|
|
The following is the complete, full life story of JK Rowling, from the dark depths of near poverty all the way to the outstanding successful author she has become today.
July 31st, 1965 was indeed a very lucky day for the world, because on this day, Ms. Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England. Her only sister, Di, who was born 2 years later.
It is interesting to note that Jo, as she often prefers to be called, claims that she has actually been writing since she was 5 or 6 years old. Her very first story, entitled Rabbit, was full of numerous interesting characters, including a large bee named "Miss Bee."
Jo's family (parents and sister) moved twice while she was growing up. During a stay at one of their homes, in Winterbourne, Jo had friends next door who had a last name of Potter. She would never forget her friends, or their last name, which she liked very much.
When JK was just nine years old, her family once again moved, this time to Tutshill. Rowling attended a grade school there, and later on attended Wyedean Comprehensive. Later, when she graduated, she attended Exeter University. Here she studied French due to her parents encouragement into what they believed would be an excellent career as a bilingual secretary. Yet after graduation, Jo took little time to realize that she was not meant to be a secretary. Self described as "the worst secretary ever, very disorganized", she found it increasingly difficult to remain attentive during meetings. Instead of taking notes as she had been instructed, JK would take the time to write a variety of story ideas she had in mind.
Jo moved to Portugal when Jo was 26 years old to become an English teacher. She has been quoted many times as saying she loved teaching English, often teaching in the afternoons and evenings so that she could be free to work on her writing in the mornings. It was during this period of time that she began to work on a story about a "wizard."
JKR soon began a new chapter in her life, and met and married a journalist in Portugal. Her first daughter Jessica was then born in 1993. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, the marriage ended in a divorce and Rowling, along with her Jessica (still an infant at the time), moved to Edinburgh, Scotland so that JK could be near her younger sister, Di. It was during this period of time that Jo became determined to not only finish her Harry Potter �wizard� novel, but to take the next step and get it published. She would often write in restaurants, where she along with Jessica could stay warm while she wrote. Rowling soon requested a grant from the Scottish Arts Council, which she eventually received, in order to complete her book. Jo finally was able to finish it, yet it took sevral tries and fails to get it published. After numerous rejections, she sold the novel, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, to Bloomsbury in the UK for the equivalent of around $4,000.
To support herself and her daughter, Rowling began working as a French teacher. Several months would pass before Arthur A Levine Books/Scholastic Press bought the American rights to the first "Harry Potter", and JK received an adequate
|
amount of money to give up teaching and write full time. Rowling has been quoted as describing this moment as the happiest of her life.
After Bloomsbury Children's Books published the book in June 1997, it wasn�t long before Ms. Rowling was recognized as a major discovery. The awards and accolades grew quickly for both Harry Potter and Ms. Rowling. In 1997 the book won The British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, and the Smarties Prize.
When published in the US, during September of 1998, the book was renamed and released by Arthur A Levine Books / Scholastic Press; the new title becoming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Jo quickly wrote a sequel, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, which was published during July of 1998 in the UK, and in June 1999 in the US. Immediately after this successful sequel, a third book, entitled Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, was published in July and September of 1999, in the UK and the USA, respectively.
To her amazement, and joy, Rowling became a household name when the first three installments of the Harry Potter series took over the top 3 slots in the New York Times bestsellers list, and achieved very similar successful results in the UK.
By the time the summer of 2000 came around, Jo had reportedly earned over $400 million for her first three Potter books, which have been printed in 35 languages and sold over 30 million copies. Her fourth book in the popular series, entitled Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, pre-sold over one million advanced copies, with a first printing of 5.3 million. Because of her domination and astonoshing success on the New York Times bestseller list, the decision was made to introduce a bestseller list for children�s books, which would eliminate the dominating factor of these bestsellers on the current The New York Times bestseller list. This brought a tremendous amount of relief and happiness to a lot of competing authors - and an incredible honor to JK.
Jo's amazing success continues still today with her release of the near 900 page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2003, and then again in 2005 with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The world is kept in suspence with the wait for the seventh and final installment of the Potter series, created so fantastically by the author none other than JK Rowling.
|
Thanks to
Essortment for some of the information.
Back to
JK Rowling main.
_______________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Harry Potter Planet is an unnoficial fan site. It is not here to break any laws, but to be a helpful resource for Harry Potter fans. We did not create Harry Potter or any of the characters in the series, nor are we affiliated in any way with Warner Brothers or JK Rowling. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this site, please do not hesitate to email me at [email protected].
|
|
