Joanne Rowling is born to Peter and Ann Rowling in
the British town of Chipping Sodbury. She has no middle initial. |
|
1990 |
While stuck on a delayed
train between Manchester
and London, Rowling gets the
idea for Harry Potter. She begins
writing his story that night.
December 30: After a
10-year battle with multiple sclerosis, Rowling's mother dies. This later affects
the tone of the Potter books: "Harry's feelings about his dead
parents had become much deeper, much more real." |
1992 |
Rowling—now teaching English as a second language in
Portugal—marries TV journalist Jorge Arantes. |
1993 |
Rowling
and Arantes have a daughter, Jessica Rowling Arantes.
|
1994 |
Now separated from her husband (they divorce in 1995), Rowling moves near her
younger sister, Di, in Edinburgh, Scotland. She takes along her
daughter and her ever-growing book manuscript. |
1995 |
Writing whenever she
can, often in cafés, Rowling finishes her first book:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone. Her literary
agent warns her "You do realize, you will never
make a fortune out of writing children's books?" |
1996 |
Several publishers reject
the book, finding it to be too long and slow for children. October: British
publisher Bloomsbury Press accepts the book, giving
Rowling a $4,000 advance. |
1997 |
Scholastic Books wins an
auction for the U.S. rights to the series, giving Rowling an advance over $100,000, a record for a foreign
children's book. She is able to quit her teaching
job and devote her time to writing. June 26: The
first book in the series—Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone—is published
in the United Kingdom.
The first print run is 500 copies. Because Bloomsbury is afraid that young boys won't want to read a book by
a woman, they suggest she use
her initials. Joanne adds her grandmother's
name, Kathleen, to her own, producing "J.K. Rowling." |
1998 |
The
second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is published in the United Kingdom, with a first print run
of over 10,000 copies. September 1: Scholastic publishes the
first book, renamed Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone, in the
United States. The changes
go beyond the title: illustrations
are added to the start of each chapter, and British spelling, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary are translated into American English. The first print run
is 50,000 copies. |
1999 |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published in the
United States, with an initial printing
of 250,000 copies. The U.S. release had been scheduled for September, but Scholastic discovered that impatient fans of the first book
were ordering copies of the sequel from
the U.K. At 341 pages, this is only slightly longer than the 309-page first book. It
shoots to the top of bestseller lists. July 8: The
third book, Harry
Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban, is published
in the United Kingdom. It sells more
than 68,000 copies in the
first two days. September 8: The third
book is published in the United States, again ahead of schedule, with a first printing of 500,000
copies. This one is 448 pages. The Harry Potter books hold the top three positions on the New York Times bestseller list. November: Nancy
Stouffer, author of the 1984 book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, has been publicly claiming that Rowling stole ideas from
her. In Stouffer's book, muggles are little people
who care for orphans; the book also includes
a character named Larry
Potter. Scholastic and Warner Bros.
(who have the film rights to the series) sue her, wanting a judge to rule that there was
no violation of Stouffer's
copyright or trademark. |
2000 |
Nancy Stouffer countersues, claiming that Rowling did steal her
ideas. March 28: Chris
Columbus is chosen as the
director for the first
Harry Potter film. August 21: After a long search, Daniel Radcliffe,
Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are
chosen to play Harry, Hermione,
and Ron on film. July 8: The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is published in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with a record-setting
combined first printing of more than 5 million copies. This is the first
time the book is released at the same time in both countries,
and the first time it's released on Saturday, so that children can get and read the book
as soon as it comes out without skipping school. Both these practices are followed for every book that
follows. July 23: Up until now, the
available Harry Potter books
have been at or near the top of the New York Times list of bestsellers. Beginning this week (the first
one in which Goblet of Fire appears), children's books have a list of their own, to keep them from
competing with more grown-up titles. |
2001 |
Two
schoolbooks from Harry's world–Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages–are released. All the profits go to Comic Relief, a British charity. November 16: The first film is released, opening on a record 3,762 screens
in the U.S. alone. On opening weekend, it grosses $90 million in America and £16 million in the U.K., setting
records in both countries. December 26: Rowling marries anesthesiologist Neil Murray. |
2002 |
The court deciding the lawsuits involving Nancy Stouffer rules in favor of Rowling, saying
that there is no reasonable possibility of confusion between the books. Stouffer
is found to have lied to the court and forged documents to support her case, and is required to pay a fine and some of her opponents' legal fees. Stouffer appeals the ruling.
October 25: Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore
in the movies, dies. This
does not affect the second film, which has already been completed. November 15: The second film, once again directed
by Chris Columbus, opens.
On opening weekend, this one makes
$88 million in America,
for the third-largest opening (behind the first film and Spider-Man), and almost £19 million in the U.K., setting another record. |
2003 |
Rowling gives birth to her second child, David Gordon
Rowling Murray. June 21: The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is released.
The first printing is 6.4
million copies in the
U.S. alone— the most ever, by a wide
margin. At 870 pages, this is the longest
book in the series, about three times
the size of the first volume.
|
2004 |
A higher court rejects Stouffer's appeal, and orders her to pay the
court costs. May 31: The third film opens in the
United Kingdom, taking in
£5.3 million in one day, and £23.9 million on opening weekend; both are records. It opens four days later in the United States, grossing $93.7 million, for the third-best opening weekend (this time behind Spider-Man and Shrek 2.) There's a new director, Alfonso Cuarón,
and Michael Gambon takes
over the role of Dumbledore. |
2005 |
Rowling gives birth to her third child,
Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray. July 16: The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is released. It's 672 pages long, making this the first
book in the series to be shorter than the one before
it. The U.S. first printing
is a record-shattering 10.8 million
copies. In another first,
Braille
and large-print editions are released on the same day
as the other editions. November 18: The fourth film is released. This time, the director is Mike Newell. It has biggest opening weekend of any Harry
Potter film, taking in $101.4 million
in the U.S. and £14.9 million
in the U.K. |
2006 |
The publication date for the seventh and final Harry
Potter book is announced
to be July 21, 2007 at 12:01 A.M. The title of the book is Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Rowling states
that two charachters will die, leading fans to speculate that Harry is one of them. November 17: The first trailer for the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
is released. The movie's
release date is set for Wednesday,
July 11th in the US.
Michael Goldenberg replaces
Stever Kloves as screenwriter, a position Kloves had held
for the previous four films. |
2007 |
Warner Brothers Entertainment and Universal Orlando Resort announce plans to create
"The Wizarding World
of Harry Potter" at the Florida amusement park. The attraction is described as a
"theme park within a theme park," and will include full -scale models of the spots made
famous by the popular books and movies.
The park is set to open in 2009. July 11: The film version of Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens in theaters
around the world. In its first weekend, it earns $330 million, including $77.4 million in the U.S. The film
has the most successful opening of any of the Harry
Potter movies and breaks the record for biggest non-holiday five day opening,
taking in $140 million in
the U.S. Read more about Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film. July 21: The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows is set to be released worldwide. Read a preview of Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows. |
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.infoplease.com/entertainment/books/harry-potter-timeline.html
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