J. K. Rowling

"If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped to change. We do not need magic to transform the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already."

- J.K. Rowling on her Harvard Commencement Speech in June 5, 2008

Joanne Murray (née Rowling), OBE FRSL (born July 31, 1965 in Yate), commonly known as J.K. Rowling (pronunciation: role-ing, as in rolling stone) is an English fiction writer. Rowling is most famous for authoring the Harry Potter series, which have gained international attention and have won multiple awards. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated her fortune as £576 million, making her the first person to become a US dollar billionaire by writing books; Rowling is also the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom, well ahead of even Queen Elizabeth II. She is also the second richest female entertainer in the world, behind Oprah.

Early Life
J.K. Rowling was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom in 1965. Together with her mother, father, and younger sister, Diana, she moved to Winterbourne, Bristol and then to Tutshill near Chepstow. She attended secondary school at Wyedean Comprehensive, where she told stories to her fellow students. In 1990, her 45-year-old mother succumbed to a decade-long battle with multiple sclerosis. This affected her very much.

After studying French and Classics at Exeter University, with a year of study in Paris, she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period, she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry while she was on a four-hour, delayed train trip between Manchester and London. When she had reached her destination, she already had the characters and a good part of the plot for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in her head, which she began working on during her lunch hours.

Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal, to teach English as a foreign language. While there she married Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes on October 16th, 1992. They had one child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (born July 27th, 1993), before their divorce in 1995.

In December of 1994, she and her daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel, doing some of the work in an Edinburgh café. (There is a widely circulated rumour that she wrote in a local café in order to escape from her unheated flat - but according to the author this is false).

After Harry
Rowling's publisher, Bloomsbury, wanted to use initials on the cover of the Harry Potter books, suggesting that if they used an obviously female name, the target group of young boys might be reluctant to buy them. Rowling chose to adopt her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for the middle initial.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a huge success, and she has thus far published six sequels. The sales made her a multi-millionaire, and in 2001, she purchased a luxurious 19th-century mansion, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay in Perthshire, Scotland, where she married her second husband, Dr. Neil Murray, on 26 December 2001.

The Harry Potter series runs seven volumes, one for each year Harry spends in school. The series is complete. The fifth book, titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was delayed by an unsuccessful plagiarism suit directed towards her by rival author Nancy Stouffer (see below). Rowling took some time off from writing at this point, because during the process of writing the fifth book she felt her workload was too heavy. She said that at one point she had considered breaking her arm to get out of writing, because the pressure on her was too much. After forcing her publishers to drop her deadline, she enjoyed three years of quiet writing, commenting that she spent some time working on something else that she might return to when she is finished with the Harry Potter series. The fifth book was released on 21 June 2003.

In late 2003, she was approached by television producer Russell T. Davies to contribute an episode to the British television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Although she was "amused by the suggestion", she turned the offer down, as she was busy working on the next novel in the Potter series. On 20 December 2004 she announced that the sixth Harry Potter book would be released on 16 July 2005.

Rowling has also made a guest appearance as herself on the American cartoon show The Simpsons, in a special British-themed episode entitled "The Regina Monologues".

In June 5, 2008, J.K. Rowling was made as a keynote speaker for Harvard University Commencement.

The Harry Potter books

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (June 26 1997) (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (September 8 1999)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (July 8 2000)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (June 21 2003)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 16, 2005)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 21, 2007)

Harry Potter-related books:

 * Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
 * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
 * The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)

The first two Harry Potter related books purport to be facsimiles of books mentioned in the novels. Fantastic Beasts is a textbook, while Quidditch is probably the most popular book in the Hogwarts Library. They are complete with handwritten annotations and scribblings in the margins, and include introductions by Albus Dumbledore. All proceeds from them go to the UK Comic Relief charity. She has contributed money and support to many other charitable causes, especially research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling.

Harry Potter movies
A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in late 2001 and the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. Both were directed by American film director Chris Columbus.

A darker atmosphere was adopted in the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, attributed to the new director, Alfonso Cuarón. Rowling, who was a fan of Cuarón's work prior to the third film, has stated that the third film is her personal favourite.

Rowling resisted suggestions by the filmmakers that the movies should be filmed in the United States or cast with American actors (only two Americans appear in the first film). She only reluctantly went along with changing Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone, and limited it to the U.S. only. Rowling's insistence on British actors for the main roles resulted in Steven Spielberg passing on the opportunity to direct the series.

Rowling assists Steve Kloves in writing the scripts for the films, ensuring that his scripts do not contradict future books in the series. She says she had told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. She has also said that she had told Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane certain secrets about their characters that had not yet revealed.

Kloves took time off from Harry Potter in 2007 to work on his own film; Michael Goldenberg was hired to adapt Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, while Kloves returned for the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Lawsuits
Rowling has been involved in a lawsuit over the Harry Potter series, and other litigation has been suggested or rumoured.

Nancy Stouffer
In the late 1990s Nancy Stouffer, an author of children's books published in the 1980s, began to charge publicly that Rowling's books were based on her books, including The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly. In 2001 Rowling, Scholastic Press (the American publisher of her books) and Warner Bros. (the producer of the film adaptations) sued Stouffer, asking the court to judge that there was no infringement of Stouffer's trademarks or copyright. Stouffer, who had not previously sued, then filed counterclaims alleging such infringement.

Rowling and her colitigants argued that much of the evidence that Stouffer presented was fraudulent, and asked for sanctions and attorneys' fees as punishment. In September 2002 the court found in Rowling's favour, stating that Stouffer had lied to the court and falsified and forged documents to support her case. Stouffer was fined US$50,000 and ordered to pay part (but not all) of the plaintiffs' costs.

In January 2004 it was reported that Stouffer's appeal against the judgment had been rejected. The appeals court agreed that Stouffer's claims were properly dismissed because "no reasonable juror could find a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the two parties' works". The Court explained: "Stouffer's and Plaintiffs' marks are used in two very different ways. Rowling's use of the term 'Muggles' describes ordinary humans with no magical powers while Stouffer's 'Muggles' are tiny, hairless creatures with elongated heads. Further, the Harry Potter books are novel-length works and whose primary customers are older children and adults whereas Stouffer's booklets appeal to young children. Accordingly, the District Court correctly dismissed Stouffer's trademark claims."

Stouffer was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal. A report of the judgment can be found at Entertainment Law Digest. The 2002 judgment can be found here: ROWLING v. STOUFFER

New York Daily News
On 19 June 2003 Rowling and her American publisher Scholastic announced that they would sue the New York Daily News for $100 million because the newspaper had printed information on her work Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before the book's official release date. The novel was due for release on Saturday 21 June, but the newspaper published a plot summary and short quotes on the previous Wednesday. An accompanying image even revealed two pages from the book with legible text. However, the story was complicated further when it was revealed that the paper had purchased the book from a health store whose owner received the novels wholesale and decided to place them in the window. The man claimed he was unaware he was supposed to wait until that Saturday.

Awards
J.K. Rowling has received numerous honours and awards:


 * Booksellers Association Author of the Year - year 1998 and 1999.
 * Author of the Year - year 1999.
 * Order of the British Empire (OBE) - She received it on year 2001.
 * Prince of Asturias Award for Concord - received in Spain by year 2003.
 * W.H. Smith Fiction Award - year 2004
 * Blue Peter Gold Badge - awarded year 2007
 * James Joyce Award - University College Dublin, year 2008
 * The Edinburgh Award - year 2008
 * Outstanding Achievement Award - South Bank Show Awards, year 2008
 * Lifetime Achievement Award - year 2008
 * Commencement Speaker - Harvard University, U.S.A. year 2008
 * The French Legion of Honour Award

In February 3, 2009, The French president awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the Order of the "Legion of Honour" to J.K. Rowling. This award is France's highest honour to give to a person. The awarding ceremony was held at Palace Elysee in Paris, France.

Personal life
On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray (an anesthetist) in a private ceremony at her home in the Perthshire village of Aberfeldy. On 23 March 2003, Rowling gave birth to her second child, a boy called David Gordon Rowling Murray, at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. On 23 January 2005, Rowling's third child by Dr. Murray was born, fulfilling Rowling's lifelong wish to have three children. The baby girl was named Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray.

Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland, and has stated that she believes in God, although the Christian theme was not included in the books as it might have been easy to predict where the stories were going.

Behind the Scenes

 * In The Tales of Beedle the Bard (real), Rowling writes an in-universe introduction to the stories, which ostensibly have been translated by Hermione Granger. As such, she establishes that a J. K. Rowling exists in the Potter-universe.