A life story written by Joanne Rowling. British writer Joan Rowling: biography, literary activity
JK Rowling (known by her pen names J.K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith) was a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer, born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Wolan). ) July 31, 1965 in Yate in Gloucestershire (England) 16 kilometers northeast of Bristol.
Her mother Anne was half French and half Scottish. Rowling's parents met in 1964 at London's King's Cross station on a train bound for Arbroath. They married on March 14, 1965.
Rowling's sister, Dianne, was born when Joan was 23 months old. When Joan was four years old, the family moved to the neighboring village of Winterbourne. Rowling attended St. Michael's Primary School, founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. It has been suggested that the school's headmaster, Alfred Dunn, was the inspiration for Harry Potter's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.[
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she usually read to her sister. At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the village of Tutshill (Gloucestershire), near Chepstow (Wales). When she was a teenager, her great-aunt gave her a very old edition of Jessica Mitford's autobiography. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and she read all of her books.
Rowling attended Waideen High School, where her mother worked in the science department. In 1982 Rowling failed the entrance exams to Oxford University and entered the University of Exeter, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in French and classical philology. After a year of study in Paris, Rowling graduated from Exeter in 1986. She listens to pop music and is keen on the singer Siouxsie, whose views she adopted for several years, and moved to London, starting work as a secretary in the research department of Amnesty International.
After leaving her job at Amnesty International in London, Rowling and her boyfriend decided to move to Manchester. In 1990 While traveling on a four-hour delayed train from Manchester to London, the idea for a novel about a boy attending a wizarding school "came fully formed" into her mind.
When she got home, she immediately began writing. In December of the same year, Rowling's mother died after ten years of multiple sclerosis. Rowling said the death had a profound impact on her novel, and she wrote more about the loss of Harry's parents in the first book because she knew the feeling.
After seeing an ad in The Guardian, Rowling moved to Porto, Portugal, to teach English. She taught in the evenings and wrote during the day while listening to Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. In Portugal, Rowling met TV journalist Jorge Arantes in a bar. They merried October 16, 1992, and they have July 27, 1993 daughter Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (in honor of Jessica Mitford) was born. The couple broke up November 17, 1993, 13 months and one day after the wedding. In December 1993 Rowling, with her daughter and three chapters of Harry Potter in her suitcase, moved to Edinburgh (Scotland) to be near her sister.
Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling considered herself "the biggest failure I knew." Her marriage broke up, she was unemployed and with a child in her arms. However, she later described her failure as liberating.
During this period, Rowling fell ill with clinical depression and had thoughts of suicide. It was this condition that led to the appearance of dementors in her third book - creatures that suck out the soul. Rowling began receiving social benefits. She was, she said, "as poor as you can be in modern Britain without being homeless."
Rowling was left "desperate" after her husband arrived looking for her and his daughter. She received a protection order and Arantes returned to Portugal, while Rowling in August 1994. After finishing his first novel in August 1995 she entered teacher training school Edinburgh University, while living on benefits.
In 1995 Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which she typed on an old typewriter. Following a rave review from Briony Ivens, a reader asked to rate the book's first three chapters, Fulham-based literary agents Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her search for a publisher. The book was sent to twelve publishing houses, but all of them rejected the manuscript. A year later, she finally got the green light (and a £1,500 advance) from editor Barry Cunningham of London publisher Bloomsbury. Rowling's decision to publish the book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of the chairman of Bloomsbury, whose father gave the first chapter to read and who immediately demanded a sequel. Cunningham said that although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, he advised Rowling to find a day job as she had little chance of making money from children's books. Soon after it, in 1997, Rowling received an £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to continue her writing.
In June 1997 Bloomsbury published The Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Five months later, the book won its first award, the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February the novel won the British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year and later the Children's Book Award. Early 1998 In the United States, an auction was held for the rights to publish the novel, which was won by Scholastic Inc. for 105 thousand dollars. In October 1998 Scholastic published The Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, reasoning that children would not want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title.
The sequel to the first novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has been published in July 1998. Rowling again received a Smarties Award for it. In December 1999 The third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was released, which also won the Smarties Award, after which Rowling became the first person to win this award three times in a row. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from the competition to give other books a chance. In January 2000 The Prisoner of Azkaban won the Whitbread Awards for children's book of the year, although it lost out for book of the year to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.
The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and US July 8, 2000 and broke sales records in both countries. The book sold 372,775 copies in the UK on its first day - almost the same number of copies of the previous novel sold in its first year. In the United States, the book sold three million copies in the first 48 hours, breaking all sales records. Rowling won the British Book Awards for author of the year.
Three years passed between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. During this hiatus, the press published rumors that Rowling was experiencing writer's block, which she vehemently denied. Rowling later admitted that writing this book required a lot of effort from her.
The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has been released July 16, 2005. It also broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in the first 24 hours. In 2006 The Half-Blood Prince won the British Book Awards for Book of the Year.
At the end of December 2006 The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book has been announced: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been released July 21, 2007 and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the UK and US on its first day.
In June 2011, Rowling announced that all Harry Potter-related content would be collected in a new web project, Pottermore. The project website contains 18 thousand words additional information about the characters, places and objects of the Harry Potter universe. In April 2012 After the launch of the site, Rowling confirmed that she had begun work on an encyclopedia about the Harry Potter universe and would donate all royalties to charity. She later noted that she likes to share for free new information about Potter on Pottermore and she has no plans to publish it as a book. IN 2014 Rowling published several fragments on the site future book"The History of the Quidditch World Cup." The first came out in March, the second in July.
In 2016, 9 years after the release of the seventh book, the series received an unexpected continuation in the form of a two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which begins immediately after the epilogue of The Deathly Hallows. The play was produced in the West End and was written by playwright Jack Thorne, but with creative input from Rowling. In parallel with the premiere, a book with the script appeared in bookstores, which was officially recognized as the eighth part of the series. The play was very well received positive reviews fans and critics and subsequently received a record 9 Laurence Olivier Awards (with also a record 11 nominations), including Best New Play and best actor.
December 26, 2001 Rowling married anesthesiologist Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971). The private ceremony took place at Killiechassie House in Scotland. This was the second marriage for both Rowling and Murray. March 24, 2003 They had a son, David Gordon Rowling Murray. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she took a break to care for her child. Rowling's youngest daughter, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Half-Blood Prince, was born January 23, 2005. The family lives in Edinburgh near writers Iain Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and Kate Atkinson.
In 2000 Rowling created charitable foundation Volant Charitable Trust, which aims to fight poverty and social inequality. The foundation funds organizations that help children, single-parent families, and also engage in research into multiple sclerosis.
Rowling, who herself was a single mother, heads the charity Gingerbread (formerly known as One Parent Families), having previously been the organization's first ambassador since 2000. Rowling collaborated with Sarah Brown to write a book of children's stories to raise funds for One Parent Families.
In 2005 Rowling and MEP Emma Nicholson founded the Children’s High Level Group (now Lumos).
Rowling financially supported research and treatment for multiple sclerosis, which her mother suffered from until her death in 1990. In 2006 Rowling donated a significant sum to establish the new Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, later renamed the Anne Rowling Clinic for Regenerative Neuroscience. In 2010 In 2018, she donated another £10 million to the clinic.
Works:
Harry Potter series:
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ( 1997
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"Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets" ( 1998
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"Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban" ( 1999
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"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ( 2000
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"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ( 2003
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"Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince" ( 2005
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"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" ( 2007
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"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" ( 2016
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Supplements to the Harry Potter series:
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" ( 2001
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"Quidditch from Antiquity to the Present Day" ( 2001
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"Tales of Beedle the Bard" ( 2008
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"Harry Potter: The Backstory" ( 2008
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"Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide" ( 2016
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"Short Stories from Hogwarts about Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists" ( 2016
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"Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies" ( 2016
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Film scripts:
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" ( 2016
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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ( 2018
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Books for adults:
"Random Vacancy" ( 2012
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Cormoran Strike series
"The Cuckoo's Calling" (under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) ( 2013
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"Silkworm" (under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) ( 2014
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"In the Service of Evil" (under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) ( 2015
)
Journalism:
Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and Importance of Imagination ( 2016
Keywords: Joanne Rowling, Joanne Rowling, fantasy, biography of Joanne Rowling, download detailed biography, free download, English literature, 20th century, early 21st century, life and work of JK Rowling
The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which marked the beginning of a series of novels about the Hogwarts school of wizardry and its wards, was published by Bloomsbury back in 1997. Its author was an unknown at that time Englishwoman Joanne Rowling Almost instantly, the book became a bestseller and gained unprecedented worldwide popularity: copies disappeared from store shelves faster than they could be put there.
Almost 20 years later, it is difficult to imagine that neither Rowling herself nor as many as twelve (!) publishers who refused to publish the book initially did not believe in the success of Harry Potter.
How did Harry Potter appear?
In 1990, the 25-year-old girl Joan had to travel along the Manchester-London route. However, the train was delayed for almost four hours, and Joan had no choice but to be bored while waiting for the trip. Trying to pass the time, the future writer began to fantasize: it was then that the fateful idea came to her mind to write a book about a boy wizard. At that moment, Joan didn’t even have a pen to write down the plot that had arisen in her imagination, and her natural shyness prevented her from asking someone else for it.
Immediately upon arriving home, Joan began writing her first book about Harry. However, it took several more years to finally plan and write the seven Potter books, and several more to become “the greatest living British author,” as the media describes her.
Biography of JK Rowling: life before Harry Potter
Joan was born July 31, 1965 year in a small Yate town in the English county of Gloucestershire. Some sources indicate another place of her birth - the village Chipping Sodbury, however, in reality, Rowling never lived there, and the rumor was started by Joan herself because of her dislike for the gloomy and inhospitable city where she grew up. Since then, publishers and advertising agents have indicated her fictitious place of birth in the author's biography.
The future writer's earliest memories of her childhood are associated with the birth of her younger sister Diana, who was born 23 months after the birth of Joan herself. From an early age, Rowling loved to read, devoting a fair amount of her time to this hobby: “A real bookworm with freckles and glasses,” This is exactly how the writer describes herself as a child.
At the age of six, Joan composed her first fairy tale about a rabbit with measles, which she simply named “Rabbit,” and the young writer’s first listeners were her younger sister and parents. Having received praise for the story, Joan decided to publish it immediately, which she told her parents: “An unexpected decision for a six-year-old child,” Rowling herself later admits.
When Joan was 9 years old, the family moved to the small village of Tutshill, located near the town of Chepstow in South Wales. The desire to write did not weaken with age: at the age of 11, Joan wrote another story about the seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them. In her own autobiography, Rowling recalls with great warmth her childhood friend Sean, who believed that one day she would become an excellent writer: “He was the only one who believed that I would definitely succeed,” recalls Joan.
In 1983, after graduating secondary school Wyedean Comprehensive School, Joan entered the University of Exeter in the southwest part of England, studying French. Later in an interview, Joan admits that she regretted her decision: she wanted to study English literature, but her parents considered her daughter’s choice unsuccessful and advised her to go to the French department. “I should have stood my ground,” Joan laments. “The only advantage was that studying French required a year of study in Paris.”
After graduating from university, Rowling moved to London, where over the next few years she changed several jobs. By her own admission, what she loved most was working as a researcher for the charity Amnesty International, whose mission is to fight against human rights violations around the world.
In 1990, Joan began the first chapter of her future bestseller, but in December of the same year, her mother, Anne Rowling, died of multiple sclerosis. This was an extremely difficult period in the writer’s life: it was difficult for her to cope with the departure of her mother, with whom she was truly close. This loss was reflected in Rowling’s subsequent work: according to the writer’s own admission, her favorite episode in the book she wrote was the moment when Harry sees his dead parents in the magical Mirror of Erised.
Rowling soon received a job offer and moved to Portugal, where she worked as an English teacher. It was there that Joan met her first husband. They got married in 1992, and a year later the couple had a daughter, Jessica. However, this union was not destined to become lasting, and just four months after the birth of the child, Joan separated from her husband and returned to the UK, settling next to her sister in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. The following years for Joan became a difficult period of poverty and real depression. She earned a living alone and took care of her little daughter. Mine own experience Joan used the fight against depression in her book when creating the image of Dementors - creatures that “suck” the feeling of happiness from their victims.
Rowling finished publishing her first book in 1995. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" on an old manual typewriter and sent it to several literary agents. Bryony Evans from the Christopher Little Literary Agents praised the book's potential and immediately agreed to submit the manuscript to twelve publishing houses.
However, a whole year passed before the long-awaited news arrived: the small publishing house Bloomsbury accepted the book for publication. There is a legend in the publishing house itself that the decision was made thanks to the chairman’s 8-year-old daughter, who liked the book about wizards. Rowling received an advance of £1,500, and in June 1997 the first Harry Potter book was published in a small print run of just a thousand copies, half of which were sent to libraries. This was truly a turning point in the life of the writer.
JK Rowling: world fame and recognition
Happy wife: JK Rowling with her husband
Neil Murray at the premiere of the film "Harry Potter"
in 2009. Photo freelancewritingteam.com
Harry Potter changed JK Rowling's life dramatically, but this time all the changes were for the better. Shortly after the book's publication, she received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council, which allowed her to quit her day job and focus on writing the next part.
After the incredible success of her first novel in the UK, the American company Scholastic offered the writer £100,000 in exchange for the right to publish her book in the US.
A year after the release of “The Philosopher’s Stone,” eager readers waited for it to continue: a second book entitled "Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets"(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), which immediately became a bestseller. At the same time, Joan signed a contract for a 7-figure sum with the Warner Brothers film company and instantly became a millionaire. The appearance of films on silver screens greatly increased the success of the books and made Harry Potter one of the most recognizable media products. At Joan's insistent request, all films about Harry were as close as possible to the original plot, the roles involved English actors, and filming locations were chosen exclusively in the UK.
When is the fourth book in the series? "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"(Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) was published, it managed to break all previous records: on the first day in the UK, more than 372 thousand copies were sold, and in the US, over three million books were swept off store shelves in the first 48 hours. It is not surprising that in 2000, Rowling received the prestigious British Book Awards as Author of the Year.
Pleasant changes also followed in Joan's personal life: in December 2001, she married an anesthesiologist Neil Murray(Neil Michael Murray). In March 2003, their son was born, named David Gordon Rowling Murray, and in January 2005 - youngest daughter, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray. These happy events in Joan's personal life slowed down the release of new books, and the tabloids immediately speculated that Rowling was having a creative "crisis." In general, the creator of Harry Potter had difficult relationship with the press. Journalists portrayed Joan as a recluse who does not make contact and hates giving interviews, which, according to Rowling herself, was completely untrue. Some believe that difficulties in relations with the media led to the creation of the image of the overly meticulous journalist Rita Skeeter in the Harry Potter books.
On December 21, 2006, Joan completed work on the seventh and presumably final book in the series, entitled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). The book was published in July 2007 and once again broke all records for speed and sales volume, allowing Rowling to take the 144th place in the ranking richest people in Britain according to the Sunday Times.
JK Rowling with actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint at the premiere of the film about Harry Potter. Photo dailymail.co.uk
After the release of Deathly Hallows, Rowling said in an interview that she did not intend to write an eighth book: “Perhaps in the next 10 years I will want to write a sequel, but I think this is unlikely.” However, the story continued when the play premiered on the stage of London's Palace Theater in July 2016 "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"(Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The performance is currently playing to a full house, so hurry up and buy tickets and come to London, to the Covent Garden area, if you want to see the end of the grandiose epic with your own eyes.
In the photo: Palace Theater, where the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being performed
According to the author's idea, the play tells about the fate of the children of the main characters 19 years after the events described in the seventh book. On July 31, 2016, exactly on Rowling’s 51st birthday, sales of the new book started, after which the “mother” of the most famous wizard told the media that this creation finally ends the story of Harry Potter and there will definitely not be a continuation.
11 interesting facts about the author and books about Harry Potter:
As a child, Rowling received the nickname “rolling pin” due to her consonant surname.
Joan tried to enter the famous Oxford University, but failed the exams.
In addition to French, Joan studied Latin at the university, which helped her when composing magic spells for the book.
According to Rowling herself, she has the character and temperament suitable for a writer: “I am absolutely happy alone, writing.”
Eight films based on the books have grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
Fans at the premiere of the new Harry Potter book. Photo www.mnn.com
Books "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" from the first thousand copies are valued by collectors at £25,000 each.
After release last movie Joan created a special website, pottermore.com, to track news about Harry Potter.
@jk_rowling is JK Rowling's official Twitter account, but new posts appear there infrequently. Her Official page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/JKRowling.
Harry Potter brand on this moment estimated at $15 billion.
Poster for the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". Photo collider.com
Rowling is the first billionaire in history to make her fortune solely through writing.
At the same time, in August 2016, Joan dropped out of the Forbes list of billionaires, having donated about 16% of her capital (more than $160 million) to charity.
In the footsteps of Harry Potter: iconic places for fans of the epic
Pictured: the same platform 9 ¾ at St Pancras Station.
Having signed a film contract with Warner Brothers, JK Rowling insisted that all filming take place exclusively in the UK. Thanks to this, a lot of places have appeared in England, one way or another connected with the name of Harry Potter. We list the most convenient in terms of location and the most interesting of them:
1. Platform 9 ¾
Perhaps we should start the list with London and the world famous platform 9 ¾ at St Pancras Station. It was from here that young Harry took the magical express to Hogwarts Castle, marking the beginning of all subsequent adventures.
How to get there: go to King's Cross St. Pancras metro station and follow the signs. Finding this mythical platform is not difficult: it is located between platforms 4 and 5 and there is always a queue of tourists near it, eager to take a photo with a trolley half disappearing into the wall.
Price: for free. You'll be given special props on site: a Hogwarts school scarf and wand, and you'll be able to take a free photo next to the cart (so be sure to bring a partner). At the same time, all participants in the action are photographed by an employee of the attraction, and if you wish, you can print ready-made photographs for a fee.
2. Christ Church College
In the city of Oxford, located near London, there are several places where the Harry Potter films were filmed. But perhaps the most popular of them is Christ Church College. We saw the college staircase in the first film: freshmen climbed it to the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the prototype of which, by the way, was the local dining hall. Many scenes were also filmed in the college courtyard.
How to get there: It is equally convenient to get from Oxford to London by bus or train. The journey will take from 1 hour (by train) to 2-2.5 hours (by bus). The college is open to the public from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 to 17.00 and on Sunday from 14.00 to 17.00. It would be a good idea to check the opening hours for viewing the premises in advance, as the schedule on the College website changes weekly, so plan your visit in advance: http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/opening-times
In the photo: above - the stairs of Hogwarts School (still from the film), below - the great hall of Hogwarts School (college dining hall).
3.
Also in Oxford you can look into the building Bodleian Library, which appeared in 3 films at once: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2001), “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) Goblet of Fire" (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2005).
The oldest medieval library in Europe, currently owned by Oxford University, was transformed into the Hogwarts library in the film.
How to get there: The library is located at Broad St, Oxford OX1 3BG. It is open from Monday to Sunday during school hours, but before you go, be sure to check if you are visiting during the holiday period when the building is closed to the public:
Price: Entrance tickets (reader passes, to be precise) start from £5.40. Flash photography is strictly prohibited.
In the photo: above - Hogwarts Library (still from the film), below - the interior of the Bodleian Library.
4. Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market– one of the most beautiful indoor markets victorian era, located in the City of London. However, for Harry Potter lovers, this market is attractive because it is here that part of the magical Diagon Alley has been recreated, which can be accessed through the Leaky Cauldron bar, also located here. So, be sure to check out 42 Bull's Head Passage: the blue door of this real-life store served as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
How to get there: Address: Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT. Nearest metro stations: Monument Tube Station (4 minutes walk) and Bank Tube Station (5 minutes walk).
Price: for free. On weekends all local shops are closed.
In the photo: above - Leadenhall Market, below - the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
5. Warner Bros. Studio
In the town of Watford, half an hour's drive from London, there are studio pavilions Warner Bros., where all 8 parts of the Harry Potter film were filmed over the course of a decade. In 2012, the film studio turned into a museum accessible to all Potter fans. Here you can feel like a Hogwarts student and feel the spirit of magic: walk around Great hall school, go to Dumbledore's office, meet magical creatures (it's a pity that they are in the form of sculptures and models), hone the skill of magical spells and even try the famous butterbeer. By the way, in April 2013 the museum was also visited by members royal family: Prince William with Kate Middleton, as well as Prince Harry.
How to get there: There is a proprietary bus service to the studio from nearby Watford Junction railway station (return ticket costs £2.50)
So, don't hesitate for a moment and go on a trip to the Harry Potter places right now. After all, even if you turn your nose up at fairy tales, it’s nice for each of us to return to childhood for a moment and feel like an omnipotent wizard.
English writer JK Rowling visited primary school St. Michael's, founded over 200 years ago, and was also childhood friends with a boy named Potter. At the age of six, she showed her mother her first story about the adventures of a rabbit named Rabbit.
In her senior year, Joan decided that she would go to Oxford. She successfully passed the entrance exams, her name was included in the list of candidates, but she did not become a student at a prestigious university. Joan decided not to try again and not waste a year, so she applied to the University of Exeter in Devon, where she was enrolled in 1983.
After graduating from university, Rowling moved to Forks, where she worked several jobs. She was a secretary-translator at the London branch of Amnesty International and briefly worked at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
In 1991, at the age of 26, Joan went to Porto to teach English. During this time, she began working on her third novel. A new book was about a boy who discovered he was a wizard and ended up in a wizarding school.
In Porto in August 1992, Joan married student journalist Jorge Arantes. Their daughter Jessica was born in 1993. After the birth of her daughter, the husband filed for divorce. After the divorce, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland.
In Edinburgh, Joan continued to write Harry Potter. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to complete the book, and after a series of rejections, she eventually sold Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Bloomsbury for $4,000. During this time, Rowling worked as a French teacher.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was released in June 1997 and became a sensation - a novel by a beginner and no one famous writer was recognized in the UK as the best children's book of the year. The rights to publish the novel were acquired by the American publishing house Arthur Levine, and in October 1998 the book was republished in the United States with a slightly changed title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
The first novel was followed by "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (1998), "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (1999), "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2000), "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2003), " Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005). The seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows series was published in 2007. The Harry Potter novels have been translated into more than 65 languages and have sold more than 400 million copies.
In 1998, the film studio Warner Bros. bought the film rights to Rowling's novels. All Potter series were successful at the box office and received critical acclaim.
The success of the series among readers, as well as films based on the novels, brought Rowling worldwide fame and condition. Since 2004, JK Rowling has been the most rich woman In Great Britain. Forbes magazine in 2008 estimated her fortune at $1 billion.
Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sothebury, Gloucestershire, England. Her sister, Dee, was born two years later. Rowling loved to tell stories with early childhood and wrote her first story when she was 5 or 6 years old - it was a story about a rabbit named Rabbit who had measles and his friends came to visit him with a giant bee named Miss Bee. She moved twice as a child. Both times to towns near Bristol: first to Eith, then to Winterbourne. The family moved again when she was nine years old - to Tutshill. She attended primary school in Tutshill and high school and Viedine.
At that time she was quiet, freckled, nearsighted and terribly unathletic. Her favorite subjects are English and other languages. She used to tell stories to her friends - where they all did brave and heroic deeds, which would not be decided in real life.
She went to Exeter University straight after school and studied French, at the urging of her parents, who said she could make a career as a bilingual secretary. She spent several years studying at the university and working as “the worst secretary in the world.”
In 1991, at the age of 26, she went to Portugal to teach English. She says she liked it. She gave lessons in the afternoon and evening, and composed in the morning. During this time, she began working on her third novel (the first two had been dismissed as "very bad"). The new book was about a boy who discovered that he was a wizard and ended up in a wizarding school. In Portugal she met and married a Portuguese journalist. Their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993.
After the divorce, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, closer to her younger sister Dee. Rowling set herself the goal of completing the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and, of course, trying to publish it. She wrote on the cafe table while Jessica was sleeping. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to complete the book and, after a number of rejections, she eventually sold Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Bloomsbury (UK) for US$4,000.
When the first Harry Potter book was published, the publisher insisted on writing JK Rowling's name on the cover only with her initials - such a trick should not scare away boys, who mostly do not like books by female authors, from buying them. And since the writer did not have a middle name from birth, she chose the name of her grandmother Kathleen for her initials, and since then she has been known as J. K. Rowling.
A few months later, Arthur A. Levin/Teaching Literature buys the American rights to the book for enough money to enable her to quit teaching. The book was published in the UK in June 1997 (at the time of writing the first edition of this book has sold £12,000/$20,000). At that moment the confession came. Harry Potter wins the British Book of the Year and Smarties Prize. Retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the book was published in the US in September 1998. The next, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in the UK in July 1998, and in the US in June 1999. The third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban "was published in the UK in July 1999, and in the US in September 1999.
In 1999, Rowling became an international literary sensation when the first three books of the Harry Potter series reached the top 3 positions on the New York Times bestseller list - achieving similar success in the UK. In the summer of 2000, the first three books had sold over 35 million copies, in 35 languages, valued at approximately $480 million. In July 2000, the first printing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was 5.3 million copies with advance orders of over 1.8 million. "Order of the Phoenix", "Half-Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows" also became leaders in terms of circulation and box office receipts. The total circulation of all seven books about the adventures of Harry Potter was 400 million copies. In 2000, Warner Brothers released a film based on the first book about Harry Potter; in 2011, the eighth and final film premiered - at the whim of the filmmakers, the final novel was divided into two parts. All eight films occupied the leading positions in box office collections all over the world.
Rowling says she wrote Harry Potter when “I was feeling really bad and needed to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone crazy.” Nowadays, the story about Harry Potter and his struggle with the Dark Lord is one of the most popular children's books and already bears the proud title of “children's book of the millennium,” although, of course, it is difficult to consider it entirely for children.
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In this collection you will find all of JK Rowling's books. The list starts from the most recent and newest books to the oldest in chronological order.
2016
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Parts one and two. Special rehearsal edition of the script
A long-awaited calm is coming in the life of the famous Harry Potter. He is completely immersed in worries about his family. Next to him is his beloved wife, whom he can and should help raise three children. The guys attend school, and the father of the family knows no rest, spending all his free and non-free time at work, in the Ministry of Magic. It would seem that nothing foreshadows trouble. However dark forces appear out of nowhere to drag Harry and his youngest son Albus on another adventure. Further
Fantastic beasts and where to find them. Original script
Newt Scamander does some pretty interesting things. By occupation he is a magical zoologist. He spent his entire adult life searching for unusual creatures endowed with magical powers. Returning from another trip, the researcher and traveler decides not to stay long in New York. However, fate disposes of his time differently. Some creatures are released into the wild in order to create huge problems for their owner. Further
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Original script
2013
One might get the impression that Pagford is a town in which life is worthy of being imitated by residents of other towns. However, this is just an appearance. In fact, not everything is so safe and flawless in the town of dreams. The whole truth comes out after one of the local council members dies. Just before the start of the city council elections, it becomes known that the entire city is in permanent conflict. Spouses, their children, employees, as well as students and teachers conflict. Further
2007
This is a very difficult time for Harry Potter. The guy is forced to live in constant fear for his life. They constantly flash in front of him various kinds danger. This is due to the fact that the protective spell that ensured Harry’s safety has expired. As a result, he is forced to hide from Lord Voldemort and many entities that pose a danger to him. But this cannot happen indefinitely, and Potter must give a decisive battle to the evil forces. Further
2005
Harry Potter is convinced that all is not well at the wizarding school. The fact is that after another meeting with Dumbledore, the guy notices that strange things are happening to his mentor’s hand. It becomes obvious that it has changed color and shrunk. As a result of his own investigation, the boy becomes convinced that one of the students of the magic school is a Death Eater. This circumstance forces Potter to begin preparing for the expected clash with dark forces and their representatives in order to win an undeniable victory. Further
2003
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Troubled times are once again coming to Hogwarts. The delicate balance between the forces of good and evil is disrupted. Harry Potter doesn't understand why Lord Voldemort is pursuing him. After all, just recently the cousin of a talented boy was attacked by his servants. Naturally, Voldemort is searching for Harry, and his arrival is only a matter of time. To get rid of the influence on the mind that the evil wizard has, Potter is forced to turn to Snape for help. The fact that the boy is not alone, but with the support of a secret magical order, inspires confidence in his victory over the dark forces. Further
2001
Fantastic beasts and where to find them
Once again, Hogwarts is rocked by not rosy events. This time, the delicate balance between the forces of darkness and light is seriously disrupted. But students of the magic school can be confident of their victory, since they have great knowledge that can be gleaned from the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” This book has become a reference manual for all school students. Further
2000
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
An event of grand scale is taking place at the Hogwarts magical school. The thing is that the Triwizard Tournament is being held here, which is designed to bring together many wizards so that they measure their strength. This circumstance made Harry extremely excited. But the problem is that boys who have reached a certain age can take part in the tournament. However, to Harry's surprise, he also receives an invitation to the tournament. Further
1999
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban
A new school year begins at the Hogwarts magical school. But the beginning of the school year is overshadowed by sad news: a dangerous repeat offender named Sirius Black escaped from a maximum security prison. The killer has a huge number of innocent victims. Harry realizes that Sirius is hunting him. And he was sent by none other than Lord Voldemort, whose servants are prowling near the school. Further
1998
Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets
To be fair, it should be noted that Harry Potter did not have a great summer. The time during which the guy should have had a good rest and enjoyed it was clearly wasted. And it all started with the most disgusting birthday that has ever happened in the life of the little wizard. After the guy returns to his magic school, rather gloomy predictions, authored by the elf Dobby, begin to come true. Further
1997
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter could never have imagined that there was an entire professional school of magical and witchcraft arts. For the first time, the boy learns about her from those letters that with fair consistency come to the door of the house where he lives. True, these letters for a long time do not reach the boy: they are kidnapped by the boy's uncle and aunt. But one day Potter still receives a letter inviting him to Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Further
These are all books by JK Rowling. We will continue to update the list, and be sure to stay tuned. 😉
