J K Rowling
Detailed Biography
J. K. Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling and Anne Volant on 31
July 1965 at Yate, Gloucestershire, England,
J. K. Rowling's surname is pronounced like "rolling". Her full name
is "Joanne Rowling", not, as is often assumed, "Joanne Kathleen
Rowling". Before publishing her first volume, Bloomsbury feared that the
target audience of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a
female author. They requested that Rowling use two initials, rather than reveal
her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K. for Kathleen as the
second initial of her pseudonym, from her paternal grandmother, Kathleen Ada
Bulgen Rowling. The name Kathleen has never been part of her legal name. She
calls herself "Jo" and claims, "No one ever called me 'Joanne'
when I was young, unless they were angry".
Joanne "Jo" Rowling BA (Exon.) OBE (born 31 July 1965) is an English
fiction writer who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling. Rowling is the
author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has gained worldwide
attention, won multiple awards, and sold over 325 million copies worldwide.
In 2007, The Sunday Times Rich List estimated her fortune at 545 million (about
US$1 billion), making her the first person to become a US-dollar billionaire by
writing books. She is ranked as both the 136th richest person and the 13th
richest woman in Britain. In 2006, Forbes named J. K. Rowling the second
richest female entertainer in the world and ranked her as 48th on the 100 most
powerful celebrities list of 2007.
When J. K. Rowling was a young teen, her great aunt, who Rowling said
"taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a
questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's
autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became J. K. Rowling's heroine and she
subsequently read all of her books. She attended secondary school at Wyedean
School and College. J. K. Rowling has said of her adolescence, "Hermione
is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was 11, which I'm not
particularly proud of." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth
[12th grade] owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in
her books. "Ron Weasley isn't a living portrait of Sean, but he really is
very Sean-ish." Of her musical tastes of the time, she said "My
favorite group in the world is the Smiths. And when I was going through a punky
phase, it was the Clash."
J. K. Rowling read for a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, which she says was a
"bit of a shock" as she "was expecting to be amongst lots of
similar peoplethinking radical thoughts." Once she made friends with
"some like-minded people" she says she began to enjoy herself.
With a year of study in Paris, J. K. Rowling moved to London to work as a researcher
and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period, while
she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip between Manchester and London, she
developed the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry.
When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.
On December 30, 1990, J. K. Rowlings mother succumbed to a 10-year battle with
the condition multiple sclerosis. Rowling commented, was writing Harry Potter
at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about Harry Potter.
J. K. Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal to teach
English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television
journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October 1992. They had one child, Jessica, who
was named after Jessica Mitford. They divorced in 1993.
In December 1994, J. K. Rowling and her daughter moved to be near her sister in
Edinburgh, Scotland. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her
first novel. She did her work in numerous cafs (e.g. Nicolson's Cafe and
Elephant House Caf), whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep. There was a
rumour that she wrote in local cafs to escape from her unheated flat, but in a
2001 BBC interview J. K. Rowling remarkedI am not stupid enough to rent an
unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating.
In 1995, J. K. Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry
Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the
enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review
the books first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary
Agents agreed to represent J. K. Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book
was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it. A year later she
was finally given the green light (and a 1500 advance) by editor Barry
Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury. The decision to take J. K.
Rowling on was apparently largely due to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old
daughter of the companys chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by
her father, and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to
publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised J. K. Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance
of making money in childrens books. Soon after, J. K. Rowling received an 8000
grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing.
The following spring, an auction was held in the United
States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., who
paid J. K. Rowling more than $100,000. Rowling has said she nearly died when
she heard the news. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosophers Stone with an initial print-run of one thousand copies,
five hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are
each valued at between 16,000 and 25,000.
Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestl Smarties Book
Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for
Childrens Book of the Year, and, later the Childrens Book Award. In October
1998, Scholastic published Philosophers Stone in the US under the title of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone: a change J. K. Rowling claims she now
regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.
In December 1999, the third Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making J. K. Rowling the first person to
win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter
novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000,
Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Childrens Book of the Year
award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaneys translation
of Beowulf.
To date, six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter
series, one for each of Harrys school years, have already been published and
all have broken sales records. The last three volumes in the series have been
the fastest-selling books in history, grossing more in their opening 24 hours
than blockbuster films. Currently, the series has sold over 325 million copies
worldwide and been translated into 65 languages since the first book was published
in 1997.
Rowling has completed the seventh and final book of the series. Its title was
revealed on 21 December 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. On 1
February 2007 J. K. Rowling announced on her website that its release date was
to be 21 July 2007. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral
Hotel in Edinburgh that she had completed the seventh book in that room on 11
January 2007; this was confirmed to be authentic by J. K. Rowling's and the
hotel's representatives. In February 2007, Neil Blair, a lawyer with Rowling's
literary agency, announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not
be released as an e-book. J. K. Rowling has not allowed the first six Potter
stories to be released as e-books and has no plans to change that for the
seventh and final work.
In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels
for a seven-figure sum. A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone was released on 16 November 2001 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets on 15 November 2002. Both were directed by Chris Columbus. The 4 June
2004 film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by
Alfonso Cuarn. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was
directed by yet another new director, Mike Newell. Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates is the film's
director, and Michael Goldenberg is its screenwriter, having taken over the
position from Steven Kloves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is in
pre-production, and is scheduled for release on 21 November 2008. David Yates
will once again direct the film, and it has been confirmed that Kloves will
return to screenwrite it. Nothing has been announced regarding the film version
of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In contrast to the treatment of most authors by Hollywood studios, Warner Bros
took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts in their attempt to
bring her books to the screen. One of her principal stipulations was the films
be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has so far been adhered to
strictly. In an unprecedented move, J. K. Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola,
the victor in the race to tie-in their products to the film series, donate $18
million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of
community charity programs.
The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the
writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in
the series. She says she has told him more about the later books than anybody
else, but not everything. She has also said that she has told Alan Rickman
(Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters
that have not yet been revealed. Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the
first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that J. K.
Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated on her website that
she has no say in who directs the films. J. K. Rowling's first choice for the
director of the first Harry Potter film had been Monty Python alumnus Terry
Gilliam, being a fan of Gilliam's work. Warner Bros. studios wanted a more
family friendly film, however, and eventually they settled for Chris Columbus.
Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing after the publication of
the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She declared
in a recent interview that she will most likely not use a new pen name as the
press would quickly discover her true identity.
In 2006, J. K. Rowling revealed that she had completed a few short stories and
another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster,
aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.
She is not planning to write an eighth Harry Potter book, but has suggested she
might publish an "encyclopedia" of the Harry Potter world consisting
of all her unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would
be given to charity. When asked, in an interview on the 6 July 2007 episode of
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, whether she would ever write an eighth Harry
Potter novel J. K. Rowling confirmed that she only ever planned to write seven
books in the series but also that she could not rule it out entirely. "Um,
I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end in Book Seven but I've
always said that I wouldn't say "never". I can't say I'll never write
another book about that world just because I think what do I know, in ten years
time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely."
In 2001, J. K. Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th century estate house,
Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth
and Kinross, Scotland. Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a
Georgian house in London, on a street where, according to The Guardian, the
average price of a house is 4.27 million ($8 million), including an underground
swimming pool
and 24-hour security.
On 26 December 2001, J. K. Rowling married Neil Michael Murray, an
anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her home in Aberfeldy. Their son David
Gordon Rowling Murray was born on 24 March 2003. Shortly after J. K. Rowling
began writing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, she took a break from
working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. J. K. Rowling's
youngest child, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born in January 2005.
J.K. Rowling, once a single parent herself, is now President of One Parent
Families. Rowling has supported the charity since 2000 when she became its
first Ambassador.
J.K. Rowling contributes substantially to charities that combat poverty and
social inequality. She also gives to organizations that aid children, one
parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.
According to The Guardian, J. K. Rowling is a friend of Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and his wife, Sarah, with whom she collaborated on a book of children's
stories to aid the charity One Parent Families. Rowling, along with Nelson
Mandela, Al Gore, and Alan Greenspan, wrote an introduction to a collection of
Gordon Brown's speeches, of which the proceeds are being donated to the
Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory.
In 2001, the UK fundraiser Comic Relief asked three bestselling British
authors, (Rowling, cookery writer and TV presenter Delia Smith, and Bridget
Jones creator Helen Fielding), to submit booklets related to their most famous
works for publication. For every pound raised, a pound would go towards
combatting poverty and social inequality across the globe. J. K. Rowling's two
booklets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the
Ages, are ostensibly facsimiles of books found in the Hogwarts library, and are
written under the names of their fictional authors, Newt Scamander and
Kennilworthy Whisp. Since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised
15.7 million (US$30 million) for the fund. The 10.8 million (US$20 million)
raised outside the UK has been channelled into a newly created International
Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis. She has also personally given 22
million to Comic Relief.
J. K. Rowling has contributed money and support for
research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in
1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling. In 2006,
J. K. Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre
for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University. For reasons unknown,
Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of MS in the
world.
On 1 August and 2 August 2006 she read alongside Stephen King and John Irving
at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated
to the Haven Foundation, a charity that aids artists and performers left
uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical NGO Mdecins Sans Frontires. In
May 2007, J. K. Rowling gave US$495,000 to a reward fund of over $4.5 million
for the safe return of a young British girl, Madeleine McCann, who was
kidnapped in Portugal. In January 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to raise
funds for the Children's High Level Group, an organization devoted to enforcing
the human rights of mentally ill children in Eastern Europe, particularly the
continued use of caged beds in mental institutions.
In June 2000, Queen Elizabeth II honoured J. K. Rowling by making her an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
In April 2006, the asteroid (43844) J. K. Rowling was named in her honour. The
name was submitted to the International Astronomical Union by astronomer Dr.
Mark Hammergren, who has been a fan of the Harry Potter series since 2004.
In May 2006, the newly-discovered Pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Dracorex
hogwartsia, currently at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, was named in
honour of her world.
In June 2006, the British public named J. K. Rowling the greatest living
British writer in a poll by The Book Magazine. Rowling topped the poll,
receiving nearly three times as many votes as the second-place author, fantasy
writer Terry Pratchett.
In July 2006, J. K. Rowling received a Doctor of Laws (LLD) honorary degree
from University of Aberdeen for her "significant contribution to many
charitable causes" and "her many contributions to society".
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