J. K. Rowling

JKR , late-twentieth- and twenty-first-century author of children's books which are phenomenally popular, has published the fastest-selling series in history and has made a fortune from her writing. Her Harry Potter series features an alternative world mapped out in elaborate detail, in which magic of all kinds is a serious practice and the focus of an intricate school syllabus, and in which her hero and his friends confront the forces of evil. She also has published in other genres: detective fiction and the literary novel.
Informal photograph of J. K. Rowling, leaning forward in a white chair in front of a green background, hands clasped on a book in her lap. She wears a pale cardigan over a colourful dress. Her blonde hair is pulled back and she dangling white teardrop earrings.

Milestones

31 July 1965

Joanne Rowling (who later wrote as JKR ) was born at the Cottage Hospital in Yate in Gloucestershire, near Chipping Sodbury, the elder child of parents both aged twenty, who had got married that March.
Smith, Sean. J. K. Rowling. A Biography. Arrow.
3-7

26 June 1997

JKR 's first book, a novel for children called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury after many other publishers had turned it down. The initial print run was just 500.
Smith, Sean. J. K. Rowling. A Biography. Arrow.
179
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
“The Decade in Review 1997-2007”. MuggleNet.

4 November 2001

The film of JKR 's first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus and produced by David Heyman , premiered in the UK to great fanfare, opening a wildly successful series.
Smith, Sean. J. K. Rowling. A Biography. Arrow.
262-3
J. K. Rowling. http://www.jkrowling.com/.

Biography

Before her first book appeared her publishers suggested that Rowling ought to conceal her gender by using initials, since girls will read books by men but boys will not read books by women. Having only one given name, she decided to add her grandmother's name to her own.
Smith, Sean. J. K. Rowling. A Biography. Arrow.
175
She constructed her male pseudonym from the name of Robert F. Kennedy (a political hero to her) and a childhood fantasy name, Ella Galbraith.
Bury, Liz. “Rowling explores a change of persona”. Guardian Weekly, p. 39.

Please click on login button to check your access and/or enter your credentials. Alternatively if you don’t have access, please click on “Subscribe”.

Log inSubscribe