knowledge pedia : J.K rowling herry porter's writer

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

J.K rowling herry porter's writer

J. K. (Jo) Rowling was born in 1965 and moved house twice when she was growing up. The first move was from Yate (just outside Bristol) to Winterbourne. The second move was when Jo was nine and she moved to Tutshill near Chepstow in the Forest of Dean.

Jo went to Tutshill Primary School, and then on to Wyedean Comprehensive. She was quiet, freckly, short-sighted and not very good at sports. She even broke her arm playing netball. Her favourite subject by far was English, but she also liked languages . . .

Jo always loved writing more than anything. ‘The first story that I ever wrote down, when I was five or six, was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee. And ever since Rabbit and Miss Bee, I have wanted to be a writer, though I rarely told anyone so. I was afraid they’d tell me I didn’t have a hope.’ At school she would entertain her friends at lunchtime with stories.

After school, Jo attended the University of Exeter in Devon where she studied French. Her parents hoped that by studying languages she would enjoy a great career as a bilingual secretary. But Jo recalls that she never paid much attention in meetings because she was too busy scribbling down ideas.

When she was 25, Jo was delayed on a train from Manchester to London. On the train Jo says that the idea for Harry Potter simply ‘strolled into her head fully formed’. But she didn’t have a pen so couldn’t write all her thoughts down! But the idea had taken hold and during the next five years she started writing and outlining the plots for each book.

Jo went to Portugal to teach English. There she married and her daughter Jessica was born. And she kept writing. When she returned to the UK, Jo had a suitcase full of stories about Harry Potter. She moved to Edinburgh with her young daughter and worked as a French teacher. In 1996 Bloomsbury offered to publish Jo’s first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

‘The moment I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life,’ says Jo.

Jo married Dr Neil Murray in 2001, and a brother for Jessica, David, was born in 2003. A sister, Mackenzie, followed in January 2005. She lives with her family in Edinburgh.

The Harry Potter novels have now sold approximately 450 million copies worldwide and been translated into 70 languages. Jo was the first children’s author to be voted the BA Author of the Year, and also to win the British Book Awards Author of the Year.

J.K.ROWLING IN THE NEWS
J. K. Rowling wins Hans Christian Andersen Literature prize
19th October 2010

J. K. Rowling has become the first recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature prize in Denmark.

The Harry Potter author was presented with the accolade at a ceremony in Andersen's home town of Odense.

The prize is for authors who write in the ‘tradition and spirit’ of Andersen who wrote 160 fairy tales and poems.

J. K. Rowling voted UK’s most influential woman
11th October 2010
J. K. Rowling has been voted Britain’s most influential woman by a panel of magazine editors.

The Harry Potter author beat the Queen into third place, ahead of celebrity fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

The list was compiled to mark the centenary of the National Magazine Company. Chief executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine said the author was chosen for her ‘writing skills, tenacity to succeed and philanthropic nature’.

J. K. Rowling hints at more Harry Potter books on Oprah
2nd October 2010

J. K. Rowling hints at more Harry Potter books on Oprah

J. K. Rowling has revealed she could write more books in the Harry Potter series.

Rowling told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey that the characters were still in her head and she ‘could definitely’ write several new books about them.

‘I’m not going to say I won’t,’ she said in an interview conducted in Scotland.

J. K. Rowling gives £10m for Edinburgh MS centre
31st August 2010

Author J. K. Rowling has donated £10 million to the University of Edinburgh to set up a multiple sclerosis research clinic.

The Harry Potter writer, whose mother Anne had the disease and died aged 45, said the funds were to help attract top researchers to seek a cure for MS.

The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will aim to put patients at the heart of the research process.