Harry Potter Publishing
Scholastic, Inc.
New York, NY 10012
Biography of JK Rowling
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in England on July 31st 1965, to parents Peter James Rowling and Anne Rowling. Shortly after, approximately twenty-three months later, Rowling’s sister, Di, was born. When Rowling was four years old, she and her family moved to Winterbourne, England, located outside Bristol. During her academic career here, she thoroughly enjoyed pottery making, drawing, and story writing.
A few years later, when Rowling was nine, her parents achieved their dream of living in the country and moved the family to Tutshill, a little village in Wales, which meant Rowling and her sister must change schools. The next two years of her life at this school were hardly enjoyable, for her grandmother had recently passed away, and that tainted her perspective of her new school. At age eleven, Rowling attended Wyedean Secondary School and met Sean Harris. His car gave her freedom from riding with parents, and his encouragement gave her hope towards becoming a writer.
During her teenage years, Rowlings mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and, unlike other cases, she became steadily worse after her initial diagnosis. In 1983, Rowling completed secondary school and departed for the Southern Coast of England to study French at the University of Exeter. She also had the privilege of living in Paris for one year as part of her course for studying French.
Then, JK Rowling aquired a job in London at Amnesty International, and she worked there until 1990 when several series of events changed her life forever. First, while on a train from Manchester to London, Rowling fully invisioned the idea of Harry Potter for the first time. On this delayed train ride, Rowling allowed her bubbling thoughts on this young wizard boy to cultivate in her mind, and when she finally returned to London, she immediately began to write “Philosopher’s Stone”. Second, after her mother’s death on December 30th, 1990, Rowling escaped to Portugal and landed a job teaching English as a foreign language. During her stay in Portugal, she diligently worked on her growing novel, and also met and married a Portugese man. Even though this marriage did not last, she gained a daughter, Jessica, and around December 1993, they moved back to the UK, to be near Rowling’s family.
In August of 1996, Rowling’s agent notified her of Bloomsbury’s offer to publish Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. In June of 1997, JK Rowling’s lifetime dream of becoming a writer blossomed into a world-wide phenomenon, and she continued to publish the following six novels of the series within ten years. Even with the success of these novels and films, and the amount of awards* Rowling has earned, she plans to awe her fans at least once more with “The Sequel to the Series”. Hoping to please fans and eliminate any disappointment about the end of Harry Potter, Rowling is extremely pleased to announce the release of her new novel, which elaborates on Harry’s, Ron’s, Malfoy’s, and others’ children, and their thrilling adventures through Hogwarts.
*List of Awards and Honors Earned Below
Awards and Honors:
Order of the British Empire (OBE): 2001
Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur: France, 2009
Prince of Asturias Award for Concord: Spain, 2003
The Edinburgh Award: 2008
Honarary Degrees from: University of Exeter, University of St. Andrews, Napier University, University of Edinburgh, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Aberdeen
Commencement Speaker: Harvard University, 2008
James Joyce Award: University College Dublin, 2008
Author of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award: British Book Awards, 1999 & 2008
Booksellers Association Author of the Year: 1998 and 1999
W. H. Smith Fiction Award: 2004
Outstanding Achievement Award: South Bank Show Awards, 2008
Blue Peter Gold Badge: 2007
