Harry Potter comments by Joan Rowling. Life story written by Joanne Rowling
The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which marked the beginning of a series of novels about the Hogwarts school of wizardry and its wards, was published by Bloomsbury back in 1997. Its author was an unknown at that time Englishwoman Joanne Rowling. Almost instantly, the book became a bestseller and gained unprecedented worldwide popularity: copies disappeared from store shelves faster than they could be put there.
Almost 20 years later, it is difficult to imagine that neither Rowling herself nor as many as twelve (!) publishers who refused to publish the book initially did not believe in the success of Harry Potter.
How did Harry Potter appear?
In 1990, the 25-year-old girl Joan had to travel along the Manchester-London route. However, the train was delayed for almost four hours, and Joan had no choice but to be bored while waiting for the trip. Trying to pass the time, the future writer began to fantasize: it was then that the fateful idea came to her mind to write a book about a boy wizard. At that moment, Joan didn’t even have a pen to write down the plot that had arisen in her imagination, and her natural shyness prevented her from asking someone else for it.
Immediately upon arriving home, Joan began writing her first book about Harry. However, it took several more years to finally plan and write the seven Potter books, and several more to become “the greatest living British author,” as the media describes her.
Biography of JK Rowling: life before Harry Potter
Joan was born July 31, 1965 year in a small Yate town in the English county of Gloucestershire. Some sources indicate another place of her birth - the village Chipping Sodbury, however, in reality, Rowling never lived there, and the rumor was started by Joan herself because of her dislike for the gloomy and inhospitable city where she grew up. Since then, publishers and advertising agents have indicated her fictitious place of birth in the author's biography.
The future writer's earliest memories of her childhood are associated with the birth of her younger sister Diana, who was born 23 months after the birth of Joan herself. From an early age, Rowling loved to read, devoting a fair amount of her time to this hobby: “A real bookworm with freckles and glasses,” This is exactly how the writer describes herself as a child.
At the age of six, Joan composed her first fairy tale about a rabbit with measles, which she simply named “Rabbit,” and the young writer’s first listeners were her younger sister and parents. Having received praise for the story, Joan decided to publish it immediately, which she told her parents: “An unexpected decision for a six-year-old child,” Rowling herself later admits.
When Joan was 9 years old, the family moved to the small village of Tutshill, located near the town of Chepstow in South Wales. The desire to write did not weaken with age: at the age of 11, Joan wrote another story about the seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them. In her own autobiography, Rowling recalls with great warmth her childhood friend Sean, who believed that one day she would become an excellent writer: “He was the only one who believed that I would definitely succeed,” recalls Joan.
In 1983, after graduating from Wyedean Comprehensive School, Joan entered the University of Exeter in the southwest part of England, studying French. Later in an interview, Joan admits that she regretted her decision: she wanted to study English literature, but her parents considered her daughter’s choice unsuccessful and advised her to go to the French department. “I should have stood my ground,” Joan laments. “The only advantage was that studying French required a year of study in Paris.”
After graduating from university, Rowling moved to London, where over the next few years she changed several jobs. By her own admission, what she loved most was working as a researcher for the charity Amnesty International, whose mission is to fight against human rights violations around the world.
In 1990, Joan began the first chapter of her future bestseller, but in December of the same year, her mother, Anne Rowling, died of multiple sclerosis. This was an extremely difficult period in the writer’s life: it was difficult for her to cope with the departure of her mother, with whom she was truly close. This loss was reflected in Rowling’s subsequent work: according to the writer’s own admission, her favorite episode in the book she wrote was the moment when Harry sees his dead parents in the magical Mirror of Erised.
Rowling soon received a job offer and moved to Portugal, where she worked as an English teacher. It was there that Joan met her first husband. They got married in 1992, and a year later the couple had a daughter, Jessica. However, this union was not destined to become lasting, and just four months after the birth of the child, Joan separated from her husband and returned to the UK, settling next to her sister in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. The following years for Joan became a difficult period of poverty and real depression. She earned a living alone and took care of her little daughter. Joan used her own experience of struggling with depression in her book when creating the image of Dementors - creatures that “suck” the feeling of happiness from their victims.
Rowling finished publishing her first book in 1995. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" on an old manual typewriter and sent it to several literary agents. Bryony Evans from the Christopher Little Literary Agents praised the book's potential and immediately agreed to submit the manuscript to twelve publishing houses.
However, a whole year passed before the long-awaited news arrived: the small publishing house Bloomsbury accepted the book for publication. There is a legend in the publishing house itself that the decision was made thanks to the chairman’s 8-year-old daughter, who liked the book about wizards. Rowling received an advance of £1,500, and in June 1997 the first Harry Potter book was published in a small print run of just a thousand copies, half of which were sent to libraries. This was truly a turning point in the life of the writer.
JK Rowling: world fame and recognition
Happy wife: JK Rowling with her husband
Neil Murray at the premiere of the film "Harry Potter"
in 2009. Photo freelancewritingteam.com
Harry Potter changed JK Rowling's life dramatically, but this time all the changes were for the better. Shortly after the book's publication, she received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council, which allowed her to quit her day job and focus on writing the next part.
After the incredible success of her first novel in the UK, the American company Scholastic offered the writer £100,000 in exchange for the right to publish her book in the US.
A year after the release of “The Philosopher’s Stone,” eager readers waited for it to continue: a second book entitled "Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets"(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), which immediately became a bestseller. At the same time, Joan signed a contract for a 7-figure sum with the Warner Brothers film company and instantly became a millionaire. The appearance of films on silver screens greatly increased the success of the books and made Harry Potter one of the most recognizable media products. At Joan's insistent request, all films about Harry were as close as possible to the original plot, the roles involved English actors, and filming locations were chosen exclusively in the UK.
When is the fourth book in the series? "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"(Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) was published, it managed to break all previous records: on the first day in the UK, more than 372 thousand copies were sold, and in the US, over three million books were swept off store shelves in the first 48 hours. It is not surprising that in 2000, Rowling received the prestigious British Book Awards as Author of the Year.
Pleasant changes also followed in Joan's personal life: in December 2001, she married an anesthesiologist Neil Murray(Neil Michael Murray). In March 2003, they had a son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, and in January 2005, their youngest daughter, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray. These happy events in Joan's personal life slowed down the release of new books, and the tabloids immediately speculated that Rowling was having a creative "crisis." In general, the creator of Harry Potter had a difficult relationship with the press. Journalists portrayed Joan as a recluse who does not make contact and hates giving interviews, which, according to Rowling herself, was completely untrue. Some believe that difficulties in relations with the media led to the creation of the image of the overly meticulous journalist Rita Skeeter in the Harry Potter books.
On December 21, 2006, Joan completed work on the seventh and presumably final book in the series, entitled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). The book was published in July 2007 and once again broke all records for speed and sales volume, allowing Rowling to take the 144th place in the ranking richest people in Britain according to the Sunday Times.
JK Rowling with actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint at the premiere of the film about Harry Potter. Photo dailymail.co.uk
After the release of Deathly Hallows, Rowling said in an interview that she did not intend to write an eighth book: “Perhaps in the next 10 years I will want to write a sequel, but I think this is unlikely.” However, the story continued when the play premiered on the stage of London's Palace Theater in July 2016 "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"(Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The performance is currently playing to a full house, so hurry up and buy tickets and come to London, to the Covent Garden area, if you want to see the end of the grandiose epic with your own eyes.
In the photo: Palace Theater, where the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being performed
According to the author's idea, the play tells about the fate of the children of the main characters 19 years after the events described in the seventh book. On July 31, 2016, exactly on Rowling’s 51st birthday, sales of the new book started, after which the “mother” of the most famous wizard told the media that this creation finally ends the story of Harry Potter and there will definitely not be a continuation.
11 interesting facts about the author and books about Harry Potter:
As a child, Rowling received the nickname “rolling pin” due to her consonant surname.
Joan tried to enter the famous Oxford University, but failed the exams.
In addition to French, Joan studied Latin at the university, which helped her when composing magic spells for the book.
According to Rowling herself, she has the character and temperament suitable for a writer: “I am absolutely happy alone, writing.”
Eight films based on the books have grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
Fans at the premiere of the new Harry Potter book. Photo www.mnn.com
Books "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" from the first thousand copies are valued by collectors at £25,000 each.
After the release of the last film, Joan created a special website, pottermore.com, to track news about Harry Potter.
@jk_rowling is JK Rowling's official Twitter account, but new posts appear there infrequently. Her official Facebook page is www.facebook.com/JKRowling.
The Harry Potter brand is currently valued at $15 billion.
Poster for the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". Photo collider.com
Rowling is the first billionaire in history to make her fortune solely through writing.
At the same time, in August 2016, Joan dropped out of the Forbes list of billionaires, having donated about 16% of her capital (more than $160 million) to charity.
In the footsteps of Harry Potter: iconic places for fans of the epic
Pictured: the same platform 9 ¾ at St Pancras Station.
Having signed a film contract with Warner Brothers, JK Rowling insisted that all filming take place exclusively in the UK. Thanks to this, a lot of places have appeared in England, one way or another connected with the name of Harry Potter. We list the most convenient in terms of location and the most interesting of them:
1. Platform 9 ¾
Perhaps we should start the list with London and the world famous platform 9 ¾ at St Pancras Station. It was from here that young Harry took the magical express to Hogwarts Castle, marking the beginning of all subsequent adventures.
How to get there: go to King's Cross St. Pancras metro station and follow the signs. Finding this mythical platform is not difficult: it is located between platforms 4 and 5 and there is always a queue of tourists near it, eager to take a photo with a trolley half disappearing into the wall.
Price: for free. You'll be given special props on site: a Hogwarts school scarf and wand, and you'll be able to take a free photo next to the cart (so be sure to bring a partner). At the same time, all participants in the action are photographed by an employee of the attraction, and if you wish, you can print ready-made photographs for a fee.
2. Christ Church College
In the city of Oxford, located near London, there are several places where the Harry Potter films were filmed. But perhaps the most popular of them is Christ Church College. We saw the college staircase in the first film: freshmen climbed it to the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the prototype of which, by the way, was the local dining hall. Many scenes were also filmed in the college courtyard.
How to get there: It is equally convenient to get from Oxford to London by bus or train. The journey will take from 1 hour (by train) to 2-2.5 hours (by bus). The college is open to the public from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 to 17.00 and on Sunday from 14.00 to 17.00. It would be a good idea to check the opening hours for viewing the premises in advance, as the schedule on the College website changes weekly, so plan your visit in advance: http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/opening-times
In the photo: above - the stairs of Hogwarts School (still from the film), below - the great hall of Hogwarts School (college dining hall).
3.
Also in Oxford you can look into the building Bodleian Library, which appeared in 3 films at once: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (2001), “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) Goblet of Fire" (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2005).
The oldest medieval library in Europe, currently owned by Oxford University, was transformed into the Hogwarts library in the film.
How to get there: The library is located at Broad St, Oxford OX1 3BG. It is open from Monday to Sunday during school hours, but before you go, be sure to check if you are visiting during the holiday period when the building is closed to the public:
Price: Entrance tickets (reader passes, to be precise) start from £5.40. Flash photography is strictly prohibited.
In the photo: above - Hogwarts Library (still from the film), below - the interior of the Bodleian Library.
4. Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market- one of the most beautiful covered markets of the Victorian era, located in the City of London. However, for Harry Potter lovers, this market is attractive because it is here that part of the magical Diagon Alley has been recreated, which can be accessed through the Leaky Cauldron bar, also located here. So, be sure to check out 42 Bull's Head Passage: the blue door of this real-life store served as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
How to get there: Address: Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT. Nearest metro stations: Monument Tube Station (4 minutes walk) and Bank Tube Station (5 minutes walk).
Price: for free. On weekends all local shops are closed.
In the photo: above - Leadenhall Market, below - the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
5. Warner Bros. Studio
In the town of Watford, half an hour's drive from London, there are studio pavilions Warner Bros., where all 8 parts of the Harry Potter film were filmed over the course of a decade. In 2012, the film studio turned into a museum accessible to all Potter fans. Here you can feel like a student at Hogwarts and feel the spirit of magic: walk around the Great Hall of the school, go into Dumbledore’s office, meet magical creatures (it’s a pity that they are in the form of sculptures and models), hone the skill of magic spells and even try the famous butterbeer. By the way, in April 2013, members of the royal family also visited the museum: Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as Prince Harry.
How to get there: There is a proprietary bus service to the studio from nearby Watford Junction railway station (return ticket costs £2.50)
So, don't hesitate for a moment and go on a trip to the Harry Potter places right now. After all, even if you turn your nose up at fairy tales, it’s nice for each of us to return to childhood for a moment and feel like an omnipotent wizard.
JK Rowling is one of the most successful writers in world history. She leads an amazing life - she managed to turn from a desperate single mother into a philanthropist and millionaire. She is the author of the Harry Potter books, a connection that lasts forever. But there are also facts not related to the magical world, for example, telling about the writer’s difficult past or her literary preferences. So here are nineteen facts you don't know.
Her parents didn't graduate from university
Rowling herself studied French and classical literature at university, but her parents did not have a higher education. Her father worked as an engineer at the Rolls-Royce plant, and her mother was a laboratory assistant at school.
Her mother died when Rowling was twenty-five.
The writer's mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when her daughter was a teenager. She died from complications related to the disease before the premiere of the first book in the famous series. Joan admits that coping with her mother’s illness was not easy for her. She later donated sixteen million dollars to a neurological clinic studying multiple sclerosis.
She named her daughter after her favorite writer
Daughter Jessica was named after Jessica Mitford, a British writer and activist who died in 1996. Mitford's journalistic memoirs were given to Joan by her aunt when she was fourteen, and the book became one of her favorites. The celebrity admitted that she was captivated by how Mitford remained true to herself throughout her life. She read all her works.
She made sure there were no burgers or cola in the theme park
Orlando has a Harry Potter theme park that opened in 2010. The character's writer actively controlled its creation. For example, initially the organizers wanted to use typical fast food food. Joan insisted that visitors could experience a complete immersion in a fairytale world, which is why the park serves butterbeer, shepherd's pie and fish and chips.
She had problems with a literary agent
When a writer becomes popular, problems always arise related to the people who were around at the beginning of the career. Christopher Little was a relatively unknown agent when he decided to pitch the Harry Potter tale in 1995. The manuscript was rejected by dozens of publishers. Then Bloomsbury accepted it, the book became a hit, and Little, like the writer, earned a huge amount of money. It turned out to be the most successful relationship in literary history. However, in 2011, the writer decided to use the services of another literary agency, created by Little’s former business partner, Neil Blair. Little wanted to go to court, but he was paid compensation.
She hasn't spoken to her father since 2003
The writer's relationship with her father, Peter Rowling, has always been difficult. Usually she is silent about this. According to a 2012 interview, she has not spoken to him since 2003. One of the reasons for the breakup was that Peter sold a copy of her book, a gift from his daughter, signed by her “With love from your daughter.” He received almost fifty thousand dollars for the book.
She is the president of an organization supporting single parents
She once raised a child alone - her relationship with her first husband lasted just over a year. The celebrity knows full well how difficult this can be. She is the head of a charity that supports families.
She talks openly about her depression
She sought the help of a therapist several times to treat her depression. She had two particularly difficult periods, when she was still writing her first book and living on the brink of poverty while raising her daughter. Then her life changed because of fame, but it was still hard. She was ready to commit suicide.
The first edition of Harry Potter was in five hundred copies.
Bloomsbury was quite modest when it published the first book in the UK, and there were no ambitions for this tale. Joan received a deposit of two and a half thousand pounds.
She doesn't have a "K" in her name.
In English, the writer signs with the initials J.K., but there is no letter “K” in her name - she was advised to use such initials by the publishing house so as not to scare off boys with a woman’s name on the cover. Joan doesn't have a middle name, but she chose it herself - Kathleen was her grandmother's name.
Books premiered at different times in different countries.
The popularity of books grew rapidly, and the opening of sales at night became a tradition. With each new book, people gathered in lines outside the stores until the clock showed midnight - after which they could buy the next volume. It would be logical to organize a similar process in all countries, but this only happened with the fourth book and subsequent ones. For the first time, a whole year passed between the premiere of a book in Britain and, for example, in the States!
She went incognito to look for a wedding dress.
While preparing for her wedding to Neil Murray in 2001, Rowling feared that her fame would interfere with her ability to choose a dress. She disguised herself! She did not reveal the details of the disguise in case she needed it again.
She spends a day every week giving to charity
Rowling has become famous for her philanthropy - she spends millions of dollars on charity. She even disappeared from the list of billionaires because she spent the money on helping other people. Every week she spends a whole day doing charity work.
She's planning a crime series that will be longer than Potter
In addition to fairy tales, the writer creates detective stories under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The first book was published in 2013, and two more have appeared since then. Joan says the episode will be more than fabulous.
Her favorite writer is Jane Austen
The celebrity admits that she has read all her books so many times that she simply lost count.
Her favorite living author is Irishman Roddy Doyle
She wrote part of an unpublished children's book on a dress
In addition to books about Potter, the writer’s novels are created in the genre of realism. However, she had another fairy tale, Joan is not going to publish it, but she once wrote it on a dress for a theme party.
She wrote a song
Joan created a song for the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Her favorite drink is gin and tonic
She's among the writers who have their own signature spirits, but her choice isn't butterbeer!
JK Rowling is one of the most famous writers of our time. Having given the world a series of books about Harry Potter, she instantly became popular and loved in all corners of the earth. The imagination and talent of the famous British writer created a whole world that immediately became home to millions of readers.
However, what do we know about her - about the woman who built this magical world of magic and wizardry revolving around Hogwarts school? Almost nothing. She appeared as if out of nowhere and after several years of popularity, it seems she never really got used to it. She rarely appears in public, rarely gives large interviews. But this only makes Joan’s personality even more attractive and interesting.
JK Rowling's childhood
The future legendary writer was born in a town called Chipping Sothebury, located in Gloucestershire (England). Her father, Peter James, was an engineer at the Rolls-Royce plant, and her mother, Anne Wolan, was a simple housewife. On her mother's side, the writer has French and Scottish roots.In addition to her parents, Joan’s closest and dearest person was always her younger sister Di (Diana). It is believed that it was for her that the six-year-old writer wrote her first book - a children's fairy tale about the adventures of a rabbit named Rabbit and Miss Bee.
Joan became even closer friends with her younger sister due to the frequent moves of their family. It was almost impossible to make permanent friends, and therefore the girls spent all their free time together. The Rowling sisters made friends only after moving to the town of Winterbourne. By a happy coincidence, the last name of one of them was Potter. As the writer herself admits, she always liked this surname much more than her own. Because of Rowling's last name (sounds like rolling pins), she was often teased as a "rolling pin."
The situation changed somewhat as Joan began to grow up. University friends and teachers, recalling Rowling, say that she was always an introverted and strange girl who always wore heavy eye makeup and carried books by Tolkien and Dickens with her. This is how she was when she studied at the University of Exeter, where she studied French and classical philology.
After graduating from this institution, the future writer briefly went to Paris, where she continued to improve her French. And then, returning to London, she began working as a secretary in one of the departments of Amnesty International.
Harry Potter's Mom JK Rowling
Books by JK Rowling about Harry Potter and twists and turns of fate
In 1990, JK Rowling left the organization she had previously worked for, along with her boyfriend, and decided to move to Manchester. Due to some problems, the train the girl was traveling on was delayed for four hours. At that moment, sitting on the frozen train, Joan finally clearly understood the concept of the novel, the idea of which had been floating in her head for several months. As the woman recalled, it all started with the image of Harry Potter himself, which was later joined by other characters. Arriving home, she immediately began writing. Thus the first chapters were created.Subsequent parts of the book were written in Portugal, where Joan went to teach English. Here the writer met her future husband, Jorge Arantes. The couple began dating, and soon officially legalized their relationship. In July 1993, the couple had a daughter, Jessica Isabelle. However, quiet family happiness did not work out for the Anglo-Portuguese couple. According to some biographers, Jorge often lost his temper and even beat JK Rowling. Therefore, thirteen months after the marriage was registered, the couple broke up.
The truth about JK Rowling's violent past and the source of Harry Potter's creepy episodes
In December 1993, Joan moved to Edinburgh, where her younger sister lived. At this point in her life, a protracted depression began in her life, associated with divorce, psychological trauma and lack of work. She lived on one benefit and was hiding from her ex-husband, who came to Scotland to take her daughter away from her. Ultimately, the situation was resolved only through the courts. And from that moment on, the life of the aspiring writer began to slowly improve.
In 1995, she completed her first manuscript, which was soon sent to all more or less large agencies in England. She was rejected 12 times, but eventually one of the agencies decided to publish the book. The novel was released in a limited edition, but soon began to collect a variety of awards. “Nestlé Smarties Book Prize”, “British Book Award”, “Children’s Book Award” - each of these awards strengthened Joan’s position and brought her books first popularity. Very soon, success overwhelmed her. The first book was followed by new novels. The young writer’s books sold out in millions of copies, and Joan’s royalties added several zeros in just a few years. In Great Britain, and then throughout the world, real hysteria began associated with the name Harry Potter, which only became stronger after the release of the film of the same name. IN
In 2004, JK Rowling became the first dollar billionaire to achieve such success with the help of books. For her contribution to the development of British literature, Rowling was awarded the Hugo Award, the Order of the British Empire, and also became a Knight Commander of the Legion of Honor and the owner of a huge number of other awards.
It is very noteworthy that during this period “global warming” also occurred in the writer’s personal life. In 2001, she married English anesthesiologist Neil Michael Murray. In 2003, the couple had a son, David Gordon, and in 2005, a daughter, Mackenzie Jean, to whom the book “The Half-Blood Prince” was dedicated.
JK Rowling now
In addition to the seven books that directly formed the story of Harry Potter and his friends, JK Rowling wrote and published several more novels in one way or another related to the magical world of Hogwarts. Thus, in 2001 and 2008, the books “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, “Quidditch from Antiquity to the Present”, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”, “Harry Potter: Prehistory” were published, which became similar applications to novels about a young wizard. Thus, readers should have better understood the world in which this character exists.In addition, in 2012 and 2013, two more books by the writer were published - “Casual Vacancy” and “The Cuckoo’s Calling” (not published in Russian). These novels are intended for an adult audience.
Currently, in addition to her writing, JK Rowling is actively involved in charity work.
JK Rowling was born into a family full of love and romance. Her parents met at King's Cross station in London, where many years later the fairy-tale Harry Potter would first see his love, red-haired baby Jane. Just like the young wizards Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, the parents of the future writer met in the same compartment. They were going to serve in the army: Peter was a new recruit, and Anne was serving in the Women's Auxiliary of the Navy. Both were under 20 years old. A few months later, Anne became pregnant. After the wedding I had to give up my service. The young father went to earn a living at the factory, and the mother devoted herself to her daughters: little Joan, who was born on July 31, 1965, and her younger sister Dianna Dee. The girls' childhood was filled with books, and little Joan introduced her own writing experience to the family at the age of six. Her first fairy-tale hero was a rabbit named Rabbit. During the same period, Joan and her sister had friends in the neighborhood - a little brother and sister named Potter. Little Ian Potter wore round glasses and loved to play wizard... But this surname was just waiting in the wings...
Star Trek and books
Rowling's dream was Oxford, where the girl wanted to study her native language. But Joan was unsuccessful in her admission - and in the future, unfortunately, the girl faced many more disappointments. Although they were the ones who led Rowling on the right path. But more on that later! So, the Rowling graduate entered not Oxford, but the University of Exeter in Devon, and the department of French, not English. After graduating from university, Joan worked as a secretary-translator and put aside her dreams and fantasies for a while, until the day before 1991, her mother died... Anne Rowling suffered from multiple sclerosis for 10 years and by the time of her death she had been paralyzed for many years. Then Joan decided to escape. She moved to Portugal! Settling in the coastal city of Porto, Rowling began giving English lessons and writing. What if a completely ordinary boy discovers magical qualities in himself? What if he begins to understand the language of snakes and inflate evil aunties like a balloon? Rowling's fantasies took her further and further away from the experiences of the past - and now real life also began to improve. In the summer of 1992, Rowling married journalist Jorge Arantes, who... filed for divorce after the birth of her first child, a girl named Jessica. Sunny Portugal no longer warmed Rowling, and she and her daughter set off on the return journey. Joan settled in Scotland next to her younger sister's family, returned to French (took up teaching), but did not abandon her drafts, which once helped her survive the loss of her mother. Joan read her sketches to her infant daughter and, as if she were a child herself, was immersed in the world of magic.
The finished book was not bought immediately: a number of publishers refused Rowling, until Bloomsbury agreed to publish the manuscript for a fee of $4,000. Publishers were afraid that the name of a female author would scare away boys, so Rowling was asked to leave her initials instead of her name. Joan did not have a middle name (for some reason management insisted on two letters in her initials). Therefore, the second letter in the pseudonym J. K. Rowling came from the name of Katherine’s grandmother.
In 1997, the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published, and it became... no, not a sensation. Just another children's book. Half of the thousand published copies went to libraries, and the remaining books sold quite well. Fortunately for the writer, the book was noticed by critics, and positive reviews played a role in Rowling’s fate. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was named the best book of the year in the ranking of children’s literature, which helped Rowling receive a writing grant to write the second volume, and her literary agent Barry Cunningham (he was the one who believed in the success of the manuscript) managed to sell the publishing rights to an American publisher . In the States, the book was published under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And while the world was just beginning to gradually immerse itself in the story of the orphan wizard and his classmates from the school of magic and wizardry, Rowling was already finishing the fourth part of the adventure! Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were released back to back in 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. By this time, the Warner Brothers studio had acquired the rights to film the novel and was in full swing preparing for the first premiere: the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in 2001. At this point, millions of fans around the world were waiting with bated breath for the film adaptation. People of different ages, nationalities and religions have been captivated by Rowling's magic.
The fifth and sixth books of the "Potter" series - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - were born during the years of the birth of her children from her second husband. With the release of each new book, the veil of secrecy over the twists and turns of the plot became increasingly dense. The manuscripts were kept in the strictest confidence, but leaks and hacker attacks could not be avoided: the fate of the boy wizard worried people all over the world.
“Potteriana,” like a hurricane, picked up JK Rowling and carried her to the real Emerald City. Whirlwinds swirled not only the writer, but also everyone who became part of the magical world of Harry Potter. The fate of the young actors who played Hogwarts students also changed dramatically. The regular “students” of the school of magic and wizardry literally grew up among the scenery of the ancient castle, starting filming at 11 and finishing when they came of age at 21. Under close attention, of course, was the trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who played best friends: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. At the premiere of the final series of the franchise “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” in 2011, actress Emma Watson burst into tears - and for good reason... In parting, JK Rowling gave fans a little more magic - the book “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” - a collection that wizards from "Harry Potter" was read to children. The director of Hogwarts, the wizard Dumbledore, bequeathed such a collection to his student Hermione Granger, and, of course, fans wanted to know the contents of Fairy Tales. Joan gave one of the copies of the magical collection to Christopher Little, the same literary agent who once achieved the coveted publication...
At this point, JK Rowling promised never to return to the world of Potter again.
Having said goodbye to her literary children, graduates of the school of magic, Rowling took up an adult and serious novel. At the end of September this year, a presentation of the dark comedy “Free Space” took place in London (literal translation from English - “Casual Vacancy”). The plot begins with the death of one of the members of the parish council in a British village. It is necessary to choose a new person for the position, and then anonymous messages begin to appear on the parish council website, revealing the secrets of the village residents. “Drug addiction, sexual debauchery and foul language are things that Harry Potter never dreamed of,” says a review of the book in the Guardian newspaper. In her book, Rowling tried to raise class, political, and social problems familiar to any resident of the English province.
Personal life of Joanne Rowling
On December 26, 2001, the year of the film adaptation of her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling remarried Neil Scott Murray, an anesthetist from Edinburgh. In March 2003, the year the book “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was published, the first-born David Gordon Rowling Murray was born, and in January 2005, along with the penultimate book of the “Potter series” Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray was born .
JK Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sothebury, Gloucestershire, England. Her sister, Dee, was born two years later. Rowling loved telling stories from an early age and wrote her first fairy tale when she was 5 or 6 years old - it was a tale about a rabbit named Rabbit who had measles and was visited by friends with a giant bee named Miss Bee. She moved twice as a child. Both times to towns near Bristol: first to Eith, then to Winterbourne. The family moved again when she was nine years old - to Tutshill. She attended primary school in Tatschilla and secondary school in Viedine.
At that time she was quiet, freckled, nearsighted and terribly unathletic. Her favorite subjects are English and other languages. She used to tell stories to her friends - where they all performed brave and heroic deeds that they would not dare to do in real life.
She went to Exeter University straight after school and studied French, at the urging of her parents, who said she could make a career as a bilingual secretary. She spent several years studying at the university and working as “the worst secretary in the world.”
In 1991, at the age of 26, she went to Portugal to teach English. She says she liked it. She gave lessons in the afternoon and evening, and composed in the morning. During this time, she began working on her third novel (the first two had been dismissed as "very bad"). The new book was about a boy who discovered that he was a wizard and ended up in a wizarding school. In Portugal she met and married a Portuguese journalist. Their daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993.
After the divorce, Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, closer to her younger sister Dee. Rowling set herself the goal of completing the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and, of course, trying to publish it. She wrote on the cafe table while Jessica was sleeping. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to complete the book and, after a number of rejections, she eventually sold Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Bloomsbury (UK) for US$4,000.
When the first Harry Potter book was published, the publisher insisted on writing JK Rowling's name on the cover only with her initials - such a trick should not scare away boys, who mostly do not like books by female authors, from buying them. And since the writer did not have a middle name from birth, she chose the name of her grandmother Kathleen for her initials, and since then she has been known as J. K. Rowling.
A few months later, Arthur A. Levin/Teaching Literature buys the American rights to the book for enough money to enable her to quit teaching. The book was published in the UK in June 1997 (at the time of writing the first edition of this book has sold £12,000/$20,000). At that moment the confession came. Harry Potter wins the British Book of the Year and Smarties Prize. Retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the book was published in the US in September 1998. The next, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in the UK in July 1998, and in the US in June 1999. The third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban "was published in the UK in July 1999, and in the US in September 1999.
In 1999, Rowling became an international literary sensation when the first three books of the Harry Potter series reached the top 3 positions on the New York Times bestseller list - achieving similar success in the UK. In the summer of 2000, the first three books had sold over 35 million copies, in 35 languages, valued at approximately $480 million. In July 2000, the first printing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was 5.3 million copies with advance orders of over 1.8 million. "Order of the Phoenix", "Half-Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows" also became leaders in terms of circulation and box office receipts. The total circulation of all seven books about the adventures of Harry Potter was 400 million copies. In 2000, Warner Brothers released a film based on the first book about Harry Potter; in 2011, the eighth and final film premiered - at the whim of the filmmakers, the final novel was divided into two parts. All eight films occupied the leading positions in box office collections all over the world.
Rowling says she wrote Harry Potter when “I was feeling really bad and needed to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone crazy.” Nowadays, the story about Harry Potter and his struggle with the Dark Lord is one of the most popular children's books and already bears the proud title of “children's book of the millennium,” although, of course, it is difficult to consider it entirely for children.