J.K Rowling Biography (Author Of Harry Potter)

J.K Rowling Biography :

J.K                 Rowling        was         born       in  Chipping Sodbury, July    31st,   1965.   Her childhood was generally  happy,   although   she does remember getting teased because of her name,     “Rowling”     –  She        recalls           often getting      called  “Rowling   pin” by    her  less than    ingenious        school                friends.       J.K. Rowling  says she never really warmed to her              own     name,           although,     she   does remember having       a     fondness         for     the name     Potter     from quite      an      early    age. J.K.Rowling studied       at                   St        Michaels Primary     School                in              Gloucestershire, before moving to Chepstow, South Wales at the age of nine.

From    an          early   age,    J.K.            Rowling     had       the ambition to      be    a writer.   She   often   tried her hand  at writing,  although   little   came from        her   early    efforts.     Aged     six         she wrote     a    book about        a                   rabbit            with measles.  After        her   mother     praised her effort.          Rowling          replied  ‘well                    get    it published     then.   She admits it was  a  ‘Bit of an odd thing for a child of six to think. I dont know where it came from…”

In          her               own                                   autobiography,                    she remembers    with     great  fondness,    when her good    friend      Sean   became   the     first person     to give        her the  confidence    that one  day      she  would be able     to      make     a very good writer.

“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” 

Sean    was also    the owner    of        a     battered  old Ford  Anglia, which would later appear in      one   of   the        Harry            Potter     series    as   a flying car.

After    finishing          school,                               her                     parents encouraged    her  to study         French   at the rowlingUniversity  of     Exeter. She     slightly regretted  choosing       French,    saying    she would     have       preferred   to study  English. However,     it  was     her  parents   wish      that she study something “ more useful”  than English.

After   having           spent         a          year                  in                  Paris, J.K.Rowling   graduated  from           university and   took various   jobs in   London.  One of her      favourite     jobs       was    working                 for Amnesty  International; the charity, which campaigns against human rights abuses throughout     the       world.                                        Amnesty International,        is      one                  of          the       many charities,             which               J.K.Rowling                  has generously supported since she attained a new found wealth.

It was    in    1990            that              J.K.Rowling        first conceived of the idea about Harry Potter. As she      recalls,    it  was           on  a   long    train journey     from       Manchester          to      London when she began forming in her mind, the characters of the series. At the forefront, was a  young  boy, at  that time not    aware that  he   was      a    wizard.       The     train       was delayed for over four hours, but she didnt have    a    pen   and was too  shy   to  ask    for one nothing,

“To my  immense  frustration,   I   didnt   have    a pen that  worked,      and   I     was   too  shy    to ask anybody if I could borrow one.”

But              she             remembers                               being                     very enthusiastic, and excited about the ideas which were filling her mind.

On           arriving   at         her                   flat                in        Clapham Junction,  she    began work on  writing the book immediately, although, it would take several years to come to fruition.

It    was  also       in       December    of        1990    that J.K.Rowling lost  her mother,  who  died of Multiple Sclerosis.   J.K.Rowling was  very close to her mother, and she  felt the loss deeply.    Her      own           loss     gave an    added poignancy to   the  death of    Harry  Potters mother in             her     book.        She           says        her favourite        scene               in   the      Philosophers Stone   is,     The      Mirror           of    Erised, where Harry sees his parents in the mirror.

In1991,     J.K.Rowling     left   England to  get  a job  as an    English  teacher   in Portugal.   It was here that she met her   first husband, Jorge  Arantes – and together they had  a child  Jessica. However, after a  couple of years, the    couple           split  after         a        fierce argument;                      where         by       all       accounts J.K.Rowling                was  thrown         out     of      the house.

InDec        1993,   Rowling     returned  to  the  UK, moving  to  Edinburgh   where     she tried  to finish   her first book.      She    was   surviving on    state  benefits      and         bringing  up    her daughter as  a    single    parent. She    would often go to   Edinburgh   cafes   to    work  on the   book            whilst        her       child            had                a nap.

Eventually,she    finished    her       first      copy         of             “The Philosophers    Stone ”, and   sent      it  off   to various        agents.       She        found   an    agent, Christopher, who spent over a year trying to  get  a publisher. It   was   rejected  by   12 major publishing houses. But,  eventually, a         quite         small publisher,           Bloomsbury agreed  to      take  the  book on. The        editor Barry Cunningham also agreed to pay her an    advance of          £1500.   The  decision   to take  on   the book  was, in   large   part,  due to            his               eight-year-old                            daughters enthusiastic reception of the first chapter (However  she    was    advised  to    continue her    training  as      a    teacher     because she was told writers of  childrens   books  dont tend to get very well paid.)

“Theresalways      room     for   a    story           that                   can transport people to another place.”

–J.K.Rowling 

Withina few   weeks   of  publication, (1996) book sales  really  started  to take off. The initial print        run     was  of only  1,000          –   500    of which   went to libraries. First editions are now said to be worth up to £25,000 each. She   also     received             a   grant    from           the Scottish   arts   council, which  enabled her to     write     full  time.  After the  books initial success     in                 the      UK, an                      American company     Scholastic      agreed         to    pay    a remarkable   £100,000             for     the rights to publish  in America. In 1998, Warner Bros secured    the          film rights     to        the   books, giving a seven-figure sum. The films have magnified    the      success   of   the            books, making Harry Potter into one of the most recognisable  media  products.  Under  the close guidance of    J.K.Rowling,  the  films have   sought to   stay close  to the original plot; also  at J.K.Rowlings request all     the actors     are    British       and  are              filmed      in Britain.

Onthe    21st    December         2006,    J.K.Rowling finished her final book of the Harry Potter Series    – “Harry        Potter   and  the   Deathly Hallows”              (Amazon).   The  book                 was released    in  July   2007, becoming    one of the     fastest      selling           books    of all     time. J.K.Rowling       has      said      the     book    is  her favourite, and it   makes          her both   happy and    sad.  She  has  said she will   continue writing       but    there            is            little chance     of continuing  the     Harry   Potter Series.     She has        published    a              dictionary  of   things related       to     Hogwarts     and  Harry    Potter, that        were   never    published                    in     other books.

Since  the      end  of   her Harry Potter     series,  she  says  she   has               finished         some            short stories, she also      hinted        on      the      Oprah Winfrey Show  in     1st  October   2010,   that an 8th book in the Harry Potter series is a possibility.

On27 September    2012,        Rowling      released the ‘Casual  Vacancy an     adult novel  –  to mixed reviews.         In         2013,  The   Cuckoos Calling was published. Initially, the author was stated   as   being       Robert       Galbraith. But,    this was       a       pseudonym     used          by J.K.Rowling.    After  her        authorship     was discovered,              sales went    through               the roof.

J.K.Rowlingand Media

J.K.Rowling      has   sought       to               protect         her children   from    media        intrusion.      In           2011,    she      gave                  testimony         to       the                  Leverson enquiry           about         how                       unscrupulous reporters     sought   to   intrude         into              her familys privacy.  After  her  books became best-sellers,  reporters     would            often   be camped  outside  her home.    J.K.  Rowling said:

“However, as      interest    in      Harry Potter  and  myself           increased,              my                 family                          and             I became the  target   of a    different   kind of journalistic       activity.   The      effect   on    me, and           our       family             life,    truly   cannot   be overstated. We were literally driven out of the  first  house   I had ever     owned (which faced      almost    directly   onto       the    street) because   of    journalists       banging   on    the door,  questioning         the       neighbours     and sitting         in               parked     cars          immediately outside      the gate.         Old   friendships were tested   as  journalists turned     up on     their doorsteps, and offered money for stories on     me.   “(J.K.Rowlings  Testimony                     to Leveson Enquiry Nov 2011.)

After finding   a     letter   from   a      journalist in her childs satchel, she remarked:

“Its very difficult to  say     how     angry I  felt that my  5-year-old   daughters  school  was no     longer   a  place      of             complete         security from journalists.”

J.K.Rowling    currently        lives             in        Scotland,   on         the banks  of    the       river      Tay,     with     her         2nd husband      Neil     Murray;       J.K.Rowling has three                      children,        two      with         husband Neil.

Wealthof J.K.Rowling:

In 2017,                       according     to             Forbes,               her estimated wealth  stands at $650 million, it   would   be  higher    but she   has  donated substantial    sums     to   charity. The  global Harry  Potter   brand           is     estimated  to   be worth £7 billion.

CharityWork of J.K.Rowling:

J.K.Rowling                    has                                              contributed   considerable      sums             to      charities                    she     supports. This includes:

1:Anti-Poverty.      She         is President    of   the  Charity –  One Parent Families

2:Multiplesclerosis. She has  contributed money     to the      research and  treatment   of    Multiple        Sclerosis,   which   her            mother suffered from.

3:Lumos    :helping                                     institutionalised  children in Eastern Europe

PoliticalViews

Shehas        publically      supported              the Labour party. In  2008,  she donated £1   million  to the             Labour      party,                saying       she        felt vulnerable     families would    be   better     off under             a         Labour            government.           She describes   her     political     hero    as      Robert F.Kennedy.

ReligiousViews:

J.K.Rowling     states    that          she     considers   herself     a    Christian,   and       attends       a     local   Church of             Scotland        congregation.      She said,         that             unlike  other       members   in                 her family, she  often  had   a  deep      interest  in religion, and would go to churches alone. However,  she        also     says  that      although she believes in God, at times   she  doubts her faith.

“I  feel very     drawn        to  religion,    but        at   the same time I feel a lot of uncertainty. I live in a state of    spiritual  flux. I believe in the permanence of the soul.”