J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling,
OBE (born
31 July 1965[The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Muggle Encyclopedia - Y. Accessed 17 March 2006. ]) is an
English fiction
writer who writes under the
pen name of
J. K. Rowling[The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Harry Potter books. Accessed 19 March 2006.]. Rowling became famous as
author of the
Harry Potter fantasy series, which has gained international attention, won multiple awards, and sold over 300 million copies worldwide.
[ ContemporaryWriters.com. "J. K. Rowling". Accessed 23 March 2006. ] In February 2004,
Forbes magazine estimated her fortune at
£576 million (just over
US$1 billion), making her the first person ever to become a $US billionaire by writing books.
[ Watson, Julie and Kellner, Tomas. "J.K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire". Forbes.com, 26 February 2004. Accessed 19 March 2006.]Joanne Rowling was born in
South Gloucestershire,
England on
31 July,
1965,
on the outskirts of
Bristol. Her sister Dianne was born when Rowling was almost two.
The family moved to
Winterbourne,
Bristol when Rowling was four, and then to
Tutshill, near
Chepstow,
Wales at the age of nine.
She attended secondary school at
Wyedean School and College. In December 1990, Rowling's mother succumbed to a 10 year long battle with
multiple sclerosis.
"I was writing
Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about
Harry Potter. Dad called me at seven o'clock the next morning and I just knew what had happened before he spoke ... I was alternately a wreck and then in total denial ... Barely a day goes by when I do not think of her. There would be so much to tell her, impossibly much."
[ "There would be so much to tell her..." The Daily Telegraph. Accessed 29 June 2006.] Her passing figures prominently in Rowling's own fear of death and its
theme in the
Harry Potter series.
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. During this period she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry while she was on a four-hour, delayed train trip between
Manchester and
London.
When she had reached her destination, she began writing immediately.
[ "J.K. Rowling and Stephen Fry interview". Radio 4, 10 December 2005. Accessed 21 March 2006.]Rowling then moved to
Porto,
Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on
16 October 1992.
[About.com. "J.K. Rowling and Neil Murray". Accessed 29 March 2006. ] They had one child, Jessica Isabel, before divorcing in 1993.
Their daughter was named after Rowling's heroine,
Jessica Mitford.
[ Weeks, Linton. "Charmed, I'm Sure". The Washington Post, 20 October 1999. Accessed 21 March 2006.]In December, 1994, she and her daughter moved to be near her sister in
Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel, doing some of the work in local Edinburgh
cafés whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep.
[ "Harry Potter and Me". BBC Christmas Special, 28 December 2001. Transcribed by "Marvelous Marvolo" and Jimmi Thøgersen. Quick Quotes Quill.org. Accessed 17 March 2006.] There was a rumour that she wrote in local cafés in order to escape from her unheated flat, but in a 2001 BBC interview Rowling remarked,
"I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat, in Edinburgh, in mid-winter; it had heating".
Harry Potter books
In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter.
[The Harry Potter Lexicon, A History of the Books. Accessed 19 March 2006. ] Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based
Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
[McGinty, Stephen The JK Rowling Story June 16 2003. Accessed April 9 2006.] A year later she was finally given the greenlight (and a £1500 advance) by the editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury.
[ BarnesandNoble.com. "Meet the Writers: J. K. Rowling". Accessed 25 March 2006. ] The decision to take Rowling on was apparently largely down to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of the company's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next.
Although Bloomsbury had agreed to publish the book, Cunningham claims he advised Rowling to get a day job, as she had little chance of making money in children's books.
["Harry Potter has been very good to JK Rowling July 7 2005. Accessed 9 April 2006.] Soon after, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the
Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing.
[Scottish Arts Council Wants Payback November 30 2003. Accessed April 9 2006.] The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc, who paid Rowling more than $100,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news.
[ Veritaserum.com, Sorcerer's Stone Book Information. Accessed 19 March 2006. ] In June, 1997, Bloomsbury published
Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of only 1000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued at between £16,000 and £25,000 each.
[Rare Harry Potter books July 22 2005. Accessed April 9 2006.] Five months later it won its first award, a
Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious
British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and, later the Children's Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published
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.
[ "J.K. Rowling: BBC Online Chat". March 2001. Accessed 19 March 2006.]In December 1999, the third
Harry Potter novel,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, in the process making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running.
She later withdrew the fourth
Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January, 2000,
Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it narrowly lost the Book of the Year prize to
Seamus Heaney's translation of
Beowulf.
[ Gibbons, Fiachra. "Beowulf slays the wizard". Guardian Unlimited, 26 January 2000, accessed 19 March 2006.] That June, the Queen honoured Rowling by making her an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
To date, six of the seven volumes of the
Harry Potter series, one for each of Harry's school years, have already been published and all have broken sales records. The last three volumes in the series have all been the fastest-selling books in history, grossing more in their opening 24 hours than blockbuster films.
[ "Potter sales record". EOnline, July 18 2005. Accessed 1 April 2006.][ "Harry Potter Returns". Infoplease, June 23 2003. Accessed 11 June 2006.] Book 6 of her series earned The Guinness World Records Award for being the fastest selling book ever.
Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as Harry Potter in the films, was presented and photographed with the award and will be appearing in
Guinness World Records 2007.
Rowling is currently writing the seventh and
final book of the series. Its title is currently unknown.
[J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "What is the seventh book going to be called?". Accessed 22 March, 2006.]. On June 26, 2006 Rowling revealed that in the final book of the Harry Potter series at least two characters will die, one of whom may be Harry himself.
Author Stephen King asked Rowling to not kill off Harry in book seven during a press conference, but Rowling remained ambiguous as to what she has decided will happen to Harry.
In June 2006, Rowling was named "the greatest living British writer" by
The Book Magazine. Rowling topped the poll, receiving nearly three times as many votes as second-place author, fantasy writer
Terry Pratchett.
[ BBC News, BBC News: Rowling voted greatest living British author. Accessed June 11 2006. ]Harry Potter films
In October, 1998,
Warner Bros. 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.
The
June 4,
2004 film version of
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by
Alfonso Cuarón.
The fourth film,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by yet another new director,
Mike Newell. A film of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is now in production, under British television director
David Yates, and new screenwriter
Michael Goldenberg, projected for release on July 13, 2007.
In contrast to the treatment of most authors by Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts in their attempt to bring her books to the screen. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has so far been adhered to strictly.
[ [1]"J.K. Rowling, the interview"]. The Times (UK), 30 June 2000. Accessed 26 July 2006. ] In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that
Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to
tie-in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity
Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.
[ [2]Coke backs Harry Potter literacy drive. BBC News, 09 October 2001. Accessed 26 July 2006. ] The first four films were scripted by
Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She says she has told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything.
[ Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. "Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling". Quick Quotes Quill.org, February 2003. Accessed 21 March 2006.] She has also said that she has told
Alan Rickman and
Robbie Coltrane certain secrets about their characters that have not yet been revealed.
[ "J.K. Rowling: 'Fans will be happy'". cBBC Newsround, 02 November 2001. Accessed 21 March 2006. ] Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated on her website that she has no say in who directs the films.
[ "Rowling denies vetoing Spielberg". Accessed 3 April 2006. ] Rowling's first choice for the director of the first Harry Potter film had been
Monty Python alumnus
Terry Gilliam, being a fan of Gilliam's work. Warner Bros. studios wanted a more family friendly film, however, and eventually they settled for Chris Columbus.
[ "Terry Gilliam bitter about Potter". Accessed 11 June 2006. ]Harry Potter has made Rowling a well known and a very successful author, but after Rowling finishes the final
Harry Potter book, she plans to continue writing, possibly using a
pen name.
[ "J.K. Rowling and Stephen Fry interview". Radio 4, 10 December 2005. Accessed 21 March 2006.]In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had completed a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than
Harry Potter readers.
[ "J.K. Rowling on Finishing Harry Potter". 11 January 2006. Accessed 19 March 2006.]She is not planning to write an eighth
Harry Potter book, but has suggested she might publish an "encyclopedia" of the
Harry Potter world consisting of all her unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity.
[JKR's site; no eighth book Accessed 10 April 2006.]In 2001, the UK fundraiser
Comic Relief asked three bestselling British authors (Rowling, lifestyle guru
Delia Smith and
Bridget Jones creator
Helen Fielding) to submit booklets related to their most famous works for publication. For every pound raised, a pound would go towards combatting poverty and social inequality across the globe. Rowling's two booklets,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and
Quidditch Through the Ages, are reportedly facsimiles of books found in the
Hogwarts library, and are written under the names of their fictional authors,
Newt Scamander and
Kennilworthy Whisp.
[ The Harry Potter Lexicon, Quidditch through the Ages. Accessed 19 March, 2006. ] Since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million ($30 million) for the fund. The £10.8 million ($20 million) raised outside the UK has been channelled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis.
[ Comic Relief books. Accessed 12 June 2006. ] Rowling has contributed money and support to many other charitable causes, especially research and treatment of
multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling.
[ J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "MS Society Scotland". Accessed 22 March 2006. ][ Greig, Geordie. "There would be so much to tell her...". Tatler Magazine, 10 January 2006. Accessed 22 March 2006. ][ In fact, on Richard and Judy, June 26,2006, she said that she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, because she knew about how it felt. Transcript, Accessed 4 July 2006. ] In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new
Centre for Regenerative Medicine in
Edinburgh. For reasons unknown, Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of MS in the world.
[ MS Society, Scotland JK Rowling funds new MS centre. Edinburgh Research and Innovation, University of Edinburgh, 21 April 2006. Accessed 10 June 2006. ] In January 2006, Rowling went to
Bucharest to raise funds for the Children's High Level Group, an organization devoted to enforcing the human rights of children, particularly in eastern Europe.
[ J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "Launch of the Children's High Level Group". 25 January 2006. Accessed 22 March 2006. ]On August 1st & 2nd, 2006, she read alongside
Stephen King and
John Irving at
Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the
Haven Foundation, a charity that aids actors left uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical
NGO Médecins Sans Frontières.
[ Yahoo Finance. Carrie, Harry and Garp. May 10 2006 Accessed 4 July 2006. ]Rowling's full name is "Joanne Rowling", not, as is often assumed, "Joanne Kathleen Rowling". Before publishing her first volume,
Bloomsbury feared that the target group of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a female author. They requested that Rowling use two initials, rather than reveal her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K from her grandmother's name Kathleen, as the second initial of her pseudonym. The name Kathleen has never been part of her legal name.
She calls herself "Jo" and claims, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry."
[ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "J.K. Rowling: CBC Interview #1". 26 October 2000. Accessed 19 March 2006. ] Her
surname is pronounced like "rolling" (IPA: ), not a rhyme for "howling" as is often supposed â€" or, as stated on her website: "'Rowling' (the first syllable of which is pronounced 'row' as in boat, rather than 'row' as in argument) lent itself to woeful jokes such as 'Rowling stone.'"
[ "The Not Especially Fascinating Life So Far of J. K. Rowling". Accessed 21 March 2006. ]In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th-century
estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the
River Tay, near
Aberfeldy, in
Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
[The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Muggle Encyclopedia - K. Accessed 21 March 2006. ] Rowling also owns a home in
Morningside, Edinburgh, and a
Georgian style house in London, on a street where, according to
The Guardian, the average price of a house is £4.27 million ($8 million), possibly including an underground swimming pool and 24-hour security.
[ Collinson, Patrick. "Rub shoulders with Brucie for £4.3m, or Tony for £7,250". Guardian Unlimited, 26 April 2005. Accessed 21 March 2006. ]On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray, an
anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her home in Aberfeldy.
Their son David Gordon Rowling Murray was born shortly after Rowling began writing
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Rowling took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy.
[ J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "Progress on Book Six". 15 March 2004. Accessed 22 March 2006.] Rowling's youngest child, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born in January of 2005.
[ J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "JKR gives Birth to Baby Girl". 25 January 2005. Accessed 22 March 2006. ]The
asteroid (43844) Rowling was named in her honour in early 2006,
and the newly-discovered
Pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, currently at the Children's Museum in
Indianapolis, was named in honour of her world in May 2006.
Rowling made a guest appearance as herself on the American animated sitcom
The Simpsons, in a special British-themed episode entitled
The Regina Monologues. The amusing dialog consisted of a short conversation between Rowling and
Lisa Simpson, who mispronounces Rowling's name:
Lisa: Look! It's J.K. Rowling, author of
Harry Potter books! You've turned a generation of kids onto reading.
Rowling: Thank you, young Muggle.
Lisa: Can you tell me what happens at the end of the series?
Rowling: (sigh) He grows up and marries you. Is that what you want to hear?
Lisa: (dreamily) Yes!
Producer
Russell T. Davies asked Rowling to pen an episode of the 2005 season of
Doctor Who; Rowling was "amused by the suggestion, but simply [didn't] have the time".
[ Davies, Russell T. "J.K. Rowling asked to write an episode of Doctor Who". Doctor Who Magazine, Issue 343. 30 April 2004. Accessed 19 March 2006. ]In a July 2005 interview with the
MuggleNet and
Leaky Cauldron websites' managers, Rowling revealed that she is a great admirer of
Aaron Sorkin's work on the American TV show
The West Wing.
[ Anelli, Melissa. "TLC Report: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince launch weekend, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 15 - July 17, 2005: Part Two". The Leaky Cauldron, 19 July 2005. Accessed 22 March 2006. ]Rowling has been involved in several
lawsuits over the Harry Potter series.
Nancy Stouffer
In the late 1990s
Nancy Stouffer, an author of children's books published in the 1980s, began to charge publicly that Rowling's books were based on her books, including
The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and
Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly. Stouffer sued Rowling and
Scholastic, Inc. in U.S. District Court, also naming
Time Warner as a party. Rowling, Scholastic and Warner Bros. sued Stouffer in New York, asking the court to judge that there was no infringement of Stouffer's
trademarks or
copyright.
[ BBC News. "Harry Potter books 'plagiarised'". 17 March 2000. Accessed 25 March 2006. ] Rowling and her co-litigants argued that much of the evidence that Stouffer presented was fraudulent, and asked for sanctions and attorneys' fees as punishment.
[ Hogwarts Wire. ordered to pay 50k fine". 19 September 2002. Accessed 11 June 2006. ] In September 2002 the court found in Rowling's favour, stating that Stouffer had lied to the court and falsified and forged documents to support her case. Stouffer was fined US$50,000 and ordered to pay part (but not all) of the plaintiffs' costs.
[ Reuters. "Court throws out 'Muggles' claims against Rowling". Accessed 25 March 2006. ] In January 2004 it was reported that Stouffer's appeal against the judgement had been rejected. The appeals court agreed that Stouffer's claims were properly dismissed because "no reasonable juror could find a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the two parties' works".
[ The Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator. "Nancy pay the costs of the appeal.] A report of the judgment (requires subscription) can be found at [http://www.entlawdigest.com/story.cfm?storyID=3094 Entertainment Law Digest. The 2002 judgment can be found
here.
New York Daily News
On
19 June 2003 Rowling and her publisher Scholastic announced that they would sue the
New York Daily News for $100 million because the
newspaper had printed information on her work
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before the book's official release date. The novel was due for release on Saturday
21 June, but the newspaper published a plot summary and short quotes on the previous Wednesday. An accompanying image even revealed two pages from the book with legible text. However, the story was complicated further when it was revealed that the paper had purchased the book from a health store whose owner received the novels
wholesale and decided to place them in the window. The man claimed he was unaware he was supposed to wait until that Saturday.
["Rowling v. New York Daily News". Accessed 21 March 2006.]The Bashu Publishing House, Chengdu
In 2003, unauthorized
Chinese language "sequels" to the
Harry Potter series, such as
Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon, appeared for sale in the
People's Republic of China. These books, written by
ghostwriters, contain characters from the works of other authors, including
Gandalf from
J. R. R. Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings, and the title character from
L. Frank Baum's
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Rowling's lawyers successfully took legal action against the publishers, who were forced to pay damages.
[ August, Oliver and Malvern, Jack. "Harry Potter Wins an Easy Battle Against Chinese Pirates". The Times of London, 02 November 2002. Accessed 21 March 2006. ]Eksmo Publishers
Also in 2003, courts in the
Netherlands prevented the distribution of a
Dutch translation of
Tanya Grotter and the Magical Double Bass, the first of
Dmitry Yemets' popular
Russian series about a female apprentice wizard,
Tanya Grotter. Rowling and her publishers sued, arguing that the Grotter books violate
copyright law. Yemets and his original
Moscow-based publishers,
Eksmo, argued unsuccessfully that the books constitute a parody, permitted under copyright.
[ "Rowling seeks 'Grotter' ban". BBC News, 13 March 2003. Accessed 21 March 2006.]Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (
June 26 1997) (titled
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the
United States)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (
September 8 1999)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (
July 8 2000)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (
June 21 2003)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (
July 16,
2005)
Untitled seventh book (unreleased)
*
*
English section of J.K. Rowling's official personal site*
Harry Potter Pages*
English section of J.K. Rowling's official personal site (text-only version)*
MuggleNet/The Leaky Cauldron interview*
J.K. Rowling and Dr. Neil Murray Marriage Profile*
Rowling biography*
BBC News report on suit*"
Potter creator buys Scots hideaway" â€" BBC News article, dated
22 November 2001 (reference)
*"
Baby joy for JK Rowling" â€" BBC News article, dated
24 March 2003 (reference)
*"
Potter author has baby boy" â€" BBC News article, dated
25 March 2003 (reference)
*
"Don't kill Harry Potter, authors urge Rowling",
MSNBC.com â€"
Stephen King,
John Irving make plea during charity reading event.
*
"J.K. Rowling Makes First U.S. Visit in Six Years " from
The Book Standard
