Joanne joRowling
Joanne Jo Rowling
Rowling was born on 31 July 1965. She is a British novelist best
known as the author of theHarry Potterfantasy series.
During her school years she was insecure. But writing stories
became a passion for her. She liked making stories with humor,
funny characters and magic.
Beginning
Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home
life was complicated by her mother's illness and a strained
relationship with her father.
Her mother Anne died after ten years suffering frommultiple
sclerosis.She was writingHarry Potterat the time and had never told
her mother about it. Her death heavily affected her writing and she
introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first
book.
Beginning
CareerRowling went through a series of jobs. All of them she
found boring. She says Whatever job I had, I was writing like
crazy., she admitted. She wrote tons of short stories, all ending
up in her box of other short stories.
She was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary
forAmnesty Internationalwhen she conceived the idea for theHarry
Potterseries on a delayed train from Manchester to London in
1990.
When she was 26 years old she leave the country with the
intention of teaching English abroad. At this time she met her
first husband a portugues reporter Jorge Arante. They got married
in October 1992.
A year later had a daughter who called Jessica Isabel Rowling
Arantes, born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal. Despite the happy event,
the marriage did not prosper and soon ended in divorce in 1993.
First Marriage
Rowling saw herself as a failure.Her marriage had failed, and
she was jobless with a dependent child, but she described her
failure as liberating and allowing her to focus on writing.
During this period Rowling was diagnosed with clinical
depression and contemplated suicide.
Problems & Ilness
After she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in
1997, there were six sequels after and they were successful.
Rowling has led a "rags to riches" life story, in which she
progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire
status within five years.
She is the United Kingdom's best-selling living author.Financial
success
Sunday Times Rich Listestimated Rowling's fortune at 560million,
ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom.
Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful
celebrity of 2007.
In October 2010, Rowling was named the "Most Influential Woman
in Britain" by Leading Magazine Editors.Financial success
Second MarriageOn 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael
Murray ananesthetist.
Their son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on 24 March
2003. Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, was born on 23 January
2005.
Philanthropy She has supported charities including:Comic
ReliefOne Parent FamiliesMultiple Sclerosis Society of Great
BritainLumos(formerly the Children's High Level GroupIn politics
she supports the Labour PartyandBetter Together.
Rowling has written three books for adult readers,The Casual
Vacancy(2012).
The crime fictionnovelsThe Cuckoo's Calling(2013) andThe
Silkworm(2014) under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Moving Forward
Thanks for your attention
Magic beyond words: the JK Rowling story
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