daughter and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland to be near her sister.

Unfortunately, in order to get a teaching position in Scotland, Rowling needed a postgraduate certification of education (PGCE), which required a year-long course of study. While unemployed and looking for a job, Rowling spent nearly every evening working on the book in local cafés while her daughter was asleep in her stroller.

After Rowling finished the book in 1995, she sent the first three chapters off to agents and began the course of study needed for the PGCE. The second agent that she contacted decided to take on the project and spent almost a year trying to find a publisher. The small Bloomsbury Children’s Books finally accepted the manuscript and published the book under the name Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in June 1997. Soon after its publication, Rowling’s book began to win numerous awards, including the British Book Award, the Nestle Smarties Book Prize, and the Children's Book Award.

Scholastic Press bought the American rights to the book (giving it the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ) and paid Rowling enough money to quit teaching and support herself solely by writing the next books in the Harry Potter series. The sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , was published in England in July 1998 and in America in June 1999, and the third book of the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , was published in England in July 1999 and in America in September 1999.

These first three Harry Potter books took the three top spots on the New York Times Bestseller List and earned Rowling $400 million, promptly making her the richest author in the world. In 1998, Rowling sold the film rights to the Harry Potter series, and the first film in the franchise was released in 2001. Rowling completed the remaining four books in the Harry Potter series between 2000 and 2007, with the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , selling 15 million copies within the first twenty-four hours of its release.

In 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray, a British anesthetist, and gave birth to their son, David, in 2003 and their daughter, Mackenzie, in 2005. Since her completion of the Harry Potter series, Rowling has received honorary degrees from St. Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Exeter, and Harvard University, as well as the Légion d’honneur from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She is also an avid philanthropist and has donated much of her time and wealth to the Volant Charitable Trust, the charity One Parent Families, the Children’s High Level Group, and the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University.

Long after the novel series concluded, the Harry Potter world and franchise continues to grow with sites like Pottermore and the Fantastic Beasts films, which expand upon and create new apocryphal lore. Rowling has found herself at the center of controversy surrounding some of these new materials, including the creation of an American version of Hogwarts, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that critics and scholars say completely disregards and disrespects indigenous populations and portrays colonialism in a favorable light. More recently, Rowling has been criticized over a tweet defending Maya Forstater, a researcher with a history of making anti-trans comments on social media. Rowling has since published a highly controversial essay on her personal website entitled, "J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues," which has caused several Potter fan sites to distance themselves from the author.

Rowling has stated that she has no intention of continuing the Harry Potter series, but she has written The Tales of Beedle the Bard , a book of fairy tales mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , and has mentioned writing a definitive encyclopedia of Harry Potter's world.

Study Guides on Works by J.K. Rowling

The casual vacancy j.k. rowling.

When you are the author of one of the most successful children's fiction series of all time, deciding how to follow up on your success can be quite a dilemma. Fortunately, J.K. Rowling decided to commit to a number of "firsts" when she tackled the...

• Study Guide

The Christmas Pig J.K. Rowling

As part of her ongoing attempt to recapture that lightning in a bottle which made her a household name in millions of households around the globe with the publication of the original Harry Potter novel, J.K. Rowling published The Christmas Pig in...

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling

British author J.K. Rowling said that the idea for the Harry Potter series “fell into her head” in 1990 while she was riding a train from Manchester to London without a pen to write it down. While she started to write it that evening, her progress...

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child J.K. Rowling , Jack Thorne , John Tiffany

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play written by playwright Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany, and based on an original story by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

The story begins nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts in the...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling

The Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter franchise (excluding Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ) written by J. K. Rowling. It's a phenomenal conclusion to this epic saga and was published by Bloomsbury...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. Harry Potter is a book series about a young wizard who is trying to defeat Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort is a powerful Dark wizard who has killed many...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. The book series about a young wizard who is set to defeat a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort, who killed his parents when he was...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, written by J.K. Rowling. In this book, Harry struggles under the heavy responsibility to face the evil Lord Voldemort and save the people he loves most. It is...

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone tells the story of an eleven-year-old orphan who suddenly discovers that he is a wizard. J.K. Rowling began writing the book in 1990, prompted by a delayed train ride from Manchester to London during which she...

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In this book, the saga continues as Harry is faced with dementors, the soul-sucking guards of Azkaban prison that bring icy depression into the...

Ickabog J.K. Rowling

Written for children between seven and nine (Rowling remarked that the book is a "political fairytale for slightly younger children"), The Ickabog tells the story of a fantasy land called Cornucopia, which is plagued by an evil creature known as...

Welcome to J. K. Rowling’s official website. Enter here for all the latest news and information about J. K. Rowling and her writing.

This way for younger readers, who want to find out more about J.K. Rowling and her children’s books.

This way for all the latest news and information about J.K. Rowling and her writing.

This way for younger readers, who want to find out more about J.K. Rowling and her children's books.

In My Own Words

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HBO announces writer and director for Harry Potter TV series

My article for the times on labour and women’s rights, j.k. rowling contributes to the women who wouldn’t wheesht, evanna lynch appeals to bbc radio 4 listeners on behalf of lumos, j.k. rowling talks in depth for the first time about her writing.

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