British authors work: J.K.

Rowling

Introduction:
-J.K. Rowling is one of the most successful authors of all time. She is also the first ever full-
time author to become a billionaire. She obtained all this success through her immensely
famous book series called the Harry Potter series.

Her life
-J.K. Rowling was born in 1965 in Bristol in the UK.
-She has a sister named Diane.
-They were raised in a financially stable home but their family wasn’t ideal. Their parents
were disappointed that they weren’t boys and their father was quite distant.
-She got away from her home in Bristol by attending University of Exeter, where she got a
degree in French and classics. (like literally every poet and author ever, so very hungarian
poet of her to do so)
-Her first ever work to be published was actually a short essay published by the university.
-After she got her degree she moved to London to work as a bilingual secretary.
-It was during this time that she first thought of the idea of writing a book. A couple months
into writing it, her mother died, which caused to fall into an episode of grief.
-Later on she worked in Portugal as an English teacher, where she met her first husband.
They had a daughter named Jessica, who she named after her favorite author. The marriage
didn’t last too long though, as her husband had been violent towards her.
-Taking custody of her daughter, she moved back to Britain with little to no money, relying
entirely on government benefits. She recalls that she had to skip meals to feed her daughter
and they were often close to homelessness.

-In these years Rowling fell into a deep depression and would go to cafes to write while her
daughter slept, as her only means of escape.
-When she finished the first book she sent the manuscript to many publishers but was
rejected by all of them. She had been rejected 12 times before Bloomsbury finally agreed to
publish the book in 1997.
-The book wasn’t an instant success, it gradually got more and more popular. The second
and third books however were published to millions of fans, breaking several records for
most books sold in the first 24 hours.
-Rowling went on to publish the rest of the series with some delay in between books.
-By the time the seventh book was published, she was known all over the world. In
interviews she talks about how uncomfortable she felt with all her new found fame.
-The books were made into movies by the Warner Bros company starting from 2001.
-Rowling also got remarried and had two more children who she tried to keep out of the
spotlight as best she could.

The Books
-The books themselves are what is essentially a fantastical, overexaggerated autobiography.
-There are an incredible amount of references to Rowling's life in the books. From animals,
plants, themes, places and even real life people.
-For example the main character Harry Potter was inspired by a boy who lived in her
neighborhood when she was little named Ian Potter.
-The reason for Harry Potter’s search for paternal figures in the books is because of
Rowling’s difficult relationship with her father as well.
-There are even references to her first marriage, when one character has their fortune told
and the date of the “terrible thing that will happen” is the date of her first wedding.
-Today Harry Potter has been translated to 85 languages and continues to sell in bookstores
with over 500 million copies sold world wide.
-There are also Harry Potter themed shops, merchandise stores and even theme parks.
There is also a statue at King’s Cross station at the infamous platform 9 ¾ in London.

Today
-The Harry Potter books were the most successful and influential books of their time and
continue to be read by people all over the world.
-Though the books are still widely successful, a lot of people expressed their distaste
towards Rowling’s attempt at rewriting the stories to make them “more diverse”, as well
many people being upset by her political views.
-Because of this many people are quite conflicted by the bubbly feeling of nostalgia they
have when thinking of the books as opposed to their outrage of Rowling’s behavior in recent
years.