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Dhruv UpadhyayV.S YashwantRiya SoniAmisha SinghDebarghya Dutta

Introduction

Joanne "Jo" Rowling, born 31 July 1965), pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have become the Best-selling books in the history and been the basis for a series of films which became the highest grossing film series of all time . Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and maintained creative control by serving as a producer on the final installment.

Life & CareerRowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer ,

and Anne Rowling , a science technician , on 31 July 1965 in Yate,

Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol.

After working at Amnesty International in London, Rowling and her then

boyfriend decided to move to Manchester where she worked at the Chamber

of Commerce.

When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write

immediately. In December, Rowling's mother Anne died after ten years

suffering from multiple sclerosis . Rowling was writing Harry Potter at the

time and had never told her mother about it . Her death heavily affected

Rowling's writing and she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in

the first book, because she knew how it felt.

Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as a failure. Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child, but she described her failure as liberating and allowing her to focus on writing. During this period Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. Her illness inspired the characters known as Dementors , soul-sucking creatures introduced in the third book. Rowling signed up for welfare benefits , describing her economic status as being "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless".

Rowling was left in despair after her estranged husband arrived in Scotland, seeking both her and her daughter. She obtained an order of restraint and Arantes returned to Portugal, with Rowling filing for divorce in August 1994. She began a teacher training course in August 1995 at the Moray House School of education , at Edinburgh University after completing her first novel while living on state benefits. She wrote in many cafés, especially Nicolson's Café, and The Elephant House, (the former owned by her brother-in-law Roger Moore). In a 2001 BBC interview, Rowling denied the rumor that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, pointing out that it had heating. One of the reasons she wrote in cafés was that taking her baby out for a walk was the best way to make her fall asleep.

• On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971), an anesthetist, in a private ceremony at her home, Killiechassie House, near 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 ceased working on the novel to care for David in his early infancy.

• Rowling is a friend of Sarah Brown , wife of former prime minister Gordon Brown, whom she met when they collaborated on a charitable project. When Sarah Brown's son Fraser was born in 2003, Rowling was one of the first to visit her in hospital. Rowling's youngest child, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born on 23 January 2005.

Multiple Sclerosis

• Rowling has contributed money and support for research and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis , from which her mother suffered before her death in 1990. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University ,later named the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic. In 2010 she donated a further £10 million to the centre. For reasons unknown, Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world. In 2003, Rowling took part in a campaign to establish a national standard of care for MS sufferers. In April 2009, she announced that she was withdrawing her support for Multiple Sclerosis Society , Scotland, citing her inability to resolve an ongoing feud between the organization's northern and southern branches that had sapped morale and led to several resignations.

EDUCATIONROWLING’S FAMILY MOVED TO NEARBY VILLAGE WINTERBOURNE WHEN ROWLING WAS FOUR.

SHE ATTENDED ST.MICHAEL’S PRIMARY SCHOOL,A SCHOOL FOUNDED BY ABOLITIONIST WILLIAM WILBERFORCE AND EDUCATION REFORMER

HANNAH.HER HEADMASTER AT ST MICHAEL’S, ALFRED DUNN, HAS BEEN SUGGESTED INSPIRATION

FOR THE HARRY POTTERHEADMASTER ALBUS DUMBLEDORE.

ROWLING MOVED TO CHURCH COTTAGE IN THE GLOUCERTERSHIRE VILLAGETUTSHILL,CLOSE TO CHEPSTOW,WALES.SHE ATTENDED SECONDARY SCHOOL AT WYEDEAN SCHOOL AND COLLEGE,WHERE HER MOTHER WORKED IN THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT.

IN 1952,ROWLING TOOK THE ENTRANCE EXAMS FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY BUT WAS NOT ACCEPTED AND READ FOR A BA IN FRENCH AND CLASSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER.AFTER A STUDY IN PARIS,ROWLING GRADUATED FROM EXETER IN 1986 .

CHURCH COTTAGE

AWARDS AND HONOURS

ROWLING HAS RECEIVED HONORARY DEGREES FROM ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY,THE UNIVERSITY

OF EDINBURGH,EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY,THE UNIVERSITY OF

EXETER,THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEENAND HARVARD UNIVERSITY, FOR WHOM SHE SPOKE AT THE 2008 COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY.IN 2009 ROWLING WAS AWARDED THE “LEGION D’HONNEUR “ BY FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY.

ROWLING AFTER RECEIVING AN HONORARY DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.

OTHER AWARDS INCLUDE:

•1997: NESTLE SMARTIES BOOK PRIZE,GOLD AWARD FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE.•1998: NESTLE SMARTIES BOOK PRIZE,GOLD AWARD FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.

•1998: BRITISH CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE.

•1999: NESTLE SMARTIES BOOK PRIZE,GOLD AWARD FOR HARRY PTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

•1999: NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.

•1999: WHITBREAD CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR,WINNER HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

•2000:BRITISH BOOK AWARDS,AUTHOR OF THE YEAR.

•2000: ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE,OFFICER(FOR SERVICES TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE)

•2000: LOTUS AWARD,WINNER HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

•2001: HOGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL,HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE.

•2003:PREMIO PRINCIPE DE ASTURIAS,CONCORD.

•2003: BREM STOKER AWARD FOR BEST FOR YOUNG READERS,WINNER HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

2006: BRITISH BOOK OF THE YEAR,WINNER FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE.2007:BLUE PETER BADGE,GOLD.

2008: BRITISH BOOK AWARDS,OUTSTANDINGACHIEVEMENTS.2010: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON LITERATURE AWARD, IN INAUGURAL AWARD WINNER.2011: BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARD, OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA FOR THE HARRY POTTER FILM SERIES , SHARED WITH DAVID HEYMAN,CAST AND CREW.2012: FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF LONDON.

ROWLING HAS WON MANY AWARDS FOR HARRY POTTER SERIES.

CHILDHOOD

Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate,South Gloucestershire in England.Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling. Rowling’s sister Dianne was born at their home when was Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was 4.She attended St Michael’s Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories which she frequently read to her sisters. Aged 9 she moved to Church Cottage.

When she was a young teenager, her great aunt gave her a copy of Jessica Mitford’s autobiography,Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling’s heroine, and Rowling read all of her books. Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother’s illness and strained relationship with her father who she is still not speaking terms with. Rowling later said that she based the character Hermione Granger on herself when she was eleven. In 1982, Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and read for BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter.

HARRY POTTERIn 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry

Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evens, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Little agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was finally given the green light by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a publishing house in London. The decision to publish Rowling's book owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury'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, in 1997, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued 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 British Book Award for Children's Book Of the Year, and later, the Children's Book Award. In early 1998, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for US$105,000. Rowling said that she "nearly died" when she heard the news.

SUCCESSIn 2004, Forbes named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar

billionaire by writing books, the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world. Rowling disputed the calculations and said she had plenty of money, but was not a billionaire. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain. In 2012, Forbes removed Rowling from their rich list, claiming that her US$160 million in charitable donations and the high tax rate in the UK meant she was no longer a billionaire. In February 2013 she was assessed as the 13th most powerful woman in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.

In 2001, Rowling purchased a 19th-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross. Rowling also owns a £4.5 million Georgian house in Kensington, West London, on a street with 24-hour security.

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