Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near
Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent,
in south-east Wales.
Her father, Peter, was an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in
Bristol and her mother, Anne, was a science technician in the Chemistry
department at Wyedean Comprehensive, where Jo herself went to school. Anne
was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Jo was a teenager and died in
1990, before the Harry Potter books were published. Jo also has a younger
sister, Di.
The young Jo grew up surrounded by books. âI lived for books,ââ she has said. âI was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.â
Jo wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at
the age of six â a story about a rabbit, called âRabbitâ. At just eleven,
she wrote her first novel â about seven cursed diamonds and the people who
owned them.
Jo studied at Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her
French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of ÂŁ50 for overdue
books at the University library. Her knowledge of Classics would one day
come in handy for creating the spells in the Harry Potter series, some of
which are based on Latin.
Her course included a year in Paris. âI lived in Paris for a year as a
student,â Jo tweeted after the 2015 terrorist attacks there. âItâs one of
my favourite places on earth.â
After her degree, she moved to London and worked in a series of jobs,
including one as a researcher at Amnesty International. âThere in my
little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of
totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to
inform the outside world of what was happening to them.â She said later.
âMy small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and
inspiring experiences of my life.â
Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed
train from Manchester to London Kingâs Cross. Over the next five years,
she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in
longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were
scribbled on odd scraps of paper.
Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English
as a foreign language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter,
Jessica, in 1993. When the marriage ended later that year, she returned to
the UK to live in Edinburgh, with Jessica and a suitcase containing the
first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopherâs Stone.
In Edinburgh, Jo trained as a teacher and began teaching in the cityâs
schools, but she continued to write in every spare moment.
Having completed the full manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to
a number of literary agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest
of it. She says it was âthe best letter I had ever received in my life.â
The book was first published by Bloomsbury Childrenâs Books in June 1997,
under the name J.K. Rowling. The âKâ stands for Kathleen, her paternal
grandmotherâs name. It was added at her publisherâs request, who thought a
book by an obviously female author might not appeal to the target audience
of young boys.
J.K. Rowling has also written two small companion volumes, which appear as
the titles of Harryâs school books within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages were published in March
2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, a third companion volume,
The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of her international
childrenâs charity, Lumos. Her latest childrenâs novel The Christmas Pig,
a standalone adventure story about a boyâs love for his most treasured
thing and how far he will go to find it, is out now.
J.K. Rowling has been married to Dr Neil Murray since 2001. They live in
Edinburgh with their son, David (born 2003) and daughter, Mackenzie (born
2005).
J.K. Rowling has received many honours and awards, including:
Companion of Honour, for services to literature and philanthropy, 2017
PEN America Literary Service Award, 2016
Freedom of the City of London, 2012
Hans Christian Andersen Award, Denmark, 2010
Chevalier de la Legion dâHonneur: France, 2009
Lifetime Achievement Award, British Book Awards, 2008
South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement, 2008
James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2008
The Edinburgh Award, 2008
Commencement Day Speaker, Harvard University, USA, 2008
Blue Peter Gold Badge, 2007
WH Smith Fiction Award, 2004 and lots more!
The second in the Harry Potter series. The story follows Harry's tumultuous second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including an encounter with Voldemort, the wizard who killed Harry's parents.
In this book, Harry Potter learns a lot about Lord Voldemort's past, and Harry Potter prepares for the final battle against his nemesis with the help of Headmaster Dumbledore. But in that time, Voldemort returns to power, and makes a plan to destroy Harry.
Harry Potter, an orphan brought up by his aunt and uncle because his parents were killed when he was a baby. Harry is unloved by his uncle and aunt but everything changes when he is invited to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he finds out he's a wizard.
Throughout the six previous novels in the series, the main character Harry Potter has struggled with the difficulties of adolescence along with being famous as the only person ever to survive the Killing Curse. The curse was cast by Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard who murdered Harry's parents and attempted to kill Harry as a baby, due to a prophecy which claimed Harry would be able to stop him. As an orphan, Harry was placed in the care of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives Petunia Dursley and Vernon Dursley, with their son Dudley Dursley.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the mystery surrounding the entry of Harry's name into the Triwizard Tournament, in which he is forced to compete.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fifth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the surreptitious return of the antagonist Lord Voldemort, O.W.L. exams, and an obstructive Ministry of Magic.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and is the third in the Harry Potter series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban, the wizard prison, believed to be one of Lord Voldemort's old allies.
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