J.

K Rowling Biography
(Britannica)
J.K. Rowling, in full Joanne Kathleen Rowling, pen name of Joanne Rowling, (born
July 31, 1965, Yate, near Bristol, England), British author, creator of the popular and
critically acclaimed Harry Potter series, about a young sorcerer in training.
Humble beginnings
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 travelled 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.
Childhood/Background/Family
Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near
Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, in
south-east Wales.

Her father, Peter, was an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol
and her mother, Anne, was a science technician in the Chemistry department
at Wyedean Comprehensive, where Jo herself went to school. Anne was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Jo was a teenager and died in 1990,
before the Harry Potter books were published. Jo also has a younger sister, Di.

The young Jo grew up surrounded by books. “I lived for books,’’ she has said. “I
was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and
National Health spectacles.”

Achievements/ Accomplishments
Costa Book Awards, (1999) a series of literary awards given annually to writers
resident in the United Kingdom and Ireland for books published there in the
previous year.
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.

Honours & Awards

J.K. Rowling has received many honours and awards, including:
Companion of Honour, for services to literature and philanthropy, 2017
PEN America Literary Service Award, 2016
Freedom of the City of London, 2012
Hans Christian Andersen Award, Denmark, 2010
Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur: France, 2009
Lifetime Achievement Award, British Book Awards, 2008
South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement, 2008
James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2008
The Edinburgh Award, 2008
Commencement Day Speaker, Harvard University, USA, 2008
Blue Peter Gold Badge, 2007
WH Smith Fiction Award, 2004
Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, Spain, 2003
Order of the British Empire (OBE), 2001
Children’s Book of the Year, British Book Awards, 1998 and 1999
Booksellers Association Author of the Year, 1998 and 1999

 Lumos
J.K. Rowling is Founder and President of Lumos, an international children’s charity
fighting for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the
world. Lumos sheds light on the root causes of family separation – poverty, conflict and
discrimination – and demonstrates that children can safely be united with loving families
that help them thrive.

Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic

The Anne Rowling Clinic was founded by a donation from J.K. Rowling in 2010 in
memory of her mother Anne, who died in 1990 from complications related to multiple
sclerosis. The Clinic delivers clinical care and research to improve the lives of people with
degenerative conditions affecting the brain, as well as hosting specialist NHS clinics for
these conditions. Jo continues to fund MS research exclusively through the Anne Rowling
Clinic.

The Volant Charitable Trust

J.K. Rowling also supports a wide range of projects and organisations through her
charitable trust, Volant, which she set up in 2000 to administer grants to charities,
primarily in Scotland, which help alleviate social deprivation particularly affecting women
and children.
Career
Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from
Manchester to London King’s Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven
books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes,
many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.

Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English as a foreign
language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. When the
marriage ended later that year, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, with Jessica and
a suitcase containing the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

In Edinburgh, Jo trained as a teacher and began teaching in the city’s schools, but she
continued to write in every spare moment.

Having completed the full manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to a number of literary
agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest of it. She says it was “the best letter I
had ever received in my life.”

The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name
J.K. Rowling.

The “K” stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name. It was added at her
publisher’s request, who thought a book by an obviously female author might not appeal to
the target audience of young boys.

The book was published in the US by Scholastic under a different title (again at the
publisher’s request), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in 1998. Six further titles
followed in the Harry Potter series, each achieving record-breaking success.

In 2001, the film adaptation of the first book was released by Warner Bros., and was followed
by six more book adaptations, concluding with the release of the eighth film, Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, in 2011.

J.K. Rowling has also written two small companion 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 were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic
Relief. In December 2008, a third companion volume, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was
published in aid of her international children’s charity, Lumos.

Jo studied at Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her French and Classics

Fame/Setbacks
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.)

(British Council)
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.

(Wikipedia)
Joanne Rowling CH OBE FRSL (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/ "rolling";[1] born 31 July 1965), best known by her pen
name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-
volume fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies,
been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media
franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for
adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert
Galbraith.
Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary
for Amnesty International in 1990 when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while
on a delayed train from Manchester to London. The seven-year period that followed saw the
death of her mother, the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative
poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published
in 1997. Six sequels followed, and by 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid
author.
Joanne is two years older than her sister, Dianne.[10] When Joanne was four, the family moved
to Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.[16][22] She began at St Michael's Church of England Primary
School in Winterbourne when she was five.[10][c] The Rowlings lived near a family called Potter – a
name Joanne always liked.[25][d] Anne loved to read and their homes were filled with books.[26] Pete
read The Wind in the Willows to his daughters,[27] while Anne introduced them to the animals
in Richard Scarry's books.[28] Joanne's first attempt at writing, a story called "Rabbit" composed
when she was six, was inspired by Scarry's creatures.[28]

Publishing Harry Potter

Main article: Harry Potter

Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1995.[119] The initial draft
included an illustration of Harry by a fireplace, showing a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
[120]
Following an enthusiastic report from an early reader,[121] Christopher Little Literary
Agency agreed to represent Rowling. Her manuscript was submitted to twelve publishers, all of
which rejected it.[11] Barry Cunningham, who ran the children's literature department
at Bloomsbury Publishing, bought it,[122] after Nigel Newton, who headed Bloomsbury at the time,
saw his eight-year-old daughter finish one chapter and want to keep reading. [40][123] Rowling recalls
Cunningham telling her, "You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo." [124] Rowling
was awarded a writer's grant by the Scottish Arts Council[l] to support her childcare costs and
finances before Philosopher's Stone's publication, and to aid in writing the sequel, Chamber of
Secrets.[125][126] On 26 June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print
run of 5,650 copies.[127][m] Before Chamber of Secrets was published, Rowling had received £2,800
($4,200) in royalties.[129]
Philosopher's Stone introduces Harry Potter. Harry is a wizard who lives with his non-magical
relatives until his eleventh birthday, when he is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry.[130][131] Rowling wrote six sequels, which follow Harry's adventures at Hogwarts with
friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and his attempts to defeat Lord Voldemort, who
killed Harry's parents when he was a child.[130] In Philosopher's Stone, Harry foils Voldemort's plan
to acquire an elixir of life; in Deathly Hallows, the final book, he kills Voldemort.[130]
Rowling received the news that the US rights were being auctioned at the Bologna Children's
Book Fair.[132] To her surprise and delight, Scholastic Corporation bought the rights for $105,000.
[133]
She bought a flat in Edinburgh with the money from the sale.[134] Arthur A. Levine, head of
the imprint at Scholastic, pushed for a name change. He wanted Harry Potter and the School of
Magic; as a compromise Rowling suggested Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[135] Sorcerer's
Stone was released in the United States in September 1998.[136] It was not widely reviewed, but
the reviews it received were generally positive.[137] Sorcerer's Stone became a New York
Times bestseller by December.[138]
The next three books in the series were released in quick succession between 1998 and
2000: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban (1999), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), each selling millions of copies.
[139]
When Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had not appeared by 2002, rumours
circulated that Rowling was suffering writer's block.[140] It was published in June 2003, selling
millions of copies on the first day.[141] Two years later, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was
released in July, again selling millions of copies on the first day.[142] The series ended with Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, published in July 2007.[143]

Films
Main article: Harry Potter (film series)

Bus promoting Deathly Hallows – Part 2, 2011

In 1999, Warner Bros. purchased film rights to the first two Harry Potter novels for a reported
$1 million.[144][145] Rowling accepted the offer with the provision that the studio only produce Harry
Potter films based on books she authored,[146] while retaining the right to final script approval,
[147]
and some control over merchandising.[145] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, an
adaptation of the first Harry Potter book, was released in November 2001.[148] Steve Kloves wrote
the screenplays for all but the fifth film,[149] with Rowling's assistance, ensuring that his scripts kept
to the plots of the novels.[150] The film series concluded with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
which was adapted in two parts; part one was released on 19 November 2010,[151] and part
two followed on 15 July 2011.[152]
Warner Bros. announced an expanded relationship with Rowling in 2013, including a planned
series of films about her character Newt Scamander, fictitious author of Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them.[153] The first film of five, a prequel to the Harry Potter series, set roughly
70 years earlier, was released in November 2016.[154] Rowling wrote the screenplay, which was
released as a book.[155] Crimes of Grindelwald was released in November 2018.[156] Secrets of
Dumbledore was released in April 2022.[157]