J.K. Rowling Biography

The writer Joanne Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling, is the creator of one of the most famous literary universes: Harry Potter. As today, the literary world she created (which consists of 7 books) is one of the most read literary sagas in history. Also, the eight cinematographic adaptations that resulted in a level of success that has nothing to envy to the novels.

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31 of 1965. Two years after her birth, her family world expanded with the arrival of her younger sister: Dianne. Her parents are Peter and Anne Rowling. Her father was an aircraft engineer for the Rolls Royce and his mother was a technician in the chemistry department of the Wyedean Comprehensive School.

Joanne spent part of his childhood in Gloucestershire (England) and the other in Chepstow (southeast of Wales).

The literature was part of her life since she was a kid. As she has said, she lived for books, she was a bookworm. With only six years, she wrote her first book in which she told the story of a rabbit called “rabbit”. Five years later she wrote her first novel: The story of the seven cursed diamonds and those who owned them.

Rowling studied at Wyedean Comprehensive School, the same school where her mother used to work. Years later, she went to the University of Exeter in the south west of England to obtain a bachelor’s Degree in Classical and French Studies. During her time as a student she spent a year in Paris.

After obtaining her degree, she moved to London where she worked in the Amnesty International office investigating human rights violations that occurred in some african countries.

The idea of Harry Potter came up to J.K. Rowling one day in 1990 while waiting for a train that would take her from Manchester to King’s Cross in London. From that moment she began the careful creation of the seven books that would make up the Harry Potter’s saga.

She moved to Portugal to work as an English teacher. While there she met Jorge Arantes, whom she married in October 1992. A year later, they would have a daughter: Jessica. However, the marriage ended that same year because he mistreated her. As a consequence, in 1993 she came back to the United Kingdom with her daughter and the papers in which were written the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s Stone.

In Edinburgh she was able to be safe from the mistreatment of her ex-husband but had to face a new challenge. It was impossible for her to get a job, so she had to ask for Social Security help to support herself. Once she finally got the financial support she needed to figure out how to survive with 325 euros per month.

Between her job searches and the care of his daughter, JK. Rowling sat in a coffee shop and continued the construction of the magical world that would change her life (although she did not imagine it at that time).

When she finished the first draft of Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone, she decided to try publishing her book with some editorials. In order to send it she had to transcribe the book by hand because she did not have money for photocopies. After sending the first copy, she wrote the final chapter of the seventh book of the saga, those would be the pages that would definitively close the history of Harry Potter.

Twelve editorials rejected her work before the president of Bloomsbury gave the first chapter of the book to her daughter and she begged for the continuation of the story a few minutes later. J.K Rowling says that the letter that informed her of the future publication of her work was “the best letter I had ever received in my life”.

The book was published under the name J.K Rowling because the publisher felt it would be difficult to sell a book written by a woman. The K that appears in the name refers to her paternal grandmother, Kathleen. The first edition of the book came out in 1997 and only consisted of 1,000 copies. The book quickly became a best seller. The success of the series was such that three years later, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth part of the series, dispatched 370,000 copies in one day and seven years later, the last book, “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows”, sold 11 million books in 24 hours.

Joanne Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray in 2001. Two new children arrived in her life: David in 2003 and Mackenzie in 2005.

Rowling has expanded the magical universe of the Harry Potter saga with: Fantastic animals and where to find them, Quidditch through the ages, The tales of Beedle the Bard, and the play: Harry Potter and the cursed child. She has also written “ The casual vacancy” and some detective novels published under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, such as: The cuckoo’s calling, he silkworm and the career of evil.