Rowling's name. JK Rowling - quotes. Star Trek and books

After graduating from the University of Exeter, the modest and inconspicuous girl JK Rowling got a job as a secretary at the charity Amnesty International. Perhaps the only thing she liked about this job was the opportunity to secretly type invented stories on the office computer.

Harry Potter: Birth of a Character

One day, at the end of the weekend, she was returning to London from Manchester, where she was staying with her then boyfriend. Suddenly, a new character appeared in her imagination - a thin boy with glasses and a scar on his forehead. At the same time, he had no idea how strong magical abilities has...

However, Joan did not even have a pen with her, and for four hours she simply came up with new details for the image that had suddenly appeared. That same evening, the future famous writer began working on the first book about Harry Potter. Gradually, Harry had his own world, full of friends and enemies. Prototypes fairy tale characters became acquaintances of JK Rowling, and sometimes even herself.

For example, the diligent and all-knowing Hermione resembles herself as a child, Severus Snape reminds her of one of her school teachers, and Goldsmith Lockhart is not the most pleasant of Joan’s acquaintances.

JK Rowling found unusual names for her characters among scientific names plants, heroes of medieval legends, on geographical maps, in dictionaries, even on monuments to war victims. Harry received the surname Potter in honor of the writer's childhood friend, and Severus Snape is the name of one of the English villages.

The Sorrows and Triumphs of JK Rowling

The days when the young wizard was born were by no means the happiest for the writer. On December 30, 1990, JK Rowling's mother died, to whom she never had time to tell about her new plan. Inspired by the tragedy that happened in her life, Joan wrote a scene in which Harry sees his parents in a magic mirror. The writer's first marriage was also unsuccessful, ending in divorce.

Left alone with her little daughter Jessica in her arms, JK Rowling settled in Edinburgh and decided to finish the book about Harry Potter. Almost every evening she went to small cafe, where I ordered tea or water and wrote page after page. When the paper ran out, Joan continued to write on napkins. Now there is a memorial plaque in this cafe, and its owner is a Harry Potter museum.

The first book about the young wizard, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was completed in 1995. But only a year later the Bloomsbury publishing house accepted it for publication.

Today JK Rowling is the world's richest writer, a happy wife and mother of three children. The Harry Potter epic is long over, but Joan promises that she will return to her favorite character someday.

Joanne Rowling(English) Joanne Rowling ; born July 31, 1965), known by the pseudonym J. K. Rowling (J. K. Rowling), - British writer, best known as the author of the Harry Potter series of novels. The Potter books have won several awards and have sold over 400 million copies. They became the best-selling book series in history and the basis for a film series that became the highest-grossing film series in history. Rowling herself approved the film scripts, and also had full control over the creative process, including acting as a producer of the latest part.

Rowling worked research fellow and a translator for Amnesty International when, on a train journey from Manchester to London in 1990, she came up with the idea for a Harry Potter novel. Over the next seven years, Rowling's mother died, she divorced her first husband and lived in poverty until she published the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997). She subsequently wrote 6 sequels - the last being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) - as well as 3 additions to the series. Rowling then parted ways with her agency and began writing for adult readers, releasing the tragicomedy The Casual Vacancy (2012) and, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, a crime novel. The Cuckoo's Calling (2013).

In five years, Rowling went from living on welfare to becoming a multimillionaire. She is the UK's best-selling author, with sales of over £238 million. In 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million, placing her in 12th place on the list of the richest women in the UK. Forbes in 2007 ranked Rowling as the 48th most influential celebrity, and the magazine Time in 2007 gave her second place in the Person of the Year category, noting the social, moral and political inspiration she provided to her fans. In October 2010, Rowling was named "the most influential woman in Britain". She became a prominent philanthropist, supporting organizations such as Laughter Release, Gingerbread, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain And Lumos(former Children's High Level Group).

Although the writer’s books are published under the pseudonym “J. K. Rowling" when the first Harry Potter book was published, her name was simply "JK Rowling". Anticipating that the target audience boys may not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers required her to use two initials rather than her full name. Since she did not have a middle name, she chose her middle initial for her pseudonym. TO- named after my paternal grandmother. She calls herself "Joe" Jo) and says, "No one ever called me 'Joan' when I was young unless they were mad at me." After her marriage, she sometimes used the name Joan Murray in personal matters. Joanne Murray). During the News International investigation, she testified under the name JK Rowling. Joanne Kathleen Rowling).

Biography

Birth and family

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Wolan) on July 31, 1965, in Yate in Gloucestershire, England, 16 kilometers northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half French and half Scottish. Rowling's parents met in 1964 at London's King's Cross station on a train bound for Arbroath. They married on March 14, 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dougald Campbell, was born in the village of Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Childhood and studies

Rowling's sister, Dianne, was born in their home when Joan was 23 months old. When Joan was four years old, the family moved to the neighboring village of Winterbourne. Rowling attended St. Michael's Primary School, founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. It has been suggested that the school's headmaster, Alfred Dunn, was the inspiration for Harry Potter's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she usually read to her sister. She recalled: “I still remember telling her a story where she fell down a rabbit hole and a family of rabbits fed her strawberries. It is absolutely certain that the first story I wrote down (when I was about five or six years old) was about a rabbit named Rabbit. He got measles and his friends came to see him, including a giant bee named Miss Bee.". At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the village of Tutshill (Gloucestershire), near Chepstow (Wales). When she was a teenager, her great-aunt (of whom Rowling said: "Taught me classical philology and instilled in me a thirst for knowledge, even of the dubious kind") gave her a very old edition of Jessica Mitford's autobiography. Mitford became Rowling's heroine and she read all of her books.

Rowling talks about her adolescence in an interview The New Yorker said: “I wasn't particularly happy. I think that it is terrible time life." She had a difficult time home life; her mother was ill and Rowling's difficult relationships with her father (she doesn't talk to him anymore). Rowling studied at high school Vaidin, where her mother worked in the science department. As Rowling said: "Hermione[Harry Potter character with a know-it-all personality] totally based on me. She's a caricature of eleven-year-old me, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English, recalled her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright and quite good at English." Shaun Harris, Rowling's best friend in sixth grade (Upper Sixth) was turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the car in her books. "Ron Weasley [best friend Harry Potter] "It's not a living portrait of Sean, but it actually looks a lot like him." Regarding her musical tastes at that time, she said: "My favorite band in the world was The Smiths . And when I was going through my punk phase, these were The Clash » . Rowling was head girl at school. Before entering university, she studied English, French and German, passing exams with two excellent marks and one good.

In 1982, Rowling failed the entrance exams to Oxford University and entered the University of Exeter, where she graduated with a BA in French and Classics. Martin Sorrell, then a professor of French at the university, remembered her as “a quiet, competent student in a denim jacket and dark hair who, from an academic point of view, looked like she was doing what was needed.” In her own words, she “didn’t do any work at all,” but instead “heavily lined her eyes, listened The Smiths and read Dickens and Tolkien.” After a year of study in Paris, Rowling graduated from Exeter in 1986 and moved to London, starting work as a secretary in the research department of Amnesty International.

Inspiration and death of mother

After leaving her job at Amnesty International in London, Rowling and her boyfriend decided to move to Manchester. In 1990, while on a train from Manchester to London that was delayed for four hours, the idea for a novel about a boy attending a wizarding school “came fully formed” into her mind. She said in an interview The Boston Globe: “I don't really know where this idea came from. It started with Harry, and then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head."

Rowling described the origins of the Harry Potter concept on her website:

I was traveling back to London by myself on a crowded train and the idea of ​​Harry Potter just popped into my head. I'd been writing almost continuously since I was six years old, but I'd never been so excited about an idea before. Much to my disappointment, I didn't have a writing pen and was too shy to ask someone to borrow one... I didn't have a working pen with me, but I think that was probably a good thing. I just sat and thought for four hours (train delays) while all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this skinny black-haired boy with glasses who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. Maybe if I had slowed down to get them down on paper, I would have suppressed some of them (though sometimes I wonder how much of what I imagined then I had forgotten by the time I found myself with a pen). I started writing The Philosopher's Stone that evening, even though those first few pages bear no resemblance to the finished book.

When she got home, she immediately began writing. In December of the same year, after ten years multiple sclerosis Rowling's mother died. Joan recalled: “I was writing Harry Potter when my mother died. I never told her about Harry Potter." Rowling said the death had a profound impact on her novel, and she wrote more about the loss of Harry's parents in the first book because she knew the feeling.

Marriage and divorce

After seeing an ad in The Guardian, Rowling moved to Porto (Portugal) to teach there English language. She taught in the evenings and wrote during the day while listening to Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. In Portugal, Rowling met TV journalist Jorge Arantes in a bar. They married on October 16, 1992 and had one child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (after Jessica Mitford), born on July 27, 1993. Rowling previously suffered a miscarriage. The couple separated on November 17, 1993, 13 months and one day after their wedding. Rowling's biographers have suggested that while married, she suffered from domestic violence, but the full extent of this is unknown. In an interview The Daily Express Arantes said that after their last night together he kicked her out of the house at five in the morning and hit her hard. In December 1993, Rowling moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, with her daughter and three chapters of Harry Potter in her suitcase, to be near her sister.

Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling considered herself "the biggest failure I knew." Her marriage broke up, she was unemployed and with a child in her arms. However, she later described her failure as liberating:

Failure meant getting rid of everything unimportant. I stopped pretending to myself that I was something different than I really was, and began to focus all my energy on completing the only work that meant something to me. If I had truly succeeded in anything else, I would never have been able to find the determination to succeed in what was truly mine. I was free because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive, I still had a daughter that I adored, I had an old typewriter and big idea. And so the rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
- J. K. Rowling, "The fringe benefits of failure" 2008.

During this period, Rowling fell into clinical depression and had suicidal thoughts. It was this condition that led to the appearance of dementors in her third book - creatures that suck out the soul. Rowling began receiving social benefits. According to her, she was “poor as can be in modern Britain without being homeless."

Rowling was left "desperate" after her husband arrived looking for her and his daughter. She received a protection order and Arantes returned to Portugal, while Rowling filed for divorce in August 1994. After completing her first novel in August 1995, she entered the University of Edinburgh's School of Education while living on benefits. She wrote in numerous cafes, especially in Nicolson's Cafe And The Elephant House(the latter previously belonged to her son-in-law Roger Moore). In a 2001 interview with the BBC, Rowling denied rumors that she wrote in local cafes because her apartment had no heating, noting: "I'm not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in the middle of winter." As she stated on an American television program A&E Biography, one of the reasons why she wrote in a cafe was that her daughter fell asleep best when walking.

Harry Potter

Main article: Harry Potter series of novels

In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which she typed on an old typewriter. Following a rave review from Briony Evans, a reader who was asked to rate the book's first three chapters, the Fulham firm of literary agents Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling during her search for a publisher. The book was sent to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later, she finally got the green light (and a £1,500 advance) from editor Barry Cunningham of the London publisher Bloomsbury. Rowling's decision to publish the book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the chairman's eight-year-old daughter. Bloomsbury, to whom my father gave the first chapter to read and which immediately demanded a continuation. Cunningham said that although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, he advised Rowling to find day job, since she had little chance of making money from children's books. Shortly afterwards, in 1997, Rowling received an £8,000 grant from Scottish Arts Council for her to continue writing.

In June 1997 Bloomsbury published The Philosopher's Stone with an initial circulation of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today these first examples cost between 16 and 25 thousand pounds. Five months later, the book received its first award - Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In February the novel received an award British Book Award as children's book of the year, and later - an award Children's Book Award. At the beginning of 1998, an auction was held in the United States for the right to publish the novel, which was won by the publishing house Scholastic Inc. for 105 thousand dollars. Rowling said she “almost died” when she found out. In October 1998 Scholastic published The Philosopher's Stone in the United States under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, believing that children would not want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title. Rowling later stated that she regretted the title change and would not have agreed to it if she had been in a better position at the time. Having received money from Scholastic, Rowling moved from her apartment to a house at 19 Hazelbank Terrace in Edinburgh.

The sequel to the first novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998. Rowling received an award for it again Smarties. In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was published, which also won an award. Smarties, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times in a row. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from the competition to give other books a chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the Whitbread Awards as "children's book of the year", although it lost in the "book of the year" category to the translation of "Beowulf" by Seamus Heaney.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and US on July 8, 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. The book sold 372,775 copies in the UK on its first day - almost the same number of copies of the previous novel sold in its first year. In the United States, the book sold three million copies in the first 48 hours, breaking all sales records. Rowling admitted that she had a moment of crisis while writing the novel; “Halfway through writing the fourth book, I discovered a serious error in the plot... Some of my darkest moments are associated with this book... I rewrote one chapter 13 times, although no one who read it will be able to notice which one, or understand the pain she delivered it to me.” Rowling received the award British Book Awards as author of the year.

Three years passed between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. During this break, rumors were published in the press that Rowling had begun creative crisis which she vehemently denied. Rowling later admitted that writing this book required a lot of effort from her.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on July 16, 2005. It also broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in the first 24 hours. Before the book's release, in response to a letter from a fan, Rowling wrote: “Book six has been planned for years, but before I started writing in earnest, I spent two months revising the plan to make sure I was absolutely sure of what I was doing.” She noted on her website that the first chapter of the sixth book, which describes a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, was first intended to be the first chapter of The Philosopher's Stone, then The Chamber of Secrets, then The Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2006, "The Half-Blood Prince" received an award British Book Awards in the “Book of the Year” category.

At the end of December 2006, the title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was announced - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In February 2007, it was revealed that Rowling had written on a bust in her hotel room in The Balmoral in Edinburgh that she completed the seventh book in this room on January 11, 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on July 21, 2007, breaking its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the UK and US on its first day. Rowling wrote the last chapter of the book "sometime in 1990."

While she was still working on her last book, she appeared in a documentary "J K Rowling... A Year In The Life", which was shown in the UK on ITV December 30, 2007. In it, Rowling visited her old apartment in Edinburgh, where she completed her first Harry Potter book. Returning to this apartment for the first time, she was moved to tears, saying that “this is where I really turned my life around.”

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rowling gave credit to her mother for the success of the book series, saying: “The books are what they are because she died... because I loved her and she died.” Currently Harry Potter is a global brand valued at $15 billion. The last four Harry Potter books have consistently set records as the best-selling books in history. Book series total volume 4,195 pages have been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages. The Harry Potter books were also credited with sparking an interest in reading among young people at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books in favor of computers and television.

In June 2011, Rowling announced that all Harry Potter-related material would be collected in a new web project Pottermore. The project website contains 18 thousand words additional information about the characters, places and objects of the Harry Potter universe. In April 2012, following the launch of the site, Rowling confirmed that she had begun work on an encyclopedia about the Harry Potter universe and would donate all royalties to charity. She later noted that she likes to share for free new information about Potter on Pottermore and she has no plans to publish it as a book.

Harry Potter films

Main article: Harry Potter (film series)

In October 1998 Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released on November 16, 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released on November 15, 2002. Both films were directed by Chris Columbus. On June 4, 2004, the film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” directed by Alfonso Cuaron was released. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by Mike Newell and released on November 18, 2005. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on July 11, 2007. It was directed by David Yates and written by Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on July 15, 2009. The director was again directed by David Yates, and Kloves returned as screenwriter. In March 2008, Warner Bros. announced that the final part of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be filmed in two parts. The first part was released in November 2010, and the second in July 2011. Yates directed both parts.

Warner Bros. largely took into account Rowling's wishes and ideas. One of its main conditions was that films should be shot in Britain and with British actors. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also stipulated that Coca-Cola, which won a competition to sponsor a series of films, donated $18 million to an American charity Reading is Fundamental and for a number of other programs.

The scripts for the first four, sixth and seventh films were written by Steve Kloves; Rowling worked with him to ensure that his scripts did not conflict with future books in the series. She said she told him more about her next books than anyone else (prior to their release), but not everything. She also told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) some secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) asked her if his character would die at some point; Rowling said he would have a death scene, clearly not answering the question. The first film may have been directed by Steven Spielberg; the press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in preventing this from happening, but Rowling responded that she had no say in the choice of director and would not have vetoed Spielberg if she had. Rowling's first choice to direct was Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, as she is a fan of his work, but Warner Bros. I wanted a more family-friendly film and chose Columbus.

Rowling was also given creative control over the films, reviewing all scripts and serving as producer on the final two installments. Together with producers David Heyman and David Barron, directors David Yates, Mike Newell and Alfonso Cuaron, Rowling received the award in 2011 British Academy Film Awards in the category "Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema" for the Harry Potter series of films.

Success

In 2004 Forbes called Rowling the first person to become dollar billionaire through writing books, and is also the second richest woman in entertainment and the 1062nd richest person in the world. Rowling denied the magazine's calculations, saying that she has a lot of money, but she is not a billionaire. In 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in the UK. In 2012, Forbes did not include Rowling in its ranking. richest people, saying she had lost her billionaire status due to more than $160 million in charitable donations and high tax rates in the UK. In February 2013 in the program Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 Rowling has been named the 13th most powerful woman in the country.

Rowling purchased the 19th-century manor house in 2001. Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay in the area of ​​Perth and Kinross (Scotland). Rowling also owns a Georgian house in Kensington, west London, worth £4.5 million and located on a street with 24-hour security.

Second marriage and family

On 26 December 2001, Rowling married anesthetist Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971). The closed ceremony took place in Killiechassie House. This was the second marriage for both Rowling and Murray. On March 24, 2003, their son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she took a break to care for her child. Youngest daughter Rowling, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated The Half-Blood Prince, was born on January 23, 2005. The family lives in Edinburgh.

"Random Vacancy"

In July 2011, Rowling parted ways with her literary agent Christopher Little and moved to a new agency founded by one of his employees, Neil Blair, noting that it was difficult decision. February 23, 2012 Rowling's new agency, Blair Partnership, announced on its website that Rowling was going to publish new book oriented towards adults. In a press release, Rowling noted the differences between her new project and the Potter series, saying: “While I enjoyed writing the Harry Potter series just as much, my next novel will be very different.” April 12, 2012 Little, Brown and Company announced that the book would be titled The Casual Vacancy and would be released on September 27, 2012. Rowling gave several interviews and appearances in support of the book, including an appearance at the London Southbank Center, the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Charlie Rose Show and the Book Festival Lennoxlove. In the first three weeks of its release, The Casual Vacancy sold more than a million copies worldwide.

On 3 December 2012, it was announced that the BBC would be adapting The Casual Vacancy as a series for BBC One. Rowling's agent Neil Blair will produce and Rick Senate will executive produce. Rowling is also heavily involved in the adaptation process.

The Cuckoo's Calling

Main article: The Cuckoo's Calling

Rowling has often talked about writing a crime novel over the years. In 2007, at the Edinburgh Book Festival, author Ian Rankin said that his wife noticed Rowling “writing” a detective story in a cafe. Rankin later said it was a joke, but the rumor continued, and in 2012 The Guardian suggested that Rowling's next book would be a crime novel. In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling said she would like to write subsequent books under a pseudonym, but admitted back in 2003 that the press "would have found out about it in a matter of seconds." In an interview The New Yorker in 2012, Rowling stated that she was working on a new adult novel and that although she had only written "a couple of chapters", the plot was "pretty well constructed".

In April 2013 Little Brown published The Cuckoo's Calling, the debut novel by author Robert Galbraith, whom the publisher described as "a former civilian investigator military police, who went to work in the field of civil security in 2003.” The mystery novel about the suicide of a supermodel sold 1,500 hardcover copies and received positive reviews from other mystery writers and critics. Publisher's Weekly called the book a “stellar debut”, and Library Journal- “debut of the month.”

India Knight, writer and newspaper columnist The Sunday Times, on July 9, tweeted that she had read The Cuckoo's Calling and thought that the novel was too good to be a debut. She received a response from a certain Jude Callegari, who wrote that the author was Rowling. Knight reported this to the editor Sunday Times Richard Brooks, who began his own investigation. After discovering that Rowling and Galbraith had the same agent and editor, he submitted the books for linguistic analysis, which found similarities. Brooks then contacted Rowling's agent, who confirmed that Galbraith was Rowling's pseudonym. Within days, sales of the book increased by 4,000 percent, and Little Brown printed an additional 140,000 new copies to meet growing demand.

Rowling stated that she enjoyed publishing the book without having to meet reader expectations and the opportunity to receive objective reviews, and also confirmed that she intends to continue writing the series and will do so under a pseudonym.

Shortly after the revelation, Brooks suggested that Rowling herself was hiding under the name Jude Callegari and the whole story was a publicity stunt. Some have also noted that writers who praised the book upon release, such as Alex Bray or Val McDiarmid, are among Rowling's circle of acquaintances; both however stated that they were unaware of Rowling's authorship. It was later revealed that Jude Callegari is best friend wife of Chris Gossage, law firm partner Russells Solicitors, whose services Rowling used. Rowling released a statement: “To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. I assumed that I could expect complete confidentiality from Russells, a reputable professional firm, and I am very unhappy that my trust turned out to be unfounded”; Russells apologized for the leak, confirming that it was not a publicity stunt. Rowling accepted a donation from Russells, which included reimbursement of her legal costs and transfer to the fund’s account Soldiers' Charity.

Charity

In 2000, Rowling created charitable foundation Volant Charitable Trust, which aims to combat poverty and social inequality. The foundation funds organizations that help children, single-parent families, and also engage in research into multiple sclerosis. Rowling said: “I think you have a moral responsibility when you get much more than you need.”

Child welfare and poverty alleviation

Rowling, who herself was a single mother, heads a charity Gingerbread(formerly known as One Parent Families) previously having been the organization's first ambassador since 2000. Rowling collaborated with Sarah Brown to write a book of children's stories to raise funds for One Parent Families.

In 2001, the British anti-poverty organization Laughter Release asked three of Britain's best-selling writers - cookbook author and TV presenter Delia Smith, Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding and Rowling - to write small works, associated with their most famous books. Rowling wrote two works: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch from Antiquity to the Present, which are supposedly facsimiles of books from the Hogwarts library. Since going on sale in March 2001, the books have generated £15.7 million for the foundation. £10.8 million of it, which they raised outside the UK, was used to create a fund International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis. In 2002, Rowling wrote the foreword to the fantasy anthology Magic, published Bloomsbury Publishing to raise money for the National Council on Single Parent Families.

In 2005, Rowling and MEP Emma Nicholson founded Children's High Level Group(currently - Lumos). In January 2006, Rowling traveled to Bucharest to raise awareness of the use of cage beds in psychiatric institutions for children. For further support CHLG Rowling in December 2007 auctioned off one of seven handwritten and illustrated copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a series of tales mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book was purchased for £1.95 million by online retailer Amazon.com, becoming the most expensive modern book ever sold at auction. Rowling gave away the remaining six copies to those closely associated with the Harry Potter series. In 2008, Rowling agreed to publish a book to use the proceeds for Children's High Level Group.

In July 2012, Rowling took part in the opening ceremony of the summer Olympic Games in London, where she read a few lines from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan as a tribute to the children's hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her reading was accompanied by the appearance of an inflatable Voldemort and other children's literary characters.

Multiple sclerosis

Rowling financially supported research and treatment for multiple sclerosis, which her mother suffered from until her death in 1990. In 2006, Rowling donated a significant sum to establish the new Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, later renamed the Anne Rowling Clinic for Regenerative Neuroscience. In 2010, she donated a further £10 million to the clinic.

For unknown reasons, Scotland has the most high level incidence of multiple sclerosis in the world. In 2003, Rowling took part in the campaign to create national standard treatments for people suffering from this disease. In April 2009, she announced the end of support Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, citing an inability to resolve the conflict between the northern and southern branches of the organization.

Other charitable activities

On August 1 and 2, 2006, Rowling read with Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the foundation Haven Foundation, a charity that helps artists and performers who are left without insurance and unable to work, and medical organization Doctors Without Borders. In May 2007, Rowling donated more than £250,000 to a fund set up by the tabloid. News of the World to search for British girl Madeline McCann who disappeared in Portugal. Rowling also, along with Nelson Mandela, Al Gore and Alan Greenspan, wrote the foreword to a collection of speeches by Gordon Brown, the proceeds of which went to the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory.

In May 2008, the book retailer Waterstones asked Rowling and 12 other writers to compose a random short work on one A5 sheet of paper to be auctioned off to help charitable organizations Dyslexia Action And English PEN. Rowling wrote an 800-word Harry Potter prequel about Harry's father, James Potter, and godfather, Sirius Black, set three years before Harry's birth.

Publications

Harry Potter series

1. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (1997)
2. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (1998)
3. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (1999)
4. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2000)
5. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2003)
6. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2005)
7. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (2007)

Other children's books

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Harry Potter Supplement) (2001)
• "Quidditch from Antiquity to the Present" (addendum to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (addendum to the Harry Potter series) (2008)

Books for adults

• "Casual Vacancy" (2012)
• The Cuckoo's Calling(under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) (2013)

Story

• "Harry Potter: The Backstory" (2008)

JK Rowling - quotes

Every story lives as long as someone wants to listen to it. The stories we love most live with us forever. So no matter how many times you return to reading books or watching movies, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

Our choices, more than our abilities, reveal our true selves.

One day a girl approached me on the street, she just appeared out of nowhere... she was probably about twenty, and she told me: “You are my childhood.” And that was the best thing anyone ever said to me.

Is being “fat” really the worst thing that can happen to a person? Is “fat” really worse than “vindictive”, “envious”, “empty”, “vain”, “boring” or “cruel”? Not for me.

How would you like to be remembered? - As someone who has done the best she can with the talent she has.

The famous writer JK Rowling was born on July 31st. This year she turns 48 years old. In honor of her birthday, let's remember the most important facts from her life and career.

Rowling began writing her first stories as a child.

1. JK Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Gloucestershire. She has younger sister Diana.

2. As children, parents dressed their daughters in the same clothes, which differed only in colors: Joan’s was blue, and her sister’s was pink. The parents really wanted a boy.

3. Rowling began inventing her first stories as a child. According to her memoirs, she was the first to make up a story about a rabbit named Rabbit who had measles.

4. In 1983, Rowling entered the University of Exeter in Devon, where she studied French and Literature and received a B.A.

5. In 1990, Joan moved to Manchester, where she got a job as an English teacher. There she began making her first sketches of the future book about Harry Potter.

6. In the same year, Joan's mother, Anna Rowling, died of multiple sclerosis, never knowing what phenomenal success her daughter would achieve.

Rowling typed the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” on an old typewriter.

7. In 1992, the writer married journalist Jorge Arantes and a year later gave birth to a daughter, Jessica. However, the marriage was unsuccessful - the couple divorced that same year, and Rowling returned to the UK. The writer fell into depression. She lived only on social benefits and, according to her, was as poor as you could imagine.

8. Rowling typed the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” on an old typewriter. The first edition of the book was published in 1995, but no one saw any promise in the author. In 1997, the book was published again in a circulation of only a thousand copies and became a real triumph. Rowling's work received the Children's Book Award for Best Children's Book of the Year.

9. The second and third parts of the Harry Potter books also became “Best Children’s Books of the Year” according to the Children’s Book Award, and the fourth writer herself withdrew from participation in the competition to give other authors a chance.

10. Rowling signed her first publication as JK Rowling, but the publishers advised her to use a different signature - JK Rowling - to remove the name, suggesting that the book's target audience - boys - would not want to read something written by a woman.

11. In 1998, Warner Bros acquired the film rights to the first two books from Rowling. The first film was released in November 2001. The writer insisted that the films be shot in Britain and with the participation of British actors.

12. In 2000, Rowling was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

Rowling worked on the Harry Potter novel for 17 years.

13. In the same year, she created the Volant Charitable Trust, which fights poverty and social inequality. The foundation funds organizations that help children, single-parent families, and also conducts research into multiple sclerosis.

14. In 2001, Joan married again - to anesthesiologist Neil Michael Murray. She took her husband's surname, although she publishes books under her old pseudonym. In her marriage, she had two children - a son, David, and a daughter, Mackenzie, to whom her book “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was dedicated.

15. Rowling worked on the Harry Potter novel for 17 years. The work was completed in February 2007.

16. In 2008, JK Rowling became the richest woman in Britain according to Forbes.

17. In 2011, Joan, along with the producers and directors of the Potter series, received the British Academy Film Awards for outstanding British contribution to cinema.

18. In 2012, the writer’s first book after the Harry Potter series, “The Casual Vacancy,” was published. In the first three weeks after its release, more than a million copies were sold. In the same year, the BBC decided to film the work as a series.

JK Rowling or known as JK Rowling and Robert Galbraith. Famous British writer, film producer and screenwriter who wrote the Harry Potter series of books. She is Britain's best-selling author. In 2010, magazines named her the most powerful woman. Her fortune allows her to be among the richest women on the planet according to Forbes. JK Rowling's books are intended not only for children, but also for adults.

• tragicomedy;
• novel "The Cuckoo's Calling";
• novel "The Silkworm".

JK Rowling and Harry Potter

Joan was working as a secretary when, while traveling on a train in 1990, she came up with the idea for a novel about a boy wizard. The following years before the appearance of the book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (1997) were associated with a difficult life with a small child in his arms. Over the course of 10 years, Rowling published 6 sequels to the first story. The number of copies sold at that time reached a record 400 million. It is the best-selling book series in history and the basis for the highest-grossing film series in the industry. Rowling personally approved the scripts and was the producer of the final installments.

Brief biography of JK Rowling

1. JK Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Bristol. Soon the family moved to Winterberg, where the Potters lived nearby, with whose children the writer often played.
2. At the age of 9 the family moved to Tatshill. Rowling's favorite subject at school was English, and her least favorite was physical education. Joan successfully passed the exams and graduated from the university with a degree in French.
3. Rowling worked as a secretary for some time. The best thing about the job, she said, was the ability to type all her stories on the company computer. It was during this period that the idea of ​​a future bestseller came to her.
4. In 1992, Rowlin ran away from all her problems to Portugal to teach English. She came back with her little daughter and a suitcase filled with the first chapters of Harry Potter.
5. Joan literally had to survive with her daughter in her arms. She lived on one allowance, and in her free time from household chores she went to a cafe near her home and wrote her first book over a cup of coffee.
6. Harry Potter passed hard way through the hands of publishers before hitting store shelves, but it was worth the wait. In 1997, the agent broke the good news. Success came instantly.

You can do it online on our website.

7 books in one file

An eleven-year-old orphan boy, Harry Potter, lives with his aunt's family and does not even suspect that he is a real wizard. But one day an owl flies in with a letter for him, and Harry's life changes forever. He learns that he is enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, discovers the truth about the mysterious death of his parents, and as a result he manages to uncover the secret of the Magic Stone.

An eleven-year-old orphan boy, Harry Potter, lives with his aunt's family and does not even suspect that he is a real wizard. But one day an owl flies in with a letter for him, and Harry Potter's life changes forever. He learns that he is enrolled in the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, discovers the truth about the mysterious death of his parents, and as a result he manages to uncover the secret of the philosopher's stone.

Harry Potter is looking forward to the end of the holidays and the start of the fifth school year at Hogwarts. The young wizard suffers from loneliness more than ever, and the ridicule and nagging of the Dursleys have become completely unbearable. In addition, he is sure that Voldemort has regained his strength and will soon begin to act.

Dangerous and exciting adventures, fierce struggles, true friends and the magical world of Harry Potter await you again.

Harry Potter faces the most terrible test of his life - mortal combat with Voldemort. There is no one to wait for help - Harry is more alone than ever. Harry's friends and enemies appear in a completely unexpected light. The line between Good and Evil is becoming increasingly elusive...

In the seventh and final book, J.K. Rowling reveals all the magical secrets.

Harry Potter is entering his fourth year of study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. New spells, new potions, new teachers, new subjects... It's all familiar, and Harry is looking forward to the start of the school year. But the school is suddenly bombarded with amazing news: this year the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts, and of course, everyone wants to take part in it...

An eleven-year-old orphan boy, Harry Potter, lives with his aunt's family and does not even suspect that he is a real wizard. But one day an owl flies in with a letter for him, and Harry Potter's life changes forever. He learns that he is enrolled in the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, discovers the truth about the mysterious death of his parents, and as a result he manages to uncover the secret of the philosopher's stone.

Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them is a textbook on pet care required for all first-year students. The book has magical world enormous value, and no less popular among Hogwarts students. All her publications in “Curls and Blots” on Diagon Alley do not stay long on the shelves, and she herself came out, so as not to be mistaken, already somewhere in the 54th reprint. From the book you can find out who the balls of fluff are, what they feed dragons, how many salamanders live, what are they really? Loch Ness monster and why we don’t encounter these same creatures every day in life.

This book is a copy of the one that Harry used, and therefore it is not presented to the reader in at its best- all covered with notes from Harry, Ron and Hermione (simply a shame)!

J. K. Rowling, Newt Scamander, Kennilworthy Wisp, Robert Galbraith - pseudonyms; real name: Joanne Rowling; UK, Gloucestershire; 07/31/1965 –

JK Rowling needs no introduction. This world famous British writer is famous for her series of books about Harry Potter. In the ten years from the release of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1997, to 2007, when the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published, more than 400 million copies of the books were sold. This allowed the author to go from being on welfare to becoming one of the richest women in Britain. Thus, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, in 2008 the writer’s fortune exceeded £500 million, which allowed her to take 12th place in the ranking of the richest women in Great Britain.

Biography of JK Rowling

Joan was born in the small village of Yate in England. Her childhood years were spent at St. Michael's Primary School. Already here Rowling's first stories appeared, which she wrote for her sister. Her sister became her first grateful listener. According to Joan herself, her childhood was not the happiest. Her mother was often ill, and she and her father did not get along. To this day, JK Rowling does not speak to her father. To describe Rowling's adolescence, just look at Hermione from the Harry Potter series. After all, according to the writer, she wrote this character from herself.

After leaving school, Joan wanted to go to Oxford University, but failed her exams. So I went to study at the University of Exeter. Rowling studied quite diligently, and in her free time, she was also interested in . By the way, later she was often reproached that her works were very similar to another follower of Tolkien. After graduating from university, the writer of the Harry Potter books moved to London. It was while waiting for the train from Manchester to London that Joan had all the moments future history about Harry Potter. Immediately upon arriving home, Rowling sat down to read the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”

In addition to wealth, the books about Harry Potter brought the author worldwide fame. So Time magazine put Joan in second place in the Person of the Year category in 2008. And Forbes magazine ranked the author of the Harry Potter books as the 48th most influential celebrity in the world. But all this is just the result of the author’s hard work on his works. So, according to Joan’s statements, she rewrote some chapters 13 times until she achieved the perfect result. This is what allowed JK Rowling to enter the world elite of writers.

As for JK Rowling's new books, she recently completed one of them. It is called “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which became possible to read in Russian in November 2016. In addition, Rowling’s new books about the world of Harry Potter were recently published. This is a collection of three books of the Hogwarts guide, which were published in the UK on September 6, 2016. But the writer is not going to stop there. So on December 21, 2016, she announced that she was working on two books at once. And if one of Rowling’s new books is a continuation of the story of Cormoran Strike, then the second book is a continuation of Harry Potter. The writer did not provide details of these books, but as some experts predict, it is quite possible that this will be a continuation of the book “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Rowling's second novel, Deadly White, was released in September 2018.

Rowling's books on the Top books website

Rowling was included in the rating of our site with the book “Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets“, but any other book by the author could easily have ended up in this place. After all, each of the books in the Harry Potter series is incredibly popular. IN Lately interest in books began to wane. This is primarily due to the lack of new books by Rowling in this series. Now the author has begun writing books in the crime detective genre. Time will tell how successful Rowling’s decision was, but for now we present to you full list books by the author.