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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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• Official Site of J. K. Rowling
• J.K. Rowling - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• J.K. Rowling - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

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

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.

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S J.K. ROWLING'S FACT CARD

'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.

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

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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Biography Online

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 Michael’s 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 don’t 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” (1)

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 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 didn’t have a pen and was too shy to ask for one nothing,

“To my immense frustration, I didn’t 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 Potter’s mother in her book. She says her favourite scene in the Philosopher’s Stone is, The Mirror of Erised, where Harry sees his parents in the mirror.

In 1991, 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.

In Dec 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 Philosopher’s 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 daughter’s enthusiastic reception of the first chapter (However she was advised to continue her training as a teacher because she was told writers of children’s books don’t tend to get very well paid.)

“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”

– J.K.Rowling [1]

Within a 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.Rowling’s request, all the actors are British and are filmed in Britain.

On the 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.

On 27 September 2012, Rowling released the ‘Casual Vacancy’ an adult novel – to mixed reviews. In 2013, The Cuckoo’s 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.Rowling and 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 family’s 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.Rowling’s Testimony to Leveson Enquiry Nov 2011.)

After finding a letter from a journalist in her child’s satchel, she remarked:

“It’s very difficult to say how angry I felt that my 5-year-old daughter’s 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.

Inspiration to write

Speaking on a BBC Radio Programme “The Museum of Curiosity”, 23 December 2019, Rowling talked about the process by which she writes. She says she imagines she walks through a forest towards a lake. At the lake, she waits for an inspiration to emerge from its depth. Then she takes this back to her cottage where she has to polish the dream-like inspiration until it is in a fit state to publish. To Rowling, writing is a dual process – gaining inspiration from an unknown source and then working on the inspiration to make it a solid reality. She prefaced the story by saying she was reluctant to explain her process as it was difficult to explain.

Wealth of 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.

Charity Work of J.K.Rowling

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

• Anti-Poverty . She is President of the Charity – One Parent Families
• Multiple sclerosis . She has contributed money to the research and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, which her mother suffered from.
• Lumos – helping institutionalised children in Eastern Europe

Political Views

She has 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.

Religious Views

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.”

– J.K.Rowling (2008, interview in El Pais – a Spanish Newspaper)

More facts about J.K. Rowling

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “ Biography J.K. Rowling” , Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net – 12th Dec. 2016, Last Updated. 6th 28 December 2019.

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J. K. Rowling

• Chipping Sodbury
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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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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.)
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August 18, 2024

Life Story of Famous People

Short Bio » Author » JK Rowling

Joanne “ Jo ” Rowling , pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith , is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer. Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), a science technician. She is best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. They have become the best-selling book series in history and been the basis for a series of films which is the second highest-grossing film series in history. The books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies.

Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen and Harvard University, for whom she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony. In 2009 Rowling was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

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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.

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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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J.K. Rowling

Born on July 31, 1965, to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (nee Volant), Joanne Rowling was a divorced mother living in Gloucestershire, England when she hit upon the idea of a book about a young wizard boy, who is alone and trying to overcome obstacles to find his way to becoming the hero of his story.

Every day she would take her baby for a walk in his pram and stop at a coffee shop while he napped. There she worked on her story and made one cup of a coffee stretch. Some of her ideas for her stories came from the romantic stories she heard all her life. Stories including how her parents met, while on a train departing King's Cross Station and headed for Arbroath in 1964. Stories about her heroic grandparents gave her ideas of courage under extreme circumstances. Also, her headmaster while she attended St. Michael's in the village of Winterbourne was probably the inspiration for Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. She also based a lot of Hermoine Granger on herself at eleven years old. Although her teacher at the time, Steve Eddy, said she actually didn't stand out but was very bright and good at English.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Edinburgh and also having studied at the University of Exeter, she should have been able to find a meaningful and supportive job. But, as with so many people with college degrees, she learned finding a job that would support her family and pay child care is very hard, if not impossible, especially with a degree in the arts.

While she was working as a researcher for Amnesty International, she began to brew the idea for the Harry Potter series. Within seven years, she had lost her mother, her job and divorced her husband. Rowling also gave birth to her first child during this time. Now she was divorced, lonely and living in relative poverty. In 1997 J. K. Rowling published her first novel, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The book quickly became one of the world's most well-loved books. She since has written six sequels and a few short stories in the series. Her books have brought the love of reading to a whole generation of children around the world.

Her publisher asked her to use a more male sounding name "since young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman". Since she didn't have a middle name, she used the K. from her paternal grandmother, Kathleen Ada Bulden Rowling. But, she calls herself, Jo. She also writes under another pen name, Robert Galbraith.

Since the success of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling has become the best selling living author in the United Kingdom. She was ranked as the forty eighth most powerful celebrity in 2007. She is also one of the twelve richest women in the world. In 2010 she was chosen as one of the most influential women in Britain by the leading magazine editors in the area.

J. K. Rowling continues to use her fame to help others. She supports charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain. In 2007, Time Magazine named her as runner up for the social, moral and political inspiration she has given her fans.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Summary   J.K. Rowling

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was published by J. K. Rowling in 1997. It was her first novel and it was brilliant! The book sold off the shelves leading to more books in the series. Children couldn't wait to see what happened to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermoine Granger in the next year […]

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J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is the English novelist recognized worldwide as the creator of Harry Potter, the best selling series in history, "witch" created a huge cultural phenomena. It prompted torrents of young adults (and adults) to enjoy reading fiction, selling over 500 million copies. June, 2017, marked the 20th anniversary of the first book published, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" which sold over 120 million. Apparently she got the idea for the young wizard in 1990 while waiting on a stalled train between Manchester and London-- how's that for turning a travel delay into something productive?

The seven books were adapted into popular movies, with Rowling as principal screenwriter. She wrote the first book in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , followed by 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 it seemed, her last in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). Rowling dappled in writing non-Harry Potter novels, such as The Casual Vacancy (2012), but no work could come anywhere close to her zenith of literary triumph with the Harry Potter series.

Much to the delight of her fans, Rowling recently released what's considered the eighth in her series, the script Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I and II (2016), which was the first Harry Potter to be adapted into a play by Jack Thorne .

We feature Rowling in our Feminist Literature - Study Guide . Though her work is not yet in the public domain, we encourage you to read some of our great adventure and fantasy stories in The Children's Library .