J. K. Rowling
Joanne "J. K." Rowling (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/ ⓘ ROH-ling;[1] born 31 July 1965) is a British novelist and author of Harry Potter, a seven-volume series about a young wizard. Published from 1997 to 2007, the fantasy novels are the best-selling book series in history, with over 600 million copies sold. They have been translated into 84 languages and have spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith. Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in 1990 when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. Six sequels followed, concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). By 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author. The novels follow a boy called Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts (a school for wizards), and battles Lord Voldemort. Death and the divide between good and evil are the central themes of the series. Its influences include Bildungsroman (the coming-of-age genre), school stories, fairy tales, and Christian allegory. The series revived fantasy as a genre in the children's market, spawned a host of imitators, and inspired an active fandom. Critical reception has been more mixed. Many reviewers see Rowling's writing as conventional; some regard her portrayal of gender and social division as regressive. There were also religious debates over the Harry Potter series. Rowling has won many accolades for her work. She was named to the Order of the British Empire and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy. Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition, which she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, and co-founded the charity Lumos in 2005. Rowling's philanthropy centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. In 2025, Forbes estimated that Rowling's charitable giving exceeded US$200 million. She has also donated to the British Labour Party, and opposed Scottish independence and Brexit. Beginning in 2019, Rowling began making public remarks about transgender people, in opposition to the notion that gender identity differs from birth sex. She has been condemned as transphobic by LGBTQ rights groups, some Harry Potter fans, and various other critics, including academics, which has affected her public image and relationship with readers and colleagues, altering the way they engage with her works. NameAlthough she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage her name was Joanne Rowling with no middle name,[2] nicknamed Jo.[3] Staff at Bloomsbury Publishing suggested that she use two initials rather than her full name, anticipating that young boys – their target audience – would not want to read a book written by a woman.[2] She chose K as the second initial, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Rowling, and because of the ease of pronunciation of the two consecutive letters.[4] Following her 2001 remarriage,[5] she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business.[6] Life and careerEarly life and family.jpg) Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire,[8][b] to a middle-class family.[10] Her parents Anne (née Volant) and Peter ("Pete") James Rowling had met the previous year on a train, sharing a trip from King's Cross station, London, to their naval postings at Arbroath, Scotland. Rowling's mother was with the Wrens and her father with the Royal Navy.[14] Her mother was of Scottish and French ancestry.[15] Pete Rowling was the son of a machine-tool setter who later opened a grocery shop.[16] Pete and Anne married on 14 March 1965[10][17] and settled in Yate,[18] where Pete started work as an assembly-line production worker[16] and eventually worked his way into management as a chartered engineer.[19] Anne Rowling later worked as a science technician.[20] Neither of Rowling's parents attended university.[21] Rowling is two years older than her sister, Dianne.[10][22] When she was four, Rowling's family moved to Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.[17][23] She began at St Michael's Church of England Primary School in Winterbourne when she was five.[10][c] The Rowlings lived near a family called Potter – a name Rowling always liked.[26][d] Rowling's mother liked to read and the family's homes were filled with books.[27] Her father read The Wind in the Willows to his daughters,[28] while her mother introduced them to the animals in Richard Scarry's books.[29] Rowling's first attempt at writing, a story called "Rabbit" composed when she was six, was inspired by Scarry's creatures.[29] When Rowling was about nine, the family purchased the historic Church Cottage in Tutshill.[30][e] In 1974, Rowling began attending the nearby Church of England School.[34] Biographer Sean Smith describes her teacher as a "battleaxe"[35] who "struck fear into the hearts of the children";[36] Rowling's teacher seated her in "dunces' row" after she performed poorly on an arithmetic test.[37][f] In 1975, Rowling joined a Brownies pack. Its special events and parties, and the pack groups (Fairies, Pixies, Sprites, Elves, Gnomes and Imps) provided a magical world away from her stern teacher.[40] When she was eleven[41] or twelve, she wrote a short story, "The Seven Cursed Diamonds".[42] She later described herself during this period as "the epitome of a bookish child – short and squat, thick National Health glasses, living in a world of complete daydreams".[43] Secondary school and university Rowling's secondary school was Wyedean School and College, a state school she began attending at the age of eleven[44] and where she was bullied.[45][46] Rowling was inspired by her favourite teacher, Lucy Shepherd, who taught the importance of structure and precision in writing.[47][48] Smith describes her as "intelligent yet shy".[49] Her teacher Dale Neuschwander was impressed by her imagination.[50] When she was a young teenager, Rowling's great-aunt gave her Hons and Rebels, the autobiography of the civil rights activist Jessica Mitford,[51] who became Rowling's heroine.[52] Anne had a strong influence on her daughter.[10] Early in Rowling's life, the support of her mother and sister instilled confidence and enthusiasm for storytelling.[53] Anne was a creative and accomplished cook,[54][g] who helped lead her daughters' Brownie activities,[57] and took a job in the chemistry department at Wyedean while her daughters were there.[20] John Nettleship, the head of science at Wyedean, described Anne as "absolutely brilliant ... very imaginative".[11] Anne was diagnosed with a "virulent strain" of multiple sclerosis when she was 34[58] or 35 and Jo was 15.[59] Rowling's home life was complicated by her mother's illness[60] and a strained relationship with her father.[61] Rowling later said "home was a difficult place to be",[62] and that her teenage years were unhappy.[32] In 2020, she wrote that her father would have preferred a son and described herself as having severe obsessive–compulsive disorder in her teens.[63] She began to smoke, took an interest in alternative rock,[58] and adopted Siouxsie Sioux's back-combed hair and black eyeliner.[11] Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth, owned a turquoise Ford Anglia that provided an escape from her difficult home life and the means for Harris and Rowling to broaden their activities.[64][h] Living in a small town with pressures at home, Rowling became more interested in her schoolwork.[58] Steve Eddy, her first secondary school English teacher, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "quite good at English".[32] Rowling took A-levels in English, French, and German, achieving two As and a B, and was named head girl at Wyedean.[67] She applied to Oxford University in 1982 but was rejected.[10] Biographers attribute her rejection to lack of privilege, as she had attended a state school rather than a private one.[68][69] Rowling always wanted to be a writer,[70] but chose to study French and the classics at the University of Exeter for practical reasons, influenced by her parents who thought job prospects would be better with evidence of bilingualism.[71] She later stated that Exeter was not initially what she expected ("to be among lots of similar people – thinking radical thoughts") but that she enjoyed herself after she met more people like her.[52] She was an average student at Exeter, described by biographers as prioritising her social life over her studies, and lacking ambition and enthusiasm.[72][73] Rowling recalls doing little work at university, preferring to read Dickens and Tolkien.[32] She earned a BA in French from Exeter,[74] graduating in 1987 after a year of study in Paris.[75] Inspiration and mother's deathAfter university, Rowling moved to a flat in Clapham Junction with friends,[76] and took a course to become a bilingual secretary.[10] While she was working in temporary jobs in London, Amnesty International hired her to document human rights issues in French-speaking Africa.[77] She began writing adult novels while working as a temp, although they were never published.[11][78] In 1990, she planned to move with her boyfriend to Manchester,[17] and frequently took long train trips to visit.[41] In mid-1990, she was on a train delayed by four hours from Manchester to London,[79] when the characters Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger came plainly into her mind.[80] Having no pen or paper allowed her to fully explore the characters and their story in her imagination before she reached her flat and began to write.[79] Rowling moved to Manchester around November 1990.[52] She described her time in Manchester, where she worked for the Chamber of Commerce[41] and at Manchester University in temp jobs,[81] as a "year of misery".[82] Her mother died of multiple sclerosis on 30 December 1990.[83] At the time, Rowling was writing Harry Potter,[84] and her mother's death heavily affected her writing.[85] The pain of the loss of her mother was compounded when some personal effects her mother had left her were stolen.[52] With the end of the relationship with her boyfriend, and "being made redundant from an office job in Manchester",[32] Rowling moved to Porto, Portugal, in November 1991 to teach night classes in English as a foreign language,[86] writing during the day.[32] Marriage, divorce and single parenthood Five months after arriving in Porto, Rowling met the Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes in a bar and found that they shared an interest in Jane Austen.[87] The relationship was troubled, but they married on 16 October 1992.[88][i] Their daughter Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford[j]) was born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal.[11][41] By this time, Rowling had finished the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – almost as they were eventually published – and had drafted the rest of the novel.[90] Rowling experienced domestic abuse during her marriage.[63][91] Arantes said in June 2020 that he had slapped her and did not regret it.[92] Rowling described the marriage as "short and catastrophic".[41] She says she was not allowed to have a house key and that her husband used the growing manuscript of her first book as a hostage.[93] Rowling and Arantes separated on 17 November 1993 after Arantes threw her out of the house; she returned with the police to retrieve Jessica and her belongings and went into hiding for two weeks before she left Portugal.[11][94] In late 1993, with a draft of Harry Potter in her suitcase,[32] Rowling moved with her daughter to Edinburgh, Scotland,[8] planning to stay with her sister until Christmas.[52] Her biographer Sean Smith raises the question of why Rowling didn't stay with her father.[95] Rowling has spoken of an estrangement from her father;[32][61] he had married his secretary within two years of her mother's death,[96] and The Scotsman reported that this caused a rift between his daughters and their father.[11] Rowling sought government assistance and got £69 (US$103) per week from Social Security; not wanting to burden her recently married sister, she moved to a flat that she described as mouse-ridden.[97] She later described her economic status as being as "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless".[32] Seven years after graduating from university, she saw herself as a failure.[98] Tison Pugh writes that the "grinding effects of poverty, coupled with her concern for providing for her daughter as a single parent, caused great hardship".[41] Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child, but she later described this as "liberating" her to focus on writing.[98] She has said that "Jessica kept me going".[96] Her old school friend, Sean Harris, lent her £600 ($900), which allowed her to move to a flat in Leith,[99] where she finished Philosopher's Stone.[99] Arantes arrived in Scotland in March 1994 seeking both Rowling and Jessica.[11][100] On 15 March 1994, Rowling sought an action of interdict (order of restraint); the interdict was granted and Arantes returned to Portugal.[11][101] Early in the year, Rowling began to experience a deep depression[102] and sought medical help when she contemplated suicide.[41][k] With nine months of therapy, her mental health gradually improved.[102] She filed for divorce on 10 August 1994;[104] the divorce was finalised on 26 June 1995.[105] Rowling wanted to finish the book before enrolling on a teacher training course, fearing she might not be able to finish once she started the course.[52] She often wrote in cafés,[106] including Nicolson's, part-owned by her brother-in-law.[107] Secretarial work brought in £15 ($22.50) per week, but she would lose government benefits if she earned more.[108] In mid-1995, a friend gave her money that allowed her to come off benefits and enrol full-time in college.[109] Still needing money and expecting to make a living by teaching,[110] Rowling began a teacher training course in August 1995 at Moray House School of Education[111][a] after completing her first novel.[112] She earned her teaching certificate in July 1996[2] and began teaching at Leith Academy.[113] Publishing Harry Potter Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1995.[114] The initial draft included an illustration of Harry by a fireplace, showing a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.[115] Following an enthusiastic report from an early reader,[116] Christopher Little Literary Agency agreed to represent Rowling. Her manuscript was submitted to twelve publishers, all of which rejected it.[11] Barry Cunningham, who ran the children's literature department at Bloomsbury Publishing, bought it[117] after Nigel Newton, who headed Bloomsbury at the time, saw his eight-year-old daughter finish one chapter and want to keep reading.[41][118] Rowling recalls Cunningham telling her, "You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo."[119] Rowling was awarded a writer's grant by the Scottish Arts Council[l] to support her childcare costs and finances before Philosopher's Stone's publication, and to aid in writing the sequel, Chamber of Secrets.[120][121] On 26 June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 5,650 copies.[122][m] Before Chamber of Secrets was published, Rowling had received £2,800 ($4,200) in royalties.[124] Philosopher's Stone introduces Harry Potter. Harry is a wizard who lives with his non-magical relatives until his eleventh birthday, when he is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[125][126] Rowling wrote six sequels, which follow Harry's adventures at Hogwarts with friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and his attempts to defeat Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents when he was a child.[125]  Rowling received the news that the US rights were being auctioned at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.[127] To her surprise and delight, Scholastic Corporation bought the rights for $105,000.[128] She bought a flat in Edinburgh with the money from the sale.[129] Arthur A. Levine, head of the imprint at Scholastic, pushed for a name change. He wanted Harry Potter and the School of Magic; as a compromise Rowling suggested Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[130] Sorcerer's Stone was released in the United States in September 1998.[131] It was not widely reviewed, but the reviews it received were generally positive.[132] Sorcerer's Stone became a New York Times bestseller by December.[133] The next three books in the series were released in quick succession between 1998 and 2000, each selling millions of copies.[134] When Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had not appeared by 2002, rumours circulated that Rowling was suffering writer's block.[135] Rowling denied these rumours, stating the 896-page book took three years to write because of its length.[136] It was published in June 2003, selling millions of copies on the first day.[137] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released two years later in July 2005, again selling millions of copies on the first day.[138] The series ended with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, published in July 2007.[139] Films In 1999, Warner Bros. purchased film rights to the first two Harry Potter novels for a reported $1 million.[140][141] Rowling accepted the offer with the provision that the studio only produce Harry Potter films based on books she authored,[142] while retaining the right to final script approval,[143] and some control over merchandising.[141] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, an adaptation of the first Harry Potter book, was released in November 2001.[144] Steve Kloves wrote the screenplays for all but the fifth film,[145] with Rowling's assistance, ensuring that his scripts kept to the plots of the novels.[146] The film series concluded with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was adapted in two parts; part one was released on 19 November 2010,[147] and part two followed on 15 July 2011.[148] Warner Bros. announced an expanded relationship with Rowling in 2013, including a planned series of films about her character Newt Scamander, fictitious author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.[149] The first film of five, a prequel to the Harry Potter series, set roughly 70 years earlier, was released in November 2016.[150] Rowling wrote the screenplay, which was released as a book.[151] Crimes of Grindelwald was released in November 2018.[152] Secrets of Dumbledore was released in April 2022.[153] In November 2022, Variety reported that Warner Bros. Discovery was not actively planning to continue the film series or to develop any further films related to the Wizarding World franchise.[154] Religion, wealth and remarriageBy 1998, Rowling was portrayed in the media as a "penniless divorcee hitting the jackpot".[124] According to her biographer Sean Smith, the publicity became effective marketing for Harry Potter,[124] but her journey from living on benefits to wealth brought, along with fame, concerns from different groups about the books' portrayals of the occult and gender roles.[155] Ultimately, Smith says that these concerns served to "enhance [her] public profile rather than damage it".[156] Rowling identifies as a Christian.[157] Although she grew up next door to her church,[158] accounts of the family's church attendance differ.[n] She began attending a Church of Scotland congregation, where Jessica was christened, around the time she was writing Harry Potter.[160] In a 2012 interview, she said she belonged to the Scottish Episcopal Church.[161] Rowling has stated that she believes in God,[162] but has experienced doubt.[163] She does not believe in magic or witchcraft.[157][162] Rowling married Neil Murray, a doctor, in 2001.[5] The couple intended to marry that July in the Galapagos, but when this leaked to the press, they delayed their wedding and changed their holiday destination to Mauritius.[164] After the UK Press Complaints Commission ruled that a magazine had breached Jessica's privacy when the eight-year-old was included in a photograph of the family taken during that trip,[165][166] Murray and Rowling sought a more private and quiet place to live and work.[167] Rowling bought Killiechassie House and its estate in Perthshire, Scotland,[168] and on 26 December 2001, the couple had a small, private wedding there, officiated by an Episcopalian pri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
