Early Years
A young Joanne Rowling.
Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, a few miles south of a town called Dursley. Her father, Peter, was a Rolls Royce engineer who had met his wife, Anne, at King's Cross Station. Joanne has a sister two years her junior. As a child, Rowling would write short stories and tell them to her sister, Dianne. In her teenage years, her mother was sick and she and her father had a difficult relationship. After being rejected at Oxford, Rowling studied at Exeter University. She got the idea for the Harry Potter books while delayed on a train from Manchester to London, and she began sketching out the plots and writing the first novel. At the end of 1990, Rowling's mother died of multiple sclerosis, and she tried to escape the grief by taking a teaching job in Portugal. She married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter Jessica in 1993. Rowling moved back to England from Portugal with her daughter after her marriage fell apart (it has been suggested that Rowling was a victim of domestic abuse), a single parent with no job. During this time, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and even contemplated suicide. She signed up for welfare benefits and began writing in cafés, or wherever little Jessica would fall asleep. In 2001, Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray and had another two children with him. After finishing the Harry Potter series, Rowling is now writing novels for adults, although she has not refused the idea of writing more about the world of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter's Success
All seven Harry Potter books.
In June 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published in the UK, soon gaining popularity and winning the British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year. In October 1998 the book was published in the United States under the name Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and became extremely popular among both children and adults, as it had been in Britain. Rowling began writing six more novels in the series, and Warner Bros. bought film rights and produced eight intensely popular movies starring a mainly British cast. Both the books and the movies have shattered records for the fastest and highest selling series of all times; all seven of Rowling's novels are are in the top 21 best-selling books of all times.
"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power wee need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better."-J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter's success can be seen clearly throughout the world. The books have been translated into 73 languages including English, and in 2011, 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books had been sold worldwide. J.K. Rowling has become one of the richest and most influential people in the world. Universal Studios has made a Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida, and Rowling has also put forth an interactive Harry Potter website called Pottermore. In her novels, Rowling created a world that changed the culture of the entire planet, and it will not soon be forgotten.
"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power wee need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better."-J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter's success can be seen clearly throughout the world. The books have been translated into 73 languages including English, and in 2011, 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books had been sold worldwide. J.K. Rowling has become one of the richest and most influential people in the world. Universal Studios has made a Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida, and Rowling has also put forth an interactive Harry Potter website called Pottermore. In her novels, Rowling created a world that changed the culture of the entire planet, and it will not soon be forgotten.