The Magical Life of Joan Rowling. Joanne Rowling. Harry Potter

- British writer.

JK Rowling was born in the town of Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, near Bristol, and became the eldest of two daughters in the family. When the future writer was nine years old, the Rowlings moved to the town of Chepstow in the county of Gwent (Wales). After graduating from high school there in 1983, Rowling entered the University of Exeter, where she studied French. This gave her the opportunity to spend a year in Paris.
After graduating from university, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree, Rowling moved to London, where she changed several jobs. She spent most of her time with the international human rights organization Amnesty International. In 1990, the future writer moved to Manchester, and that’s when she first came up with the idea of ​​a children’s book about a boy wizard. Also in 1990, Rowling's mother died of multiple sclerosis. A few months later, Joan got a job as an English teacher in Porto, Portugal's second largest city.
In Porto, Rowling met her future husband, television journalist Jorge Arantes. They got married in 1992, from this marriage they had a daughter, Jessica. Quite soon, Rowling and Arantes broke up: her husband, according to the writer, literally kicked her and her daughter out of the house. By Christmas 1994, Rowling was back in the UK. She and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, where her younger sister Di lived at the time. By this time, a significant part of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, had already been written. In an effort to complete the book, Rowling did not take a permanent job and finished writing the novel in cafes, including the popular Nicolson’s, which belonged to her relative.

In 1995, Rowling sent the first draft of the novel to two literary agents, and the first returned the text almost immediately, not considering it promising, and the second, Christopher Little, nevertheless undertook to add the manuscript. He succeeded a year later: “Harry Potter” attracted the interest of the small London publishing house Bloomsbury. His employee Barry Cunningham offered the writer a modest advance (one and a half thousand pounds sterling) in August 1996, which Rowling readily accepted.
The first printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in 1997 and amounted to only a thousand copies, half of which went to children's libraries. The book did not make much of an impression, but critics still noticed it. The Scottish organization The Scottish Art Council provided Rowling with a grant so that she could begin the second volume of Potter.
In the same year, at a professional fair for children's literature publishers in Bologna, Barry Cunningham managed to sell the rights to the American edition of Harry Potter to Scholastic, which offered the writer an unusually large advance for a debutante - $105,000. The writer had, however, to change the title of the book to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”). Subsequently, she never adapted the titles of the novels for an American audience.
The second book about Harry Potter (“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”) appeared in 1998. That same year, the film studio Warner Bros. bought the film rights to two Rowling novels. They were released in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Both were directed by Chris Columbus. Rowling herself wanted to see Briton Terry Gilliam direct the films, but the choice was left to the studio.

The third and fourth novels ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" were published in 1999 and 2000
Just after Christmas 2001 (December 26), JK Rowling remarried. This time her chosen one was Edinburgh anesthetist Neil Scott Murray. The birth of two children (the couple had a son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, in March 2003, and a daughter, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, in January 2005) slowed down work on new Potter sequels. The fifth book ("Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix") was published in 2003, and the sixth ("Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince") - in 2005.
The seventh and final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in the UK and US, as well as several other countries, at midnight on July 21, 2007 local time. The premiere of Rowling's book was preceded by a series of leaks: several hackers and pirates posted a synopsis and then digital photographs of the American edition of the book on the Internet. An investigation undertaken by Scholastic publishing house revealed the sources of the leaked photographs: they turned out to be Levy Home Entertainment (LHE) and DeepDiscount.com, which, despite the embargo, delivered approximately 1,200 copies of the novel to American readers. One of the buyers posted the reshot pages of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on file-sharing networks. In addition, two days before the release of the novel, The New York Times published a review of the novel written by the publication's leading critic Michiko Kakutani. The author admitted that she bought the book from a New York store that also violated the embargo. Rowling and publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic have asked those who already have copies of the novel to “not ruin the fun for other readers.”
Film adaptations of Rowling's third, fourth and fifth novels appeared in 2004, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The sixth film ("Half-Blood Prince") was released in 2009, the seventh ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows") is expected to be released in two parts. The first part of "The Deathly Hallows" was released in 2010, and the second - in 2011.

Rowling has repeatedly assured that the seventh novel will be the last in the series, but on the eve of its release she did not rule out that she would write a continuation of the adventures of her heroes in the future. Her agent also announced that the writer plans to publish an encyclopedia of characters and realities from her novels.
The total worldwide circulation of the first six Harry Potter novels was 325 million copies. In March 2007, 41-year-old Rowling's fortune was estimated by Forbes magazine at one billion dollars.

The Harry Potter novels brought the writer many awards, including Nestle Smarties Gold Award (three times), British Book Awards, Children's Book Award (twice), The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award (twice), Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award (twice), Spanish Prince of Asturias Award. In 2000, Rowling became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Rowling does a lot of charity work. In particular, she supports the Single Parents Foundation and the Foundation for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, the disease from which her mother died.
Rowling is named among the close friends of Sarah Brown, the wife of the current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

October 20, 2010 Lenta.ru JK Rowling became the first Andersen Prize winner
The first winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Literary Prize was British writer JK Rowling, CBC News reports. This newly established prize is awarded to children's writers for their closeness to Andersen's ideas.
The award ceremony took place on October 19 in Andersen’s homeland, in the Danish city of Odense. The monetary reward for the prize winner is 500 thousand crowns (about 100 thousand dollars).

After leaving school, Rowling tried to enter Oxford, but ended up becoming a philology student at the University of Exeter. In addition to French, Rowling studied ancient Greek and Roman literature at the university.

After graduating from university, Rowling moved to London, where she changed several jobs, including a position at Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

While traveling from Manchester to London on a crowded train, Rowling conceived the idea for a novel about a black-haired, bespectacled boy who was unaware of his magical powers. She started work in the evening of the same day, having reached home. After the death of her mother in December 1990, the main character of her future novel was an orphan boy grieving for his dead parents.

In the early 1990s, Rowling lived in Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. In 1993 she moved to Edinburgh.

In 1995, the writer sent the first chapters of the book to several literary agents. In 1997, the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published by Bloomsbury. The publisher suggested that the writer print her initials on the cover instead of her full name, citing the fact that boys would not want to buy a book written by a woman. Since Rowling did not have a middle name, she chose the letter "K" as her initial, in honor of her grandmother Kathleen - "J. K. Rowling". The book gained popularity among the public.

In 1999, the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was published.

The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was published on July 8, 2000, with a UK record edition of one million copies.

The next Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in 2003, followed by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2005.

The last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in 2007.

Interest in Harry Potter and income from book sales increased with each new novel. Rowling's works have been translated into 67 languages.

In December 2007, the collection “Tales of Beedle the Bard” was published, which was also mentioned in the last book about Harry Potter, and the text of one of the tales is given in full in the novel.

Rowling's first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, was published in the UK in September 2012.

Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the writer published two detective novels, The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) and The Silkworm (2014).

The writer also announced that she had already written half of her third crime novel and had begun work on the plot of the fourth. It is planned that there will be more than seven books connected by a common hero - detective Cormoran Strike.

Rowling is the screenwriter of a number of films about Harry Potter - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001), "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002), "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004), "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ( 2005), "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2007), "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009).

In two parts of the film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", released in 2010 and 2011, she is also a producer.

JK Rowling has various charitable organizations: the Single Parents Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation and others. She is the founder of the charity Lumos, which defends the rights of mentally retarded children in poor European countries.

In 2012, she gave a short speech at the opening ceremony of the XXX Summer Olympic Games in London.

Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In 2001 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire, in 2009 - the Order of the Legion of Honor (France). Her awards include the Hugo Award (2001), the Prince of Asturias Award (Spain, 2003), the W.G. Literary Award. Smith (2004), Edinburgh Prize (2008), Hans Christian Andersen Prize (Denmark, 2010), etc. Rowling was awarded the British Book Award several times (1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2008).

In 2001, JK Rowling married anesthesiologist Neil Murray. In 2003, the couple had a son, David, and a daughter, Mackenzie, in 2005. She also has a daughter from her first marriage, Jessica (born in 1993). The writer took her husband’s surname, but publishes books under her former name, which is more familiar to readers.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The name JK Rowling may not be known to everyone, but everyone is familiar with the character of her books - the young wizard Harry Potter. Books and films about him are loved by people of all ages. How can you not love them if they reflect the personality and life experience of the author?

I’m not strong in national British folklore and I can’t say for sure whether there is a native English character - an analogue of Cinderella, who would work long and hard and, in the end, be fabulously rewarded for it. If there is no such character, then there is every reason to propose the English writer JK Rowling for this role - whose story can truly claim the status of a fairy tale. After all, there are not so many stories about how a poor teacher becomes a multimillionaire.

Publication of the first book and first success

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published The Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries (these first copies today cost between £16,000 and £25,000). On the day of the presentation, Joan had to read excerpts from her book to store visitors. Only a few people came to listen to the unknown writer, but nevertheless she felt happy.

When the reader got a taste of the tale, a boom began. Five months later, the book won its first award, the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and later the Children's Book Award. In early 1998, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, which was won by 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, reasoning 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.

The first thing Joan did after receiving money from Scholastic was buy a house in a decent area, and she and Jessica moved in. They got a cat, a rabbit and a guinea pig - Jessica had long wanted a pet, but they couldn’t afford it before. But now Joan was making up for lost time and desperately spoiling her daughter.

Film adaptation of the first novel

Magic, wizards, fairy-tale surroundings - all this literally begged to be shown on the big screen. It is not surprising that film adaptations were not long in coming. In 1998, Warner Bros. bought the filming rights. Pictures for a modest $1.5 million. True, deductions from sales and Rowling’s close participation in the preparation of the project were stipulated.

Steven Spielberg was initially considered for the role of director. However, upon reflection, the director himself refused. Spielberg wanted to make a cartoon, but Rowling and Warner Bros. there was a different vision. In addition, Spielberg was deterred by a lack of creative motivation. The project would have been a wild commercial success in any case, regardless of the director’s efforts.

There was another option with Terry Gilliam. He is a good director, and Rowling was behind him, but his view does not so often coincide with the vision of the mass audience, and the project should have been precisely mass. Ultimately, it was decided to go with the strong professional Chris Columbus. He knows how to work with children on the set, and family films are nothing new to him since the days of “Home Alone.”

Columbus had Liam Aiken in mind for the role of Harry Potter, but Rowling insisted that only British actors should star in the film. Thus, from thousands of applicants for the roles of the main characters, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were chosen. The premiere took place in November 2001.

Spielberg was right, the film adaptation was doomed to success. With a fairly respectable budget of $125 million at the box office, the film paid for itself many times over, barely reaching the prestigious billion-dollar mark. This was more than another large-scale fantasy film adaptation - the first part of The Lord of the Rings, released literally a month after the premiere of Harry, did not reach 900 million. In the hearts of fans, Rowling has surpassed the master and creator of the fantasy genre, John Tolkien.

Series of novels

The sequel to the first novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998. Rowling again received a Smarties Award for it. In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was released and also won a Smarties Award, 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, The Prisoner of Azkaban won the Whitbread Awards for children's book of the year, although it lost out for book of the year to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

When Joan was once asked at what point in her life she realized she was insanely popular, she responded with the following: “The second tour of America was unforgettable. Because by that time the books had become very popular, and I had not encountered before how popular they had become - physically I had not encountered it. I remember driving to the first event. People were standing in a line that stretched for many blocks and I said to Chris Moran, who worked for Scholastic and became my friend, “Chris, is there some kind of sale going on right now?” And she looked at me and said: “Are you crazy? This is all for you". I will never forget this moment. This was the first time I realized what had happened. It was amazing and also creepy. It's scary because I didn't expect this. During the last tour, although several hundred people sometimes came, there was not such a rush.”

Other books by JK Rowling

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 a difficult decision. On February 23, 2012, Rowling's new agency announced on its website that Rowling was going to publish a new book aimed at 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.”. On April 12, 2012, it was announced that the book would be titled The Casual Vacancy and would be released on September 27, 2012. Rowling gave several interviews and speeches in support of the book. 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 Casual Vacancy would be made into a TV series by the BBC.

Today, JK Rowling's books have been translated into 65 languages ​​and more than 500,000,000 copies have been sold. JK Rowling's net worth is estimated at one billion dollars! Today she is the highest paid writer of our time. The Harry Potter novels brought the author many awards and incredible success. Prince Charles awarded her an OBE for her outstanding contribution to children's literature. And the fact that Rowling writes more for children than for anyone else is evidenced by her other works. For example, such fairy tales as: “The Bunny Bunny and her Jumping Stump”, “The Fountain of the Fairy Fortune”, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”, “The Shaggy Heart of the Sorcerer”, “The Sorcerer and the Jumping Pot”, written by her in 2008.

However, JK Rowling delights not only children with her creativity. Most recently, she acknowledged the authorship of a detective novel, which she published in April 2013 under a pseudonym. Rowling said she liked working on behalf of a fictional author because it relieved the writer of the pressure he felt to meet readers' expectations and live up to his own self-imposed standard of quality. Additionally, Rowling noted that not having her name on the cover allowed her to receive an objective response to her work.

A novel called “The Cuckoo’s Calling” (not published in Russia, a possible translation is “The Cuckoo’s Call”) was published by a writer under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The publishing house claimed that the author was a former military man who worked after retirement for private security agencies.

The narration in “The Cry of the Cuckoo” is told from the perspective of a private detective investigating the death of a fashion model who fell from a balcony. The book takes place in London. According to the writer herself, she was inspired by classic detective stories from Phyllis Dorothy James and Ruth Rendell. It is worth noting that the novel has received positive reviews from recognized masters of the genre, and now several film companies are fighting for the right to film this work.

“I have no idea where my ideas for books come from, I hope I never find out. All the fun would be lost if it suddenly turns out that there’s just a little twist in the brain that makes me fantasize.”

Personal and family life of JK Rowling

In J. K. Rowling's personal life, everything seems to have worked out too. On December 26, 2001, she married again - to anesthesiologist Neil Scott Murray. The wedding ceremony took place in Perthshire in 2001, and two years later the happy couple were already congratulated on the birth of their son, David Gordon. Two more years later, in 2005, their daughter Mackenzie Jean was born.

“After my first marriage, I felt shell-shocked. Seven years passed before I met the ideal man. Now I know for sure: love is the most significant thing in the world. What is stronger than the words “I love you”? They are stronger than fear, stronger than death. Love wins. After all, when someone dies, love for him does not disappear... One day my good friend asked: “What kind of man would you like to meet?” I said that I want to be with someone who is smart - this is very valuable to me... So that he is an accomplished person with a career. Integrity and kindness and self-understanding are very important.”

But even after becoming a literary VIP and the happy wife of Dr. Neil Murray, Joan continued to be afraid deep down. Afraid of Jorge Arantes' interference in her life. Jessica's first husband and father. In one terrible moment it happened. After undergoing treatment at a drug addiction clinic, he gave a boastful interview about how he “pushed that obnoxious wife and her screaming baby out the door of his apartment.” The interview was not a bomb. Who could be interested in a man who lost his life?

After this, Arantes greatly repented of his actions. In an interview with British reporters, he tearfully asked Joan for forgiveness. One sunny morning, Joan, having read his confession in the newspaper, breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that it had to happen someday. She realized that she was now free from her past. That day she never managed to sit down to work. For the first time in her life, Joan went to a jewelry store and chose an aquamarine ring to match her eye color. “This ring will remind me that no one will ever put me down again,” she said, looking at the beautiful large gemstone.

When asked by a journalist, “What do you like to do when you’re not working?” Rowling, without hesitation, answers: “Taking the kids somewhere fun or - I'm quite a creative person - I like to draw, listen to music. Not very interesting answers, right? But it's true. Oh, and I love to cook. I like to cook. I love to bake."

For fans of JK Rowling, the following information will be interesting: her favorite color is pink, her favorite food is sushi, her favorite sound is "My husband's snoring when I want to sleep", favorite sport - "Quidditch, of course.", the quality she most admires in a person is courage.

Surprisingly, Joan is still sentimental, and the financial snowfall has not frozen her nature, leaving subtle sensuality green in her soul. Let's say she can't kill her hero without crying. At first, this puzzled Neil, her husband, who once saw a strange picture: Joan opens the door to her office and, shedding tears, rushes into his kitchen. When asked what happened, she said: "I just killed a character."

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 of boys might 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 the middle initial K for her pseudonym, named after her paternal grandmother. She calls herself “Jo” and says: "No one ever called me Joan when I was young unless they were mad at me."

The adventures of Harry Potter caused a funny resonance in the circles of professional magicians and illusionists. In Germany, Eberhard Barmann, president of the Berlin wizards' club Sauberfreunde, said that they are increasingly being approached by parents and grandparents asking where their children can learn magic tricks and tricks. Barmann's colleague Wilfried Possin, who heads the wizarding organization in Frankfurt, directly attributes this explosion of interest in witchcraft to the influence of the Harry Potter books. “It is thanks to them,” he says with obvious pleasure, “that our profession has come into the spotlight.”

As Rowling recalls, at school she had a period of fascination with punk style.

Rowling does not hide the fact that she is an introvert: writing involves focusing on the inner world. Only recently did she loosen up a little and became more willing to give television interviews.

In 2012, Forbes did not include Rowling in its list of the richest people, saying that she lost her billionaire status due to donations to charity. For example, JK Rowling supports organizations such as Laughter Release, and in 2010 donated £10 million to the Regenerative Neurology Clinic, which researches and treats multiple sclerosis, from which her mother Anne Rowling died. The clinic created by the writer at the University of Edinburgh is named after her mother.

During one interview, Joan was asked if she herself came up with the magic spells and names that are so many in her fairy tales, or are they genuine? "Spells are invented, she answered. — I have met people who assured me in all seriousness that they were trying to cast magic with their help. But I can assure you, also in all seriousness, that my spells do not work.”

When Joan was writing Harry Potter, she often listened to Pyotr Tchaikovsky's violin concerto.

She still enjoys writing by hand. She usually creates a first draft using pen and paper and then types it up on the computer. Joan prefers a black pen and likes to write on narrow sheets of transparent paper. Of course, like all authors, if there is no notepad at hand, she has to write down her thoughts on the strangest and most inappropriate objects. Thus, the names of Hogwarts faculties were written on a hygiene bag on the plane.

Joan has fond memories of growing up in an ivy-covered suburban cottage. Rowling took many ideas and even the surname of her hero from this period (the Potter brother and sister lived next door), but, in her own words, she copied the characters of Harry, Ron and Herminone from the intolerant and embarrassed teenager she knew well - from herself at that time. The red-haired Ron also reveals traits of Sean Harris, the loyal friend to whom she dedicated The Chamber of Secrets. An old Ford Anglia, Sean's first car, became a flying car in the novel; the boys use it to catch up with the train.

JK Rowling's books appear on the list of those disapproved by the Church. Not everyone likes witches' hats on children, spells and midnight readings in gothic interiors. If magic is seen as part of a fairy tale or a game, it is harmless. But what if fragile minds suddenly believe that with the help of witchcraft one can achieve success and avoid the fate destined for everyone? “I’ll survive this, Mark Twain and Salinger were also banned, - says the writer. - Until now, not a single child has told me that after reading Harry Potter he decided to devote himself to the occult." On the contrary, the benefits of JK Rowling's books can be seen in the assessments that young readers give to the works. For example, nine-year-old Tyler Walton, who underwent a painful course of treatment for leukemia, writes in an essay on the topic: “How the Harry Potter books changed my life”: “Harry Potter helped me get through the most difficult and terrible times. Sometimes I think that we are similar to each other and Harry Potter. He, too, was forced into a situation that was beyond his control, and was forced to face an opponent whom he was not at all sure of being able to defeat.” Twelve-year-old Greta Hagen-Richardson from Chicago is delighted with Rowling's books and gives precise statistics: “I re-read each Harry Potter book 15, 11, 22 and 24 times (note: records are kept for each volume!). I immediately felt that their characters had a direct connection with me - they were children. They, like all children, have to deal with insolent people and bad teachers. It helps me better understand the people around me. It motivated me to read more."

In this collection you will find all of JK Rowling's books. The list starts from the most recent and newest books to the oldest in chronological order.

2016

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Parts one and two. Special rehearsal edition of the script

A long-awaited calm is coming in the life of the famous Harry Potter. He is completely immersed in worries about his family. Next to him is his beloved wife, whom he can and should help raise three children. The guys attend school, and the father of the family knows no rest, spending all his free and non-free time at work, in the Ministry of Magic. It would seem that nothing foreshadows trouble. However, dark forces appear out of nowhere to drag Harry and his youngest son Albus into yet another adventure. Further

Fantastic beasts and where to find them. Original script

Newt Scamander does some pretty interesting things. By occupation he is a magical zoologist. He spent his entire adult life searching for unusual creatures endowed with magical powers. Returning from another trip, the researcher and traveler decides not to stay long in New York. However, fate disposes of his time differently. Some creatures are released into the wild in order to create huge problems for their owner. Further

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Original script

New Readers' Choice The adventures of Newt Scamander continue, which means it's time to read the original script for the second film. In 1927, a captive Grindelwald escapes, and Newt dreams of the travel ban being lifted. However, now his task is much more difficult: he needs to find Credence, the only magician who can defeat Albus. Further

2013

One might get the impression that Pagford is a town in which life is worthy of being imitated by residents of other towns. However, this is just an appearance. In fact, not everything is so safe and flawless in the town of dreams. The whole truth comes out after one of the local council members dies. Just before the start of the city council elections, it becomes known that the entire city is in permanent conflict. Spouses, their children, employees, as well as students and teachers conflict. Further

2007

This is a very difficult time for Harry Potter. The guy is forced to live in constant fear for his life. All sorts of dangers constantly flash before him. This is due to the fact that the protective spell that ensured Harry’s safety has expired. As a result, he is forced to hide from Lord Voldemort and many entities that pose a danger to him. But this cannot happen indefinitely, and Potter must give a decisive battle to the evil forces. Further

2005

Harry Potter is convinced that all is not well at the wizarding school. The fact is that after another meeting with Dumbledore, the guy notices that strange things are happening to his mentor’s hand. It becomes obvious that it has changed color and shrunk. As a result of his own investigation, the boy becomes convinced that one of the students of the magic school is a Death Eater. This circumstance forces Potter to begin preparing for the expected clash with dark forces and their representatives in order to win an undeniable victory. Further

2003

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Troubled times are once again coming to Hogwarts. The delicate balance between the forces of good and evil is disrupted. Harry Potter doesn't understand why Lord Voldemort is pursuing him. After all, just recently the cousin of a talented boy was attacked by his servants. Naturally, Voldemort is searching for Harry, and his arrival is only a matter of time. To get rid of the influence on the mind that the evil wizard has, Potter is forced to turn to Snape for help. The fact that the boy is not alone, but with the support of a secret magical order, inspires confidence in his victory over the dark forces. Further

2001

Fantastic beasts and where to find them

Once again, Hogwarts is rocked by not rosy events. This time, the delicate balance between the forces of darkness and light is seriously disrupted. But students of the magic school can be confident of their victory, since they have great knowledge that can be gleaned from the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” This book has become a reference manual for all school students. Further

2000

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

An event of grand scale is taking place at the Hogwarts magical school. The thing is that the Triwizard Tournament is being held here, which is designed to bring together many wizards so that they measure their strength. This circumstance made Harry extremely excited. But the problem is that boys who have reached a certain age can take part in the tournament. However, to Harry's surprise, he also receives an invitation to the tournament. Further

1999

Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

A new school year begins at the Hogwarts magical school. But the beginning of the school year is overshadowed by sad news: a dangerous repeat offender named Sirius Black escaped from a maximum security prison. The killer has a huge number of innocent victims. Harry realizes that Sirius is hunting him. And he was sent by none other than Lord Voldemort, whose servants are prowling near the school. Further

1998

Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets

To be fair, it should be noted that Harry Potter did not have a great summer. The time during which the guy should have had a good rest and enjoyed it was clearly wasted. And it all started with the most disgusting birthday that has ever happened in the life of the little wizard. After the guy returns to his magic school, rather gloomy predictions, authored by the elf Dobby, begin to come true. Further

1997

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter could never have imagined that there was an entire professional school of magical and witchcraft arts. For the first time, the boy learns about her from those letters that with fair consistency come to the door of the house where he lives. True, these letters do not reach the boy for a long time: they are kidnapped by the boy’s uncle and aunt. But one day Potter still receives a letter inviting him to Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Further

These are all books by JK Rowling. We will continue to update the list, and be sure to stay tuned. 😉

Joanne Rowling(English) Joanne Rowling; born July 31, 1965), known by the pseudonym J. K. Rowling (J. K. Rowling), is a 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 was working as a research assistant and translator for Amnesty International when she came up with the idea for a Harry Potter novel while traveling by train from Manchester to London in 1990. 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 powerful woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors. 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 of boys might 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 it's a terrible time to be alive." She had a difficult home life; her mother was ill and Rowling had a difficult relationship with her father (she no longer speaks to him). Rowling attended Waideen High School, 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[Harry Potter's best friend] "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, Rowling's mother died after ten years of multiple sclerosis. 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 English there. 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 she suffered from domestic violence while married, 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 a 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. She was, she said, "as poor as you 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 Sorcerer'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 a 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 hiatus, the press published rumors that Rowling was experiencing writer's block, 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 finished 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. The book series, totaling 4,195 pages, has 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 provides 18 thousand words of 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 enjoys sharing new Potter information for free 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 Rowling was named the first person to become a billionaire through writing, as well as 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 list of the 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. Rowling's youngest daughter, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated 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 a difficult decision. February 23, 2012 Rowling's new agency, Blair Partnership, announced on its website that Rowling is going to publish a new book aimed at 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 from author Robert Galbraith, whom the publisher described as “a former civilian military police investigator who went into civilian 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 the best friend of the wife of Chris Gossage, a partner in a law firm. 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 a 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 short works related to 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, making it 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 Olympics in London, where she read several 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 highest incidence of multiple sclerosis in the world. In 2003, Rowling took part in a campaign to create a national standard of care for people with the 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 the 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 piece of work on one A5 sheet of paper to be auctioned off to benefit charities 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.