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J.K. Rowling Edit Profile

also known as Joanne Rowling, Robert Galbraith

producer screenwriter writer

J. K. Rowling is a British writer, philanthropist, film and television producer and screenwriter, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, which became the basis for a film series.

Background

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England; the daughter of Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), a science technician. When Joanne was about 2 years old, her sister Dianne was born. Later the family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne. Aged nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales.

Education

Rowling received her primary education at St Michael's Primary School, entering Wyedean School and College, as her secondary education. Rowling took A-levels in English, French and German, achieving two As and a B.

Rowling earned a Bachelor of Arts in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, which she entered in 1982. After a year of study in Paris, Rowling graduated from Exeter in 1986.

Rowling holds honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University.

Career

Rowling began her career as a researcher and bilingual secretary in London for Amnesty International, moving then to Manchester, where she worked at the Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry appeared.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Rowling moved to Porto, Portugal, to teach English as a foreign language. She taught at night and began writing in the day. In 1993, after an unfortunate marriage to Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes, Rowling and her then-infant daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland.

She began a teacher training course in August 1995 at the Moray House School of Education, at Edinburgh University, after completing her first novel while living on state benefits. The same year Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. Only a year later the book was accepted by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a publishing house in London. In 1997, Rowling received an £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing; and in June of the same year, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. In October 1998, Scholastic Inc. published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The second book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998. The sequel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, appeared the next year. The fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on July 8, 2000. It took three years the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released, while the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was published on July 16, 2005. The seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, appeared on July 21, 2007.

A film adaptation 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. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on June 4, 2004. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released on November 18, 2005. The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on July 11, 2007. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on July 15, 2009. Warner Bros. filmed the final installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in two segments, with part one being released on November 19, 2010 and part two being released on July 15, 2011.

In October 2015, Rowling announced that a two-part play she had co-authored with playwrights Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was the "eighth Harry Potter story" and that it would focus on the life of Harry Potter's youngest son Albus after the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

On September 27, 2012 the book titled The Casual Vacancy was released, adapted into a television drama miniseries. Rowling collaborated on the adaptation, serving as an executive producer for the series. In 2013 it was revealed that the author had penned the crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The Silkworm - the second book in the series, which centred on the detective Cormoran Strike, a down-on-his-luck war veteran - was released in 2014. Later entries in the series included Career of Evil (2015) and Lethal White (2018).

J. K. Rowling is also the creator of a character Newt Scamander, author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, on who Warner Bros. in partnership with Rowling, based a series of films. The first film was released in November 2016. The second, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was released in November 2018. Rowling scripted and co-produced both films.

Achievements

  • Achievement J.K. Rowling after she was made a Companion of Honour by the Duke of Cambridge during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on December 12, 2017 in London, England. of J.K. Rowling

    J. K. Rowling is particularly known for her Harry Potter fantasy series, which have won multiple awards, and sold more than 500 million copies. They have also been the basis for a highly successful film series.

    Rowling became the world's first billionaire author, losing her billionaire status after giving away much of her earnings to charity, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and launched her own charity, Lumos. Nevertheless, she remains one of the wealthiest people in the world and the United Kingdom's bestselling living author.

    Rowling received numerous awards and honours for her books and was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature and philanthropy. She was also appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001. In 2009 she was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honour. Rowling received the British Red Cross Humanity Award in 2015 for her advocacy and charity work.

Works

All works

Religion

Rowling identifies as a Christian. She was brought up in the Church of England, but later, she started to attend a Church of Scotland.

Politics

Rowling is known for her centre-left political views. She publicly endorsed Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and was against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the White House. She also campaigned for the "No" vote during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence and against the Referendum to leave the European Union. Rowling has been critical of Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn. In June 2016, Rowling campaigned for the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union, in the run up to the referendum to leave the European Union.

Views

Quotations: "Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default."

"I think the single biggest thing that money gave me—and obviously I came from a place where I was a single mother and it really was hand to mouth at one point. It was literally as poor as you can get in Britain without being homeless at one point. If you’ve ever been there you will never, ever take for granted that you don’t need to worry. Never."

"Whatever money you might have, self-worth really lies in finding out what you do best."

"It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God."

"I've no idea where ideas come from and I hope I never find out; it would spoil the excitement for me if it turned out I just have a funny little wrinkle on the surface of my brain which makes me think about invisible train platforms."

"It is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships."

Membership

Rowling is the founder of the Volant Charitable Trust to combat poverty and social inequality, as well as president of the charity Gingerbread. When J.K. Rowling turned 45 years old - the age her mother died from multiple sclerosis - the author donated £10 million to the University of Edinburgh to open the Anne Rowling Degenerative Neurology Clinic, in honor of her mum. She is also a member of both English PEN and Scottish PEN.

In 2011, Rowling became an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Personality

J.K. Rowling’s actual name is Joanne Rowling. Using initials instead of her full name was a strategic decision on part of the publishers; they believed that a gender neutral name would make male readers more inclined to pick up the books.

Rowling became a mother at the age of 25 whilst involved in a very short-lived and unhappy marriage; or in her words, "catastrophic". Her circumstances plunged her into deep clinical depression for a few years, while she fought for her daughter’s survival, obtaining only the bare minimum from government benefits. Rowling always found it difficult to put her depression into words. She argues that depression and sadness are very different experiences; while sadness involves feeling, depression does not. Her creation of the dementors later in the book series is her putting depression onto paper. The dementors were the creatures that fed off of the happiness of the living; hollow, torturous beings that suck life out rather than create.

When she was growing up, Rowling idolized Jo March from Little Women, who was also strong-minded and ambitious much like the author.

Rowling is a big fan of the block-building game Minecraft and often plays it with her son David. The super awesome game of Quidditch was actually inspired by Rowling’s favorite sport - basketball.

Interests

  • Writers

    Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, R.R.Tolkien

  • Music & Bands

    the Clash, the Smiths, Siouxsie Sioux

Connections

During her time in Porto, Rowling met Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes. They married on October 16, 1992 and their child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford), was born on July 27, 1993 in Portugal. The couple separated on November 17, 1993 and divorced in August 1994. On December 26, 2001, Rowling married Neil Murray (born 30 June 1971), a Scottish doctor. Their son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on 24 March 2003.

Father:
Peter Rowling

Peter was an engineer for Rolls-Royce.

Mother:
Anne Rowling

In December 1990 that J.K.Rowling lost her mother, who died of Multiple Sclerosis.

Ex-husband:
Jorge Arantes
Jorge Arantes - Ex-husband of J.K. Rowling

husband:
Neil Michael Murray
Neil Michael Murray - husband of J.K. Rowling

Friend:
Sarah Jane Brown
Sarah Jane Brown - Friend of J.K. Rowling

Sarah Jane Brown (née Macaulay; born 31 October 1963), usually known as Sarah Brown, is a British campaigner for global health and education, founder and president of the children's charity Theirworld, the Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education and the co-founder of A World at School.