Category: Research

Disclaimer: In light of more recent events, Random Geek Child no longer supports Ms. Rowling. However, we have chosen not to pull down this post, as that would be erasing part of our blog’s history.

“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”         – J. K. Rowling.

Joanne Rowling is by far best known for her work on the Harry Potter series, following a teenage boy through a fictitious magical school, shops and death traps, while encountering bewildering people, strange creatures and concerning plants. It is such a world of wonder, yet seeds of reality are cunningly sown within, complete with bits and pieces of Rowling’s personal life. It is this characteristic that makes these books so excellent: Rowling’s ability to create severely flawed characters, who, despite these flaws, or perhaps because of them, rise to the occasion and beat the odds. This allows her characters to be both easy to connect with and a continual inspiration.

J. K. Rowling was born on the 31st of July, 1965, in Chipping Sodbury (near Bristol) to Anne and Peter Rowling. Their second daughter, Dianne, would be born two years later. Rowling wrote her first book at the age of six, about a rabbit with measles. She studied French in college, then moved to Portugal to teach it. Shortly before she moved, she first conceived Harry Potter while on a delayed train. She couldn’t write it down, however, because she didn’t have a pen on her! “To my immense frustration, I didn’t have a pen that worked, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one.” The moral: always have a writing utensil on hand!

While in Portugal, she met television journalist Jorge Arantes, whom she married and had a daughter with, before their relationship was ended by frequent quarreling. When she returned to England, she brought not only her daughter, but the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. She has confirmed that her lying, arrogant character Gilderoy Lockhart was not in fact based of off Arantes, but has stated that Lockhart’s real life counterpart “even more objectionable than his fictional counterpart.”

It took talking to thirteen different publishers to find one who would take on the script, but eventually one did. A tiny publishing company, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, eventually agreed to publish the book in 1997, in large part because the editor’s eight-year-old daughter loved the first chapter.

The reaction to Harry Potter was unprecedented. By the time the third book came out in 1999, Harry Potter was on the cover of Time Magazine, and the fourth book sold a record-breaking three million books in the first forty-eight hours. In 1998, Warner Bros purchased the film rights to the series for a seven-figure sum, on the condition the Rowling be directly involved in the film process. Thus, the movies have stayed relatively true to the books, and, per her request, the actors are all British and filmed in Britain.

By the time she remarried on December 26, 2001, to anesthesiologist Neil Murray, she had accumulated $150 million dollars. Neil quit his job to take care of Jessica while her mother wrote and traveled. In 2003, he became a father of his own to their son David, who was followed two years later by their daughter, Mackenzie.

Rowling rode the wave of fame, becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world. She continued to write Harry Potter books, with a total of seven in the central series (not counting Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and a handful of side books. Alongside, she recently began writing screenplays (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts series).

The fame and fortune she acquired would have been satisfying for most, but not Rowling. She felt an obligation to continue her work. She went on to create multiple websites expanding the Harry Potter universe, provide large contributions to more than eight different charities (and more than once, you can be sure), and write four other novels with no relation to Harry Potter (the Cormorant Strike series — currently three books — and The Casual Vacancy).