autobiography of jk rowling pdf

J. K. Rowling

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J. K. Rowling was born in 1965, and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She studied at Exeter University, where she gained a French and Classics degree, and where her course included one year in Paris. As a postgraduate she moved to London to work at Amnesty International, doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa.

She started writing the Harry Potter series during a Manchester to London King's Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.

This first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), was an unprecedented success. The novels in the series which have succeeded it have topped bestseller lists, won numerous awards, and been translated into over sixty languages. Worldwide, the Harry Potter books have exceeded sales of 300 million copies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as a film in 2001, adapted by Steve Kloves, and an adaptation of the second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), was released in November 2002. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (directed by Alfonso Cuaron) followed in 2004, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , directed by Mike Newell, was released in November 2005 in the UK and US. The subsequent film adaptations - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , and the two-parter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - were directed by David Yates and released between 2007 and 2011.

J. K. Rowling's initial aim was to write seven books in the Harry Potter series. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,  was published in 2003, and the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in 2005. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was published in 2007. She has also written two small volumes which appear as the titles of Harry's school books within the novels - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages, which were published in 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.

J. K. Rowling has honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, US, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews, Napier University, Edinburgh, and University of Edinburgh. She was awarded an OBE for her services to children's literature in 2001, and became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002. In 2010 she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2012, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of novels, published between 1997 and 2007, have become the biggest sellers in the history of children’s writing. She founded the children’s charity ‘Lumos’, which aims to end the institutionalisation of children in orphanages worldwide. In November 2013, The Independent newspaper reported that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) topped a poll to find Britain’s favourite children’s book.

Her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy , was published in 2012; she also published the crime novels  The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015) and Lethal White (2018) under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. In 2016 she collaborated with the playwright Jack Thorne and theatre director John Tiffany; together they created the story for the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the script of which was written by Thorne.

Critical perspective

In the opening scene of harry potter and the philosopher’s stone (1997), an owl and a cat observe the safe arrival of an orphan baby at the door of the dursley family of number four, privet drive, little whinging, in surrey. the owl is headmaster dumbledore of hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, while the cat is professor mcgonagall, who re-assumes human form to declare of baby harry: ‘every child in our world will know his name’ could any author have ever written a more prophetic sentence its meaning unfolds over the course of seven volumes of epic adventures for the schoolboy wizard in the world of magic - and of course is now equally true in our own non-magical world of ‘muggles’. the unprecedented commercial success of the books, several big box-office films, and a great deal of merchandise and publicity have ensured that ‘harry potter’ continues to be one of the most recognizable brand names in the world – and j.k. rowling herself is no doubt the best-known british author worldwide..

The key factor in the ‘Harry Potter’ phenomenon seems in retrospect to have been the eagerness with which adult readers embraced a saga originally intended for the children’s book market. The supreme storytelling qualities of the books, crowded with quirky characters, developing year by school year towards a final climactic conflict between Good and Evil, the witty inventiveness and slyly satirical exchanges; all this, and much more, has vastly entertained readers of all ages and nations. The books have had a marked impact upon the publishing industry, promoting fantasy literature for both children and adults. Perhaps their most beneficial effect has been to make reading a fashionable activity again, whether in private or public. The journalist Allison Pearson commended ‘Harry Potter’ for what she called ‘the dense, knitted, pleasurable sound of children reading’ ( Daily Telegraph,  27 September 2012).

Critics were quick to point out the extent to which the books are indebted to previous classic children’s authors, from Ursula LeGuin to Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton to T.H. White and Tolkien (not forgetting Tom Brown’s Schooldays or Anthony Buckeridge’s amusing ‘Jennings’ books of boarding school life). A less-remarked precedent is the Gothic Novel. Hogwarts after all is a place haunted by ghosts, with monsters in its bowels, moving portraits, disappearing rooms and secret passageways, plus the ever-present threat of Dark Forces. Outside is the Forbidden Forest complete with centaurs, spiders the size of horses, hippogriffs and other magical creatures (the latter under the erratic control of kindly half-giant Hagrid, Harry’s special friend). What sets J.K. Rowling apart, however, is her ability to construct a fantasy realm in fantastic detail, alternate funny and scary episodes, while sustaining readers’ interest to the point of addiction. We really must know what happens in the next chapter, the next book. The years that Rowling reputedly spent in planning the overall architecture of the story were well spent. As author she acts as a good teacher, directing the lessons (we as readers learn wizardry alongside Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione, school bully Draco Malfoy and his cronies), ending each year with a satisfying competition between rival houses or schools.

Such a vast drama requires a good supporting cast: eccentric teachers (Snape, Slughorn, Lupin, Trelawney) and pupils variously appealing or objectionable. The latter naturally grow up over the course of seven years from childhood into teenagers, so romantic entanglements complicate the action of the last few books. Harry himself is attracted to Cho Chang and, more lastingly, to Ginny Weasley. The beauty of Hogwarts as a concept is that it is simultaneously old-fashioned (a steam train from Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross starts each year) and contemporary (in its co-educational and multicultural ethos). Pupils have to pass exams, cope with bullying, and have the latest items from Diagon Alley’s magical shopping. The school itself comes under increasing pressure from the Ministry of Magic.

Harry is the Arthurian hero, guided and protected by Dumbledore (Merlin by analogy) until he is able to undertake his destiny: to avenge the killing of his parents by arch-enemy Lord Voldemort. Essential to the saga is the progressive revelation of Voldemort’s own back-story, his family history, and his ambition: to not only rule the magical world but to defeat death itself. In his evil desires he thus becomes a true tragic hero. The parallels between these two orphans grow ever closer as their final confrontation looms in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).

We recall that Harry began life in Little Whinging, suburban Surrey, being grudgingly raised for his first ten years by the awful Dursley family. Their grotesque domestic habits and class-conscious obnoxiousness seem to connect with at least some of the inhabitants of Pagford, the ‘picturesque’ village in which Rowling’s first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy (2012), is centered. But Pagford and its downmarket neighbour Yarvill contain no magic; what they do have is a myriad of serious domestic problems and troubled children. The plot concerns the sudden death of a popular teacher and councillor, Barry Fairbrother, and the machinations that ensue as factions on the local council seek to fill the vacancy to their advantage. It is fair to say that the novel has had a very mixed reception. Some commentators have praised its acute social satire and bold difference from Rowling’s previous fiction. Others, notably Allison Pearson, have called it ‘a shock’ to readers, ‘sometimes funny’ but by the conclusion ‘howlingly bleak’ ( Daily Telegraph , 27 September 2012).

Rowling’s skill at coordinating a large cast of adults and children is again evident. The opening scenes in which news of Fairbrother’s demise spreads around the village, and numerous infidelities revealed, are excellent. The most compelling characters are teenagers: feckless Krystal Weedon, self-harming but plucky Sukwinder, and especially Fats. His arrogant determination to disregard ‘restrictive morality’ and be ‘the baddest of them all’ is somewhat reminiscent of Tom Riddle. Indeed, as Allison Pearson points out, ‘Harry Potter’ too contains evil acts, deaths and sadness but also redemption. Joanne Rowling’s ‘powers of enchantment’ will no doubt be regenerated to enthrall her international readership in future books.

Dr Jules Smith, updated 2013

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J.K. Rowling Takes Shots at Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for Their Commitment to Trans Rights

By Chris Murphy

J.K. Rowling is doubling (tripling? quadrupling?) down on her anti-trans rhetoric —and involving Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. The author took to social media to decry a new study on gender-identity services for youth, and while doing so took aim at “celebrity mouthpieces” who, Rowling believes, “cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights.”

Earlier this week, pediatrician Hilary Cass published a new independent review commissioned by Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) of gender-identity services for children and young people under 18. Cass’s review found that children have been let down by a lack of research and “remarkably weak” evidence on medical interventions in gender care. The study also found that health care providers and patients “have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress,” and maintained that children and young people using gender-care services deserve the highest standards of care and research, which are expected elsewhere in the NHS. 

The report inspired Rowling to post on X. In a thread , Rowling highlighted Cass’s report as “the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that’s ever been conducted,” but used the report to justify her own position on the harms of gender-affirming care for children. “If I sound angry, it’s because I’m bloody angry,” Rowling posted. “I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.”

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In reality, Cass’s review is more objective than Rowling’s impassioned response suggests. Per NHS policy , children ages 16 and older have the option to receive gender-affirming hormones. The Cass review recommends “extreme caution” to youth considering that option and makes no mention of the irreversible “harm” Rowling speaks of. “There should be a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18,” reads the review. “Every case considered for medical treatment should be discussed at a national Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT).” The review also highlights the “toxic” nature of the debate surrounding gender-affirming care in youth, and the toll it takes on children. 

“What’s unfortunately happened for these young people is that because of the toxicity of the debate, they’ve often been bypassed by local services who’ve been really nervous about seeing them,” Cass told the BBC.

Despite this point, Rowling continued to contribute to the toxicity by taking aim at Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for their support of trans rights. “Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology…safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them,” responded X user @StAustellAdam to Rowling’s thread. “Not safe, I’m afraid,” responded Rowling. “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.”

By Savannah Walsh

By Julie Miller

Radcliffe and Watson have been steadfast in their support of trans rights. In 2020, Radcliffe wrote a blog post for LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Trevor Project , directly calling out Rowling in the process. “Transgender women are women,” wrote Radcliffe. “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either [Rowling] or I.” 

That same year, Watson took to Twitter to express her support for the transgender community. “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” she wrote. “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”

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J. K. Rowling Novels

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• In My Own Words
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Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, in south-east Wales.

Her father, Peter, was an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol and her mother, Anne, was a science technician in the Chemistry department at Wyedean Comprehensive, where Jo herself went to school. Anne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Jo was a teenager and died in 1990, before the Harry Potter books were published.  Jo also has a younger sister, Di.

The young Jo grew up surrounded by books. “I lived for books,’’ she has said. “I was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.”

Jo wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at the age of six – a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’. At just eleven, she wrote her first novel – about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.

Jo studied at Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of £50 for overdue books at the University library. Her knowledge of Classics would one day come in handy for creating the spells in the  Harry Potter  series, some of which are based on Latin.

Her course included a year in Paris. “I lived in Paris for a year as a student,” Jo tweeted after the 2015 terrorist attacks there. “It’s one of my favourite places on earth.”

After her degree, she moved to London and worked in a series of jobs, including one as a researcher at Amnesty International.  “There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them.” She said later.  “My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.”

Jo conceived the idea of  Harry Potter  in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King’s Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.

Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. When the marriage ended later that year, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, with  Jessica and  a suitcase containing the first three chapters of  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .

In Edinburgh, Jo trained as a teacher and began teaching in the city’s schools, but she continued to write in every spare moment.

Having completed the full manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to a number of literary agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest of it. She says it was “the best letter I had ever received in my life.”

The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J.K. Rowling.

The “K” stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name. It was added at her publisher’s request, who thought a book by an obviously female author might not appeal to the target audience of young boys.

The book was published in the US by Scholastic under a different title (again at the publisher’s request), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone , in 1998.  Six further titles followed in the Harry Potter series, each achieving record-breaking success.

In 2001, the film adaptation of the first book was released by Warner Bros., and was followed by six more book adaptations, concluding with the release of the eighth film,  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 , in 2011.

J.K. Rowling has also written two small companion volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s school books within the novels.  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  and  Quidditch Through the Ages  were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.  In December 2008, a third companion volume, The Tales of Beedle the Bard  was published in aid of her international children’s charity, Lumos.

In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital company Pottermore was launched, which became Wizarding World Digital in 2019. Pottermore Publishing continues to be the global digital publisher of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the Wizarding World.  

Also in 2012, J.K. Rowling published her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy  (Little, Brown), which has now been translated into 44 languages and was adapted for TV by the BBC in 2015.

Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling also writes crime novels, featuring private detective Cormoran Strike. The first of these, The Cuckoo’s Calling, was published to critical acclaim in 2013, at first without its author’s true identity being known.  The Silkworm followed in 2014, Career of Evil in 2015, Lethal White in 2018, Troubled Blood in 2020, The Ink Black Heart in 2022 and The Running Grave in 2023.  The series has also been adapted for television by the BBC and HBO.

J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in 2015 as an illustrated book,  Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination  (Sphere), and sold in aid of Lumos and university-wide financial aid at Harvard.

In 2016, J.K. Rowling collaborated with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany on an original new story for the stage.  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two  opened in London and is now playing in multiple locations around the world.  The script book was published (Little, Brown) to mark the play’s opening in July 2016, and instantly topped the bestseller lists.

Also in 2016, J.K. Rowling made her screenwriting debut with the film  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , a further extension of the Wizarding World, which was released to critical acclaim in November 2016.   This was the first in a series of new adventures featuring Magizoologist Newt Scamander and set before the time of Harry Potter. The second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was released in 2018 and the third, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was released in 2022.

The screenplays were published to coincide with each film release:  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them The Original Screenplay (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald The Original Screenplay (2018)  and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore The Complete Screenplay (2022) .

In May 2020, J.K. Rowling’s fairy tale for younger children, The Ickabog , was serialised for free online for children during the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, and is now published as a book illustrated by children, with her royalties going to her charitable trust Volant to benefit charities helping to alleviate social deprivation and assist vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.

Her latest children’s novel The Christmas Pig, a standalone adventure story about a boy’s love for his most treasured thing and how far he will go to find it, was published in 2021 and has been a bestseller in the UK, USA and Europe.

J.K. Rowling has been married to Dr Neil Murray since 2001. They live in Edinburgh with their son, David (born 2003) and daughter, Mackenzie (born 2005).

Honours & Awards

J.K. Rowling has received many honours and awards, including:

Companion of Honour, for services to literature and philanthropy, 2017 PEN America Literary Service Award, 2016 Freedom of the City of London, 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award, Denmark, 2010 Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur: France, 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award, British Book Awards, 2008 South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement, 2008 James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2008 The Edinburgh Award, 2008 Commencement Day Speaker, Harvard University, USA, 2008 Blue Peter Gold Badge, 2007 WH Smith Fiction Award, 2004 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, Spain, 2003 Order of the British Empire (OBE), 2001 Children’s Book of the Year, British Book Awards, 1998 and 1999 Booksellers Association Author of the Year, 1998 and 1999

The Volant Charitable Trust

J.K. Rowling is Founder and President of Lumos, an international children’s charity fighting for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world. Lumos sheds light on the root causes of family separation – poverty, conflict and discrimination – and demonstrates that children can safely be united with loving families that help them thrive.

Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic

The Anne Rowling Clinic was founded by a donation from J.K. Rowling in 2010 in memory of her mother Anne, who died in 1990 from complications related to multiple sclerosis.  The Clinic delivers clinical care and research to improve the lives of people with degenerative conditions affecting the brain, as well as hosting specialist NHS clinics for these conditions.  Jo continues to fund MS research exclusively through the Anne Rowling Clinic .

J.K. Rowling also supports a wide range of projects and organisations through her charitable trust, Volant, which she set up in 2000 to administer grants to charities, primarily in Scotland, which help alleviate social deprivation particularly affecting women and children.

In addition to donating directly, J.K. Rowling makes substantial donations to charity in the form of book royalties.  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages are sold in aid of Comic Relief and Lumos, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard is sold in aid of Lumos.

In 2020 J.K. Rowling announced that she is donating her royalties from her children’s book The Ickabog to Volant, to help support vulnerable groups who’ve been particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, in the UK and internationally.

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