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J K Rowling Bio
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J K RowlingJ K Rowling is an author who has gained international fame for the Harry Potter books and films.
Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Bristol, England, and spent her first four years in nearby Yate. The family then moved to Winterbourne (along with her new sister Dianne) and later to Tutshill, near Chepstow, in Wales. The second move corresponded with the death of Rowling's grandmother, Kathleen (from whose name she was later to take her middle initial, her publishers being concerned that young boys wouldn't want to buy a book obviously written by a woman), and Rowling sank into depression. This grew worse after her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She coped by writing fiction and by going on long car rides with best friend Sean Harris, to whom she dedicated her second book.
Rowling was educated at Exeter University, where she studied French and classics before undertaking teacher training. During this period she began to write her first Harry Potter book and also had to cope with the death of her mother. She went on to teach English in Porto, Portugal, where she met her first husband, broadcast journalist Jorge Arantes, and gave birth to a daughter, Jessica. A year later she divorced Arantes and moved to Edinburgh where her sister had taken up residence. There, while looking for a job, she spent her spare time sitting in cafés writing, determined to finish her book. Upon completion of the manuscript she started sending it to agents, one of whom, Christopher Little, managed to get her a deal with Bloomsbury - it later emerged that this was largely due to the recommendation of the chairman's eight-year-old daughter, Alice Newton. However, Bloomsbury did not expect the book to be a great success, and it was the sale of the U.S. publishing rights to Scholastic Inc. that turned Rowling's life around, as she was presented with a check for $100,000.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or "Sorcerer's Stone" as it is known in the U.S.) went on to win numerous awards, including the British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year. Rowling had always conceived it as the first of a seven-part series and to her delight its sequels have so far proven to be just as popular. The sixth installment broke the Guinness Book of World Records record for fastest selling book. Despite allegations of plagiarism from the work of Neil Gaiman and Nancy Stouffer, Rowling has always vigorously defended the originality of her work. Readers of Book Magazine named her Greatest Living British Writer; and she has also has received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II and an honorary degree from Edinburgh University.
Rowling's Harry Potter novels are gradually being made into films. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson as the child heroes, they have also featured a host of luminaries including Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, John Cleese, Alan Rickman, Dame Maggie Smith, Julie Christie, and Richard Griffiths, and they have proven as popular as the books, making Rowling the world's richest author. After finishing the Harry Potter series she plans to collate an encyclopedia of related material and give the profits to charity. She has previously written tie-in books for Comic Relief and has helped to finance the building of a Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh as well as raising money for the Children's High Level Group, the Haven Foundation and Médicins sans Frontières.
Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her anesthetist husband Neil Murray, Jessica, and her two younger children, David and Jean. YUDDY |
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J K Rowling - Daniel Radcliffe stars as Harry Potter. |
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J K Rowling - Emma Watson stars as Hermione in the 'Harry Potter' films. |
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J K Rowling - Gary Oldman has appeared in the 'Harry Potter' films. |
J K Rowling - Katie Leung starred in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.'
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