JK Rowling’s Unfairytale Life: 10 Facts About Harry Potter’s “Mom”

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Love for books from early childhood

Joan grew up in a family that was especially fond of literature. There were many bookcases in their house, and reading has always been an integral part of raising children. Naturally, this influenced the development of the fantasy and wild imagination of the future writer. One of the favorite works of little Joan was Kenneth Graham’s story “The Wind in the Willows”, which was read to a four-year-old girl by her father during measles. Subsequently, some of the characters in this children’s story were reflected in the heroes of Rowling’s books. So the conceited Mr. Toad turned into the snobbish Zlatopust Lockons, and the sentimental headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore came out looking like Graham’s Badger.

Pen test at six years old

The first fruits of Joan’s rich imagination appeared in her at the age of six. Then the little girl made up a story about an unusual Rabbit, who, like the author of the story herself, fell ill with measles. The girl shared the result of her debut with her mother and sister and immediately acquired her first enthusiastic readers and devoted fans in their faces. By the way, it was to them that, years later, she dedicated the premiere part of the Potter series. Later, under the guns of television cameras, the famous novelist admitted that once she understood the concept of writing books, all she wanted to do in life was to write.

Depression, divorce, poverty

Unfortunately, the early successes in the writing field did not help the young dreamer quickly and painlessly break into the world of great literature. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while in a state of clinical depression. It was at this time that the girl was going through the illness and death of her mother, as well as the divorce from her first husband. As an unemployed single mother with a baby in her arms, she barely made ends meet on welfare. Joan splashed out the pain of loss and the feeling of absolute hopelessness on paper: it is no coincidence that the “boy who survived” also went through the loss of his parents, and terrible creatures appeared in the plot, “sucking out all the joy” – Dementors.

Illumination on the train

The idea to write a book about a young wizard and a school of magic was born by JK Rowling when she was on a train from Manchester to the capital. The writer is sure that she was lucky that she did not have a pen then, because otherwise she would have been forced to suppress her fantasy in order to fix her thoughts on paper. As a result, all four hours of the trip, the author scrolled through the details of the future grandiose saga in her head, and when she got home, she immediately sat down at her desk and spent the whole night behind it. So the first chapters of the novel “The Philosopher’s Stone” appeared.

Why Potter?

Rowling did not think long about how to name the protagonist of the fairy tale epic. She had long been impressed by the name Harry, and she borrowed the last name from old acquaintances. As a child, Joan was friends with the Potters – brother and sister. “I always liked this surname, considering that I really disliked my own surname: during quarrels on the street, I was often teased with a rolling pin,” the writer recalled in an interview. By the way, once that same friend showed up in the press under the name of Harry and began to invent stories about how he and the Rowling sisters liked to dress up as wizards. Later, the author herself denied all these statements.

“Harry Potter was born here”

It’s no secret that JK Rowling fans regularly gather in one of Edinburgh’s cafeterias. The window of the institution flaunts a sign “Harry Potter was born here”, and local history says that the writer worked on the first of seven books in the company of her little daughter. Some reporters claimed that the woman came here because there was no heating in her apartment. However, Joan ironically replied: she was not so stupid as to rent an unheated apartment in winter. In fact, it was just convenient for her to create there, because her daughter slept best during walks. With the advent of popularity, the favorite working corner had to be abandoned. “I really enjoyed writing in cafes, but I couldn’t do it anymore,” Rowling noted with regret.

Publishing miscalculation

Today, the Harry Potter series of books is called a real phenomenon in literature. A teenage, in fact, fairy tale conquered not only children, but also their parents around the world. But the author of the cycle herself could not even dream of such a colossal success. It may be hard to imagine now, but in 1995 no one wanted to print the legendary story of a boy with magical powers. Before seeing her brainchild on the shelves of bookstores, JK Rowling had to listen to 12 refusals from different publishers. Only a year later, Bloomsbury, a small London agency, agreed to publish the work. At the same time, the editor-in-chief urged the writer not to rely on big earnings from sales and advised her to find a permanent job.

Recognition and records

As soon as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was released, the name of JK Rowling thundered throughout the world. She became the first woman in history to make a billion-dollar fortune as a writer. The final part of the Potter series turned out to be the best-selling book of all time: in just the first day of sales, eleven million copies were bought. The British Ministry of Education even asked publishers not to sell novels in the morning because of the fear of mass absenteeism of schoolchildren. This is precisely the most important achievement of Rowling – she provoked a craving for reading in general in a huge number of children. Against the backdrop of the popularity of her works, other books for teenagers, such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C. Lewis and the immortal masterpieces of John Tolkien, suddenly began to be bought more actively.

big and kind heart

In addition to the resounding success in the field of literature, the talented British distinguished herself as a philanthropist. Back in the early 2000s, reputable magazines, having calculated her earnings, noted that Rowling was richer than the queen herself. However, a few years later, Forbes excluded her from the list of billionaires. The reason for this was the great and kind heart of the writer – she spent a fortune on charity. The Star of England provides colossal assistance to several funds at once. Among them are support centers for single mothers, people with terminal illnesses, children with dyslexia, freelance writers and journalists, and even prisoners. It is known that Rowling always dedicates one day a week to charity issues in her work schedule.

After Potter

Much to the delight of her army of fans, Rowling’s career didn’t end with the Harry Potter story. After completing the magical saga, Joan took the pseudonym Robert Galbraith and tried her hand at the crime genre. A series of books about the private detective Kormoran Strike sold in large numbers and received a spectacular film adaptation from the BBC. Four seasons of the multi-part tape tell about a war veteran who unravels cases that the police cannot handle. In addition, Joan has written and produced three feature films about Fantastic Beasts (the last of which premiered this spring).

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