LIFE OF J.K.

ROWLING
 JOANNE KATHLEEN
ROWLING

Born: 31 July 1965, England.

Pen Name: J.K. Rowling.
Children: Jessica (from her first marriage), David, and
Mackenzie.
Husband: Neil Murray
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Young Adult Fiction,
Tragicomedy, Crime Fiction.
Occupation: Author, Philanthropist, Film Producer, TV
Producer, Screenwriter.
 IDEA OF
HARRY POTTER
 Rowling worked as a researcher and bilingual
secretary in London for Amnesty
International.
 Moved with her boyfriend to
Manchester where she worked at the Chamber
of Commerce.
 In 1990, she was on a four-hour delayed train
trip from Manchester to London when the idea
"came fully formed" into her mind for a story
of a young boy attending a school of
wizardry.
 In December 1990, Rowling's mother Anne
died after suffering from multiple sclerosis for
ten years.
 Rowling was writing Harry Potter at the time
and had never told her mother about it. Her
mother's death heavily affected Rowling's
writing, and she channeled her own feelings
of loss by writing about Harry's grief in
greater detail in the first book.
 DEPRESSION
 Rowling became a mother at the age of 25 whilst involved in a very
short-lived and unhappy marriage; or in her words, “catastrophic”.
 Her circumstances plunged her into deep clinical depression for a few
years, while she fought for her daughter’s survival, obtaining only the
bare minimum from government benefits.
 Rowling always found it difficult to put her depression into words.
She argues that depression and sadness are very different experiences;
while sadness involves feeling, depression does not.
 Her creation of the dementors later in the book series is her putting
depression onto paper. The dementors were the creatures that fed off
of the happiness of the living; hollow, torturous beings that suck life
out rather than create.
 J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter manuscript  Kathleen (Grandmother Name), a strategic
was rejected 12 times. decision on part of the publishers; they
 J.K. Rowling was never a “Good” believed that a gender neutral name would
student. make male readers more inclined to pick
up the books.
 J.K. Rowling was the first female
 Rowling completed the first draft of Harry
Billionaire Novelist.
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in
 She wore a disguise when she bought her 1996 on a manual typewriter.
wedding dress for her second marriage
because she didn’t want to be recognized.
 The Harry Potter author promised her
editor she would never read Fifty Shades
of Grey and she has stayed true to her
word.
 SELF-PORTRAIT

 Rowling was an avid reader as a

child and based the character of
Hermione Granger on her 11-
year-old self.
 Ion Potter was her childhood
neighborhood friend who lived
near to her in Bristol.
A SPECIAL PLACE

All Harry Potter fans know

that King’s Cross Station is the
magical entrance to the
Wizarding World, but it also
holds a personal significance
for Rowling, since her parents
met on a train going from the
station.
 GAME
The super awesome game of Quidditch was actually
inspired by Rowling’s favorite sport—basketball.
 AWARDS & PRIZES
 Galaxy British Book Awards – The Book People
 Outstanding Achievement Award 2008
 Edinburgh Award 2008
 South Band Show Outstanding Achievement in
the Arts Award 2008
 France’s Legion of Honor 2009 awarded to J.K.
Rowling
 Hans Christian Andersen Award, Denmark, 2010
THANKS
ANY QUESTIONS ?