J K Rowling Biography

JK Rowling She is a famous author, born as Joanne Rowling. She was born on July 31, 1965, in Yeat Gloucestershire, England. Her father's name was Peter James Rowling, and mother's name was Anne Rowling. Her father was a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and mother was a science technician. She attended the St. Michael's Primary School, before enrolling herself at the Wieden School in college. Later she admitted herself at the University of Exeter, for Bachelor of Arts in French and Classics. Her tryst with writing fiction tales started when she was five, her first ever written story being Rabbit. Graduating in 1986, she moved to London and took up the job of a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. While on a journey from Manchester to London, she thought about the plot, about a wizard boy Harry Potter. The same evening, she started penning Philosopher's Stone, the first of the Harry Potter series. She tied the knot with a Portuguese journalist, Jorge Arantes, on October 16, 1992, at the age of 27. The following year, they were blessed with a baby girl. However, the two did not stay long together, and separated on November 17, 1993, and divorced in August, 1994. She moved to Scotland, in 1993, to live near her sister Diane, and did not have any job. In 1995, she completed her manuscript of the legendary book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. After facing rejection from about 12 publishers, editor, she finally got green signal from Barry Cunningham of Bloomsbury. Meanwhile, to support herself financially, she took up a teacher training course at Edinburgh University. 1,000 copies of the first edition of the book were printed, of which 500 were distributed to libraries. She came out with the sequel of the book, in 1998, titled, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The wait wasn't a very long one, as she published the third book of the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in 1999. By the summer of 2000, the three of the seven book series had already done a business of $480 million, with over 35 million copies, in print in 35 languages. Meanwhile, the overwhelming success of the Harry Potter series made it the single most profitable franchise, for filmmakers. As such, capitalizing on the success of the written works, Warner Bros. signed a deal with her, to come up with film adaptation of the same. On July 8, 2000, she released her fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The book crashed all the previous records. In 2001, she got married for the second time, to Neil Michael Murray, an anesthetist by profession, at the age of 36. The couple was blessed with a son and a daughter. In 2001, the film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released. The film was greatly received at the box office, earning $90.3 million in its first weekend itself. Year 2002 witnessed the release of the next film of the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In 2003, she came with her fifth novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, while the sixth book titled, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came in 2005. It further created new records, in the literary world, by selling 9 million copies, in its first day itself. In 2004, Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban was released, while in 2005 came Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The final book of the series, came on July 21, 2007, titled, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It became the fastest-selling book of all time, with 11 million copies sold, on its first day of release, in United Kingdom and the United States. The last book of the series, was adapted in two installments. While the first part was released in November, 2010, the second and final part hit the theaters, in 2011. In 2013, she came up with, yet another adult book, The Cuckoo's Calling, under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. Presently, she is supposedly working on two types of novels, one aimed for children, while the other for adults. ''It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,'' said J.K. Rowling.