This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Latka (talk | contribs) at 04:37, 12 July 2007 (Reverted vandalism by 69.124.115.177). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 04:37, 12 July 2007 by Latka (talk | contribs) (Reverted vandalism by 69.124.115.177)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)J. K. Rowling | |
---|---|
Rowling at a reading in New York City on August 1 2006.Rowling at a reading in New York City on August 1 2006. | |
Born | 31 July 1965 (age 41) Yate, South Gloucestershire, England |
Occupation | Novelist |
Signature | |
File:Jkrowl.jpg | |
Website | |
http://www.jkrowling.com |
Joanne "Jo" Rowling OBE (born 31 July 1965) is an English fiction writer who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold over 325 million copies worldwide. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated her fortune at £576 million (just over US$1 billion and still is at the same spot in 2007), making her the first person to become a US-dollar billionaire by writing books. In 2006, Forbes named her the second richest female entertainer in the world, behind talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Forbes also ranked Rowling as #48 on the 100 most powerful celebrities list of 2007.
Name
Rowling's surname is pronounced "rolling" (/rəʊ.lɪŋ/). Her full name is "Joanne Rowling", not, as is often assumed, "Joanne Kathleen Rowling". Before publishing her first volume, Bloomsbury feared that the target audience of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a female author. They requested that Rowling use two initials, rather than reveal her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K. for Kathleen as the second initial of her pseudonym, from her paternal grandmother, Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. The name Kathleen has never been part of her legal name. She calls herself "Jo" and claims, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry".
Early life
See also: Harry Potter influences and analoguesRowling was born to Peter James Rowling and Anne Volant on 31 July 1965 at Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16.1 km) northeast of Bristol. Her sister Dianne (Di) was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four where she attended St Michael's Primary School, later moving to Tutshill, near Chepstow, South Wales at the age of nine. As a child, Rowling enjoyed writing fantasy stories, which she often read to her sister. "Di can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it," she recalls, "Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee."
When Rowling was a young teen, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine and she subsequently read all of her books. She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College. Rowling has said of her adolescence, "Hermione is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was 11, which I'm not particularly proud of." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. "Ron Weasley isn't a living portrait of Sean, but he really is very Sean-ish." Of her musical tastes of the time, she said "My favorite group in the world is the Smiths. And when I was going through a punky phase, it was the Clash."
Rowling started college at the University of Exeter, which she says was a "bit of a shock" as she "was expecting to be amoungst lots of similar people–thinking radical thoughts." Once she made friends with "some like-minded people" she says she began to enjoy herself.
After studying French and Classics, with a year of study in Paris, Rowling moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip between Manchester and London, she developed the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.
On December 30, 1990, Rowling’s mother succumbed to a 10-year battle with the condition multiple sclerosis. Rowling commented, “I was writing Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about Harry Potter.”
Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October 1992. They had one child, Jessica, who was named after Jessica Mitford. They divorced in 1993.
In December 1994, Rowling and her daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh, Scotland. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel. She did her work in numerous cafés (e.g. Nicolson's Cafe and Elephant House Café), whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep. There was a rumour that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, but in a 2001 BBC interview Rowling remarked, “I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating.”
Harry Potter
Main article: Harry PotterHarry Potter books
In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review the book’s first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it. A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury. The decision to take Rowling on was apparently largely due to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of the company’s chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father, and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books. Soon after, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing.
The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., who paid Rowling more than $100,000. Rowling has said she “nearly died” when she heard the news. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher’s Stone with an initial print run of only one-thousand copies, five-hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are each valued at between £16,000 and £25,000.
Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year, and, later the Children’s Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher’s Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.
In December 1999, the third Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award, though it narrowly lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf.
To date, six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, one for each of Harry’s school years, have already been published and all have broken sales records. The last three volumes in the series have been the fastest-selling books in history, grossing more in their opening 24 hours than blockbuster films. Currently, the series has sold over 325 million copies worldwide and been translated into 65 languages since the first book was published in 1997..
Rowling has completed the seventh and final book of the series. Its title was revealed on 21 December 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. On 1 February 2007 Rowling announced on her website that its release date was to be 21 July 2007. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had completed the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007; this was confirmed to be authentic by Rowling's and the hotel's representatives. In February 2007, Neil Bayer, a lawyer with Rowling's literary agency, announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be released as an e-book. Rowling has not allowed the first six Potter stories to be released as e-books and has no plans to change that for the seventh and final work.
Harry Potter films
In October, 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002. Both were directed by Chris Columbus. The 4 June 2004 film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by yet another new director, Mike Newell. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates is the film's director, and Michael Goldenberg is its screenwriter, having taken over the position from Steven Kloves. Half-Blood Prince is in pre-production, and is scheduled for release on 21 November 2008. David Yates will once again direct the film, and it has been confirmed that Kloves will return to screenwrite it. Nothing has been announced regarding the film version of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In contrast to the treatment of most authors by Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts in their attempt to bring her books to the screen. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has so far been adhered to strictly. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie-in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.
The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She says she has told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. She has also said that she has told Alan Rickman (Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters that have not yet been revealed. Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated on her website that she has no say in who directs the films. Rowling's first choice for the director of the first Harry PotterTemplate:Polytonic film had been Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam, being a fan of Gilliam's work. Warner Bros. studios wanted a more family friendly film, however, and eventually they settled for Chris Columbus.
After Harry Potter
Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing after the publication of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She declared in a recent interview that she will most likely not use a new pen name as the press would quickly discover her true identity.
In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had completed a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.
She is not planning to write an eighth Harry Potter book, but has suggested she might publish an "encyclopedia" of the Harry Potter world consisting of all her unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity. When asked, in an interview on the 6 July, 2007 episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, whether she would ever write an eighth Harry Potter novel Rowling confirmed that she only ever planned to write seven books in the series but also that she could not rule it out entirely. "Um, I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end in Book Seven but I've always said that I wouldn't say "never". I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think what do I know, in ten years time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely."
Current life and family
In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a Georgian house in London, on a street where, according to The Guardian, the average price of a house is £4.27 million ($8 million), including an underground swimming pool and 24-hour security.
On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray, an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her home in Aberfeldy. Their son David Gordon Rowling Murray was born on 24 March 2003. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. Rowling's youngest child, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born in January 2005.
Philanthropist
J.K. Rowling, once a single parent herself, is now President of One Parent Families. Rowling has supported the charity since 2000 when she became its first Ambassador.
J.K. Rowling contributes substantially to charities that combat poverty and social inequality. She also gives to organizations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.
According to The Guardian, Rowling is a friend of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, with whom she collaborated on a book of children's stories to aid the charity One Parent Families.. Rowling, along with Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, and Alan Greenspan, wrote an introduction to a collection of Gordon Brown's speeches, of which the proceeds are being donated to the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory.
Comic Relief
In 2001, the UK fundraiser Comic Relief asked three bestselling British authors, (Rowling, cookery writer and TV presenter Delia Smith, and Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding), to submit booklets related to their most famous works for publication. For every pound raised, a pound would go towards combatting poverty and social inequality across the globe. Rowling's two booklets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, are ostensibly facsimiles of books found in the Hogwarts library, and are written under the names of their fictional authors, Newt Scamander and Kennilworthy Whisp. Since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million (US$30 million) for the fund. The £10.8 million (US$20 million) raised outside the UK has been channelled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis. She has also personally given £22 million to Comic Relief.
Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland
Rowling has contributed money and support for research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University. For reasons unknown, Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of MS in the world.
Other donations
On 1 August and 2 August 2006 she read alongside Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the Haven Foundation, a charity that aids artists and performers left uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières. In May 2007, Rowling gave US$495,000 to a reward fund of over $4.5 million for the safe return of a young British girl, Madeleine McCann, who was kidnapped in Portugal. In January 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to raise funds for the Children's High Level Group, an organization devoted to enforcing the human rights of mentally ill children in Eastern Europe, particularly the continued use of caged beds in mental institutions.
Honours
In June 2000, Queen Elizabeth II honoured Rowling by making her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
In April 2006, the asteroid (43844) Rowling was named in her honour. The name was submitted to the International Astronomical Union by astronomer Dr. Mark Hammergren, who has been a fan of the Harry Potter series since 2004.
In May 2006, the newly-discovered Pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, currently at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, was named in honour of her world.
In June 2006, the British public named Rowling “the greatest living British writer” in a poll by The Book Magazine. Rowling topped the poll, receiving nearly three times as many votes as the second-place author, fantasy writer Terry Pratchett.
In July 2006 Rowling received a Doctor of Laws (LLD) honorary degree from University of Aberdeen for her "significant contribution to many charitable causes" and "her many contributions to society".
Bibliography
Books
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997) (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 September 1999)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
- Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July, 2005)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)
- See also Harry Potter in translation
Articles and other works
- The first It Girl. J.K. Rowling reviews Decca: the Letters of Jessica Mitford ed by Peter Y Sussman (26 July 2006)
- Moving Britain Forward. Selected Speeches 1997-2006 by Gordon Brown. Introduction by J.K. Rowling on Ending Child Poverty Bloomsbury (2006)
- Magic a collection of short stories, edited by Gil McNeil and Sarah Brown, with a foreword by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (2002)
See also
- Mary GrandPré illustrator of the US editions of the Harry Potter series.
- Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series
- Religious opposition to the Harry Potter series
References
- ^ The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Muggle Encyclopedia - Y. Accessed 17 March 2006.
- The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Harry Potter books. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- "J. K. Rowling". Accessed 23 March 2006.
- Watson, Julie and Kellner, Tomas. "J.K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire". Forbes.com, 26 February 2004. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- OPRAH IS RICHEST FEMALE ENTERTAINER. Accessed 20 January 2007.
- Forbes
- ^ "The Not Especially Fascinating Life So Far of J. K. Rowling". Accessed 21 March 2006.
- "About.com - J.K. Rowling Family Tree". Accessed 11 July 2007.
- ^ "J.K. Rowling: BBC Online Chat". March 2001. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "J.K. Rowling: CBC Interview #1". 26 October 2000. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- ^ J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "J. K. Rowling's biography". Accessed 17 March 2006.
- The Harry Potter Lexicon, Muggle Encyclopedia: R. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- Winterbourne Family History Online, St Michael’s School Admission Register 1966-1970 - Rowling listed as admission No.305. Accessed 14 August 2006.
- JK Rowling. "The first It Girl". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|yeear=
ignored (help) - Lindsay Fraser (2002). "Harry Potter - Harry and me". The Scotsman.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|accesssdate=
ignored (|access-date=
suggested) (help) - Feldman, Roxanne. "The Truth about Harry," School Library Journal, September 1999
- Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations with J.K. Rowling, pg 19-20 Scholastic.
- Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations with J.K. Rowling, pg 29 Scholastic.
- Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations with J.K. Rowling, pg 34 Scholastic.
- "Harry Potter and Me". BBC Christmas Special, 13 November 2002. Accessed 25 February 2007.
- "There would be so much to tell her..." The Daily Telegraph. Accessed 29 June 2006.
- Fraser, Lindasy (2002-11-02). "Harry Potter - Harry and me". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- About.com. "J.K. Rowling and Neil Murray". Accessed 29 March 2006.
- Weeks, Linton. "Charmed, I'm Sure". The Washington Post, 20 October 1999. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- ^ "Harry Potter and Me". BBC Christmas Special, 28 December 2001. Transcribed by "Marvelous Marvolo" and Jimmi Thøgersen. Quick Quotes Quill.org. Accessed 17 March 2006.
- ^ The Harry Potter Lexicon, A History of the Books. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- ^ McGinty, Stephen The JK Rowling Story June 16 2003. Accessed April 9 2006.
- BarnesandNoble.com. "Meet the Writers: J. K. Rowling". Accessed 25 March 2006.
- John Lawless (July 3, 2005). "Revealed: The eight-year-old girl who saved Harry Potter". New Zealand Herald.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - "Harry Potter has been very good to JK Rowling July 7 2005. Accessed 9 April 2006.
- Scottish Arts Council Wants Payback November 30 2003. Accessed April 9 2006.
- Veritaserum.com, Sorcerer's Stone Book Information. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- Rare Harry Potter books July 22 2005. Accessed April 9 2006.
- Gibbons, Fiachra. "Beowulf slays the wizard". Guardian Unlimited, 26 January 2000, accessed 19 March 2006.
- "Potter sales record". EOnline, July 18 2005. Accessed 1 April 2006.
- "Harry Potter Returns". Infoplease, June 23 2003. Accessed 11 June 2006.
- "Final Harry Potter is expected to set record". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
- "Bloomsbury press release". Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- "Finish or bust - JK Rowling's unlikely message in an Edinburgh hotel room". The Scotsman. 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
- J.K. Rowling: No E-Book for Harry Potter". Associated Press, February 5, 2007.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at IMDb
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at IMDb
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at IMDb
- "Confirmed: HBP movie release date". MuggleNet. 2006-08-04.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - Fienberg, Daniel (2004-11-16). "Screenwriter will sit out one 'Potter'". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
- Spelling, Ian (2007-05-03). "Yates Confirmed For Potter VI". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - "J.K. Rowling, the interview". The Times (UK), 30 June 2000. Accessed 26 July 2006.
- Coke backs Harry Potter literacy drive. BBC News, 09 October 2001. Accessed 26 July 2006.
- Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. "Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling". Quick Quotes Quill.org, February 2003. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- "J.K. Rowling: 'Fans will be happy'". cBBC Newsround, 02 November 2001. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- "Rowling denies vetoing Spielberg". Accessed 3 April 2006.
- Wizard News: Terry Gilliam Bitter About "Potter"
- "J.K. Rowling and Stephen Fry interview". Radio 4, 10 December 2005. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- "J.K. Rowling on Finishing Harry Potter". 11 January 2006. Accessed 19 March 2006.
- JKR's site; no eighth book Accessed 10 April 2006.
- Transcript of J. K. Rowling interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
- ^ The Harry Potter Lexicon, The Muggle Encyclopedia - K. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- Collinson, Patrick. "Rub shoulders with Brucie for £4.3m, or Tony for £7,250". Guardian Unlimited, 26 April 2005. Accessed 21 March 2006.
- "Baby joy for JK Rowling". BBC News. 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "Progress on Book Six". 15 March 2004. Accessed 22 March 2006.
- J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "JKR gives Birth to Baby Girl". 25 January 2005. Accessed 22 March 2006.
- One Parent Families. accessed 11 July 2007
- Guardian Unlimited, Gordon's Women
- BBC News, Brown publishes greatest speeches
- The Harry Potter Lexicon, Quidditch through the Ages. Accessed 19 March, 2006.
- Comic Relief books. Accessed 12 June 2006.
- Boshoff, Alison. "What does JK Rowling do with her money?". Daily Mail.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=
ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=
ignored (|access-date=
suggested) (help) - J.K. Rowling's Official Site. "MS Society Scotland". Accessed 22 March 2006.
- Greig, Geordie. "There would be so much to tell her...". Tatler Magazine, 10 January 2006. Accessed 22 March 2006.
- In fact, on Richard and Judy, June 26,2006, she said that she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, because she knew about how it felt. Transcript, Accessed 4 July 2006.
- MS Society, Scotland JK Rowling funds new MS centre. Edinburgh Research and Innovation, University of Edinburgh, 21 April 2006. Accessed 10 June 2006.
- Yahoo Finance. Carrie, Harry and Garp. May 10 2006 Accessed 4 July 2006.
- "Potter Author Adds to U.K. Reward Fund". Fox News. 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - "Madeleine father sure she is safe". BBC News. 2007-05-14. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - J.K. Rowling's Official Site.
- "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". NASA JPL. Retrieved 2006-04-28.
- "Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has an asteroid named after here". Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- "Asteroid named after JKR". Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- Jack Malvern. "Dinosaur is dead ringer for Potter dragon". The Times. Retrieved 2006-06-08.
- BBC News, BBC News: Rowling voted greatest living British author. Accessed June 11 2006.
- "'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling receives Honorary Degree". 2006-07-06. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
External links
- English section of J.K. Rowling's official personal site
- English section of J.K. Rowling's official personal site (text-only version)
- J. K. Rowling on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
- J. K. Rowling at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- J.K. Rowling at IMDb
- J.K. Rowling at the Internet Book List
- Harry Potter
- English children's writers
- English fantasy writers
- English novelists
- Writers of young adult literature
- British Book Awards
- Hugo Award winning authors
- Alumni of the University of Exeter
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- English Anglicans
- Civil Parish of Winterbourne
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Billionaires
- Female authors who wrote under male or gender-neutral pseudonyms
- 1965 births
- Living people
- Activists
- Political art