J.K. Rowling Biography

J.K. Rowling was born on the 31st of July, 1965 in Chipping Sodury.

 

 

J.K. Rowling moved to Chepstow in South Wales at the age of 9, after studying at a school in Gloucestershire previously.

 

It is known that J.K. Rowling had wanted to be a writer early on in her life.

 

 

Her close friend Sean was one of the first people to praise her work, and he gave her confidence that her work was very good.

 

To show her appreciation to Sean, she used his old Ford Anglia car in the Harry Potter film, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, in which the car was able to fly.

 

J.K. Rowling studied French at the University of Essex. She spent a year in Paris and then graduated shortly after.

 

After graduating, J.K. Rowling worked in London for different companies including: Amnesty International.

 

 

Since releasing the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling has also continued to help the Amnesty International charity in their campaigns against human rights abuses throughout the world.

 

The idea of Harry Potter originated in 1990 after a delayed train journey from London to Manchester, sent J.K. Rowling’s mind into a spin over the idea of a young boy who was a wizard but did not know it yet.

 

She began working on the book almost immediately once she had arrived in Manchester.

 

J.K. Rowling’s mother died in September of the same year. J.K. Rowling felt the strain of the loss and included it into the story when Harry’s own mother died.

 

 

J.K. Rowling left England in 1991, and became an English teacher in Portugal. Here she met her first husband, in which they had a child together called Jessica.

 

After a couple of years however, the couple split after some ferocious arguments.

 

 

In 1994, J.K. Rowling returned to England, with the book still unfinished.

 

Finishing the book came at a great struggle for her as she was bringing up her daughter, Jessica by herself and trying to maintain a full time job.

 

 

Her first copy was finally finished and sent off to a variety of agents in the hope that she would be able to publish it.

 

 

One agent, Christopher, spent over a year trying to find a suitable publisher. After a while, the small publisher, Bloomsbury, decided that they would take the Harry Potter book on.

 

Luckily for J.K. Rowling, the editor, Barry Cunningham, agreed to give her a pay advance of £1500.

 

According to sources, the reason why Cunningham had agreed to the publication was because his eight-year-old daughter was very enthusiastic about the first chapter, in which she had read.

 

Although the reception of the book was well- received by his daughter, J.K. Rowling was still advised by Cunningham to continue with her teaching in schools because children’s books do not tend to get very well paid in the industry.

 

The first book, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ was published in 1996.

 

 

Initially, there were only 1000 copies released, with 500 of these going to libraries.

 

Amazingly, these editions are now estimated to be worth up to £25,000 each.

 

 

To enable her to write fulltime, she was given a grant from the Scottish arts council.

 

After the substantial success of the first book in the UK, an American company Scholastic agreed to pay for the rights to publish the books in America, which amounted to a staggering £100,000.

 

Warner Bros secured the film rights of all the books in 1998.

 

Each of the films have tried to stay close to the original plot of the books, and all of them have been under guidance of J.K. Rowling. J.K.

 

 

Rowling also made the request to keep all the actors British in each of the films.

 

 

In turn, the films have heightened the success of the books, making J.K. Rowling an extremely popular writer and making Harry Potter into a recognisable media product by many.

 

On the 21st of December 2006, the final book of the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, was finished.

 

The book is due to be released on the 21st of July 2007. J.K. Rowling has stated that this book is her favourite of all the series.

 

 

She has said that she will continue writing after the Harry Potter series has ended.

 

 

It has also been rumoured that she may release a dictionary which is related to Harry Potter and Hogswart.

 

 

She is currently living in Scotland, with her second husband, Neil Murray. She now has three children, two with her current husband Neil.

 

Content courtesy of biographyonline