|
Name: Joanne Kathleen Rowling
JK Rowling: Her initials were used because the publisher feared boys wouldn't want to read the Harry Potter adventures if they knew a woman wrote it.
Born: 31st July 1965 in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital
Mother: Anne died in 1990, aged 45, from multiple sclerosis. Joanne was 25.
Father: Peter was a manager with Rolls Royce
Spouse #1: Joanne was married to Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese television journalist, in October 1992. They separated after a short time and divorced soon after the birth of their daughter.
Spouse #2: Joanne married Dr. Neil Murray on 26 December 2001. There were only 15 guests, just the family.
Children: Jessica is her only child. She was born in July 1993.
Education: she studied French and Classics; her favourite school subjects were English and languages
First story: "The first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit!"
Jobs: she worked as a secretary; in 1991, at the age of 26, Joanne went to Portugal and taught children English as a second language. Later she taught French in Edinburgh, Scotland
Harry Potter: The idea came to Joanne on a train in 1990, driving from London to Manchester. The train got stuck and so she had many time to think. She named Harry after a childhood friend, Ian Potter. She completed the first book over a five-year period while in Portugal and upon moving to Edinburgh. She spent all her spare change on items for three-month old Jessica and had little money. Joanne was on social security and got ₤ 69 per week. She wrote in cafes which let her write while the baby slept in a carriage nearby. There will be seven books in the series, one for each year Harry spends at Hogwarts.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" were published on June 1997 and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret's" on July 1998.
First Grant: ₤ 8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council in February 1997 (with which she bought her first computer and finished "Chamber of Secret's")
(more about Awards on page 00)
Now J.K. Rowling is the richest person in Great Britain.
Her story sounds a bit like a PR-fairytale, but is true.
|
