http://www.biography.com/people/jk-rowling-40998
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QUICK FACTS
NAME: J.K. Rowling
OCCUPATION: Author
BIRTH DATE: July 31, 1965 (Age: 47)
EDUCATION: St Michael's Primary School in Winterbourne, Wyedean School and College, University of Exeter
PLACE OF BIRTH: Yate, England, United Kingdom
FULL NAME: Joanne Rowling
AKA: Jo Rowling
AKA: J.K. Rowling
ZODIAC SIGN: Leo
BEST KNOWN FOR
J.K. Rowling is the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.
J.K. Rowling biography
SYNOPSIS
Born in Yate, England, on July 31, 1965, J.K. Rowling came from humble economic means before writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a
children's fantasy novel. The work was an international hit and Rowling wrote six more books in the series, which sold into the hundreds of millions and was
adapted into a blockbuster film franchise. In 2012, Rowling released the non-Potter novel The Casual Vacancy.
EARLY STRUGGLES
Joanne Rowling, best known as J.K. Rowling, was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, England. She adopted her pen name, J.K., incorporating her grandmother's
name, Kathleen, for the latter initial (Rowling does not have a middle name).
As a single mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland, Rowling became an international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three installments of her Harry
Potter children's book series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best-seller list after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom.
The phenomenal response to Rowling's books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, became
the fastest-selling book in history.
A graduate of Exeter University, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English. There, she met and married the Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes.
The couple's daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter to live near her
younger sister, Di. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her
while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections, she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone (the word "Philosopher" was changed to "Sorcerer" for its publication in America), for the equivalent of about $4,000. The book, and its
subseqent series, chronicled the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
FAME AND FORTUNE
By the summer of 2000, the first three Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages. In July 2000, Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire saw a first printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million. After a postponed release date, the fifth
installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hit bookstores in June 2003. The sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sold 6.9
million copies in the United States in its first 24 hours, the biggest opening in publishing history. Prior to its July 2007 release, the seventh and final
installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was the largest ever pre-ordered book at chain stores Barnes & Noble and
Borders, and at Amazon.com.
Rowling, now Britain's 13th wealthiest woman—wealthier than even the Queen—does not plan to write any more books in the series, but has not entirely
ruled out the possibility.
A film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus, was released in November 2001. In its opening weekend in the U.S.,
the film debuted on a record 8,200 screens and smashed the previous box-office record, earning an estimated $93.5 million ($20 million more than the
previous recordholder, 1999's The Lost World: Jurassic Park). It ended the year as the top-grossing movie of 2001. The second and third films in the series
opened in November 2002 and June 2004 respectively, each enjoying similar record-breaking box-office success. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
directed by Mike Newell, was released in 2005. The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in July 2007, featured screenwriter
Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films. In 2009, the film version ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is
scheduled to hit theaters on July 17. The movie is expected to gross several million at the box office. The Potter films are scheduled to come to an end in
2011.
AFTER 'HARRY POTTER'
Although J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is finished, the author continues to work on more written works. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of
five fables mentioned in the Harry Potter book series, was released on November 4, 2008—at a tea party for 200 schoolchildren at the National Library of
Scotland in Edinburgh. Rowling donated all royalties from the book to the Children's High Level Group, a charity that Rowling co-founded to support
institutionalized children in Eastern Europe, which has since been renamed Lumos.
Rowling's first book aimed at adults, The Casual Vacancy, was published in September 2012. The novel, a dark comedy about a local election in the small
English town of Pagford, received mixed reviews. A book review in The New York Times called the novel "disappointing" and "dull." A review in The
Telegraph, however, gave the book three out of five stars, stating that the novel is "Rowling on bodkin-sharp comic form in the early pages ... Jane Austen
herself would admire the way [Rowling] shows the news of Barry’s death spreading like a virus round Pagford."
Rowling is also reportedly working on a new Harry Potter-related book. On her website, she announced that she will write "an encyclopedia of Harry's
world" and the royalties from this volume will be donated to charity.
PERSONAL LIFE
On December 26, 2001, J.K. Rowling married anesthetist Dr. Neil Murray at the couple's home in Scotland. They have two children together, David (b.2003)
and Mackenzie (b. 2005). Rowling has one child, Jessica (b. 1993), from her previous marriage.
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http://www.jkrowling.com/en_US/#/about-jk-rowling
Biography
Joanne Rowling was born in July 1965 at Yate General Hospital in England and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent where she went to
Wyedean Comprehensive.
Jo left Chepstow for Exeter University, where she earned a French and Classics degree, her course including one year in Paris. As
a postgraduate she moved to London and worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other jobs. She started writing
the Harry Potter series during a delayed 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.
Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth
to a daughter in 1993. When the marriage ended, she and Jessica returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter &
the Sorcerer’s Stone was eventually completed. The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997,
under the name J.K. Rowling. The “K”, for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name was added at her publisher’s request who
thought that a woman’s name would not appeal to the target audience of young boys.
The second title in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and was No. 1 in the adult
hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published on 8th July
1999 to worldwide acclaim and spent four weeks at No.1 in the UK adult hardback bestseller charts.
The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8th July 2000 with a record first print run of
1 million copies for the UK. It quickly broke all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first day of publication in
the UK.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia on 21st June 2003 and
broke the records set by Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire as the fastest selling book in history. Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince was published in the UK, US and other English-speaking countries on 16th July 2005 and also achieved record
sales.
The seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in the UK, US and other English
speaking countries in 2007.
J.K. Rowling 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 were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.
In December 2008, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group (now Lumos).
As well as an OBE for services to children’s literature, J.K. Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees
including the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian AndersenLiterature
Award, and she has been a Commencement Speaker at Harvard University USA. She supports a wide number of charitable
causes through her charitable trust Volant, and is the founder of Lumos, a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged
children.
J.K. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her husband and three children.
J.K. Rowling’s latest book, The Casual Vacancy, her first novel for adults, was published in English in September 2012.