A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
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Life and Works: Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Yate, near Bristol, a few miles south of a town called Dursley (Harry Potter's muggle-family). Her father Peter Rowling was an engineer for Rolls Royce in Bristol at this time. Her mother, Anne, was half-French and half-Scotitbussh. In 1990, her 45-year-old mother succumbed to a decade-long battle with multiple sclerosis. Her sister Diana is about 2 years younger than Joanne. In 1971, Peter Rowling moved his family to the nearby village of Winterbourne (still in the Bristol vicinity). During the family's residence in Winterbourne, Jo and Di Rowling were friends with neighborhood children, Ian and Vikki Potter. In 1974, the Rowling family moved yet again, this time to Tutshill, near the Welsh border town of Chepstow (in the Forest of Dean) and across the Severn River from the greater Bristol area. After attending Tutshill Primary School she went to Wyedean Comprehensive. She describes herself as having been quite, freckly, short-sighted and rubbish at sports. Her favorite subject was English followed by languages. She used to tell stories to her friends - usually involving them all doing heroic and daring deeds that they wouldn't dare to do in real life. Rowling remembers that she always wanted to write and that the first story she actually wrote down, when she was five or six, was a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. Many of her favorite memories center around reading—hearing "The Wind in the Willows" read aloud by her father when she had the measles, enjoying the fantastic adventure stories of E. Nesbit, reveling in the magical world of C. S. Lewis's Narnia, and her favorite story of all, The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge. Rowling admits to having been a bit of a daydreamer as a child and began writing stories at the age of six. After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter, with a year of study in Paris, she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International, daydreamed about becoming a writer. One day, stuck on a delayed train for four hours between Manchester and London, she dreamt up a boy called Harry Potter. That was in 1990. It took her six years to write the book. In the meantime she went to teach in Portugal 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. Her sudden penury made her realise that it was "back-against-the-wall time" and she decided to finish her Harry Potter book.Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed the novel doing some of the work in an Edinburgh cafe — Nicolson's Cafe on Nicolson Street (now a Chinese resautorbusrant), owned by her brother-in-law. She sent the manuscript to two agents and one publisher, looking up likely prospects in the library. One of these agents that she picked at random based on the fact that she liked his name, Christopher Little, was immediately captivated by the manuscript and signed her on as his client within three days. During the 1995-1996 timeframe, while hoping to get the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone published, Rowling worked as a French teacher in Edinburgh. Several publishers turned down the manuscript before Bloomsbury agreed to purchase it in 1996. The day she signed her contract for the first Harry Potter novel, the publishing representative told her she would not make any money selling children's books. Originally wrote Harry Potter to pay off her gas bills while living in a tiny flat with her then, baby daughter. When the first Harry Potter novel was published, the publisher asked her to use initials rather than her first name because boys would be biased against a book written a woman. Since she only had one given name, they then asked her to make up another initial; she took K. from her favorite grandmother, Kathleen. In September 1998, Scholastic published Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the States under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a change Rowling now claims she regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time. The book was an even bigger hit in the States than it was in the UK and Rowling subsequently went on a multi-city tour of the US to publicise the novel. Rowling writes all of her books in longhand, rather than with a computer. 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 and the top-selling book of 2000, with 7 million hardcovers sold. 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. Rowling, now Britain’s wealthiest woman--wealthier than even the queen--plans a total of seven books in the series. In October, 1998, Warner Brothers 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 November 16, 2001 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on November 15, 2002. Both were directed by Chris Columbus. A darker atmosphere was adopted in the June 4, 2004 film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, attributed to the new director, Alfonso Cuarón. Rowling, who was a fan of Cuarón's work prior to the third film, has stated that the third film is her personal favourite. November 18, 2005 marked the release of the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was directed by yet another new director, Mike Newell, and a fifth is now in production, under British television director David Yates. She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and received it from one of her fans, Charles, the Prince of Wales. In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th-century mansion, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay in Perthshire, Scotland. Rowling also owns an $11 million Georgian style house in London, with an underground swimming pool and 24-hour security. Son, David Gordon Rowling, born March 24, 2003 in Edinburgh. She is a big fan of the rock band The Smiths and in 2003 she appeared on the Channel Four documentary "The Importance of Being Morrissey". She is a huge fan of Monty Python and claims to put some of their humor into her books. On July,7, 2004, Rowling received an honorary degree from Edinburgh University in recognition of the Potter books and her outstanding contribution to children's literature. Her 3rd child, Mackenzie Jean Rowling, was born on January 23, 2005 in Edinburgh. In 2008, she has published The Tales of Beedle the Bard |
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