J.K. Rowling said...

"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends. "

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2 comments to date. The most recent comments:

Rachel from Arizona (September 27, 2010)
J.K. Rowling is both a hero and an artist! She is loyal, courageous, intelligent, thoughtful, considerate, compassionate, honest, has a sense of humor, is creative and imaginative, sensitive, expressive, AND beautiful!

She is also flawed, she has fears and insecurities--but she shares them openly. She is completely human and down to earth. She loves and adores her family. She likes baking! She seems like a good friend and a strong woman. After all she's created and done for the world, after all the money she's made, she still has great humility and compassion for all creatures!

She inspires us to read, to write, to think, to imagine, and to dream big!

Much love to a woman who gives us love, passion, courage, hope, fun, excitement, and a REAL person to celebrate!

Christina from Lousiianna (October 4, 2007)
J.K. rocks, but like, the first book was just.. alright. still luv her

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The First to Make a Billion from Fiction Sales!

J.K. Rowling, Joanne "Jo" Rowling, is a fiction writer, best-known as the author of the Harry Potter series.

Rowling grew up in England with her mother, father, and younger sister Dianne. She and her family first lived outside of Bristol where she was neighbors with a Potter family; a name she admired. Just before her ninth birthday the family moved to Wales. As a teenager, Rowling's mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

In 1983 Rowling began her college studies at the University of Exeter. She studied french and spent a year in Paris. After college she worked for Amnesty International in London. It was in 1990, while riding the train, when Rowling came up with the idea for Harry Potter. Six months later, Rowling's mother died.

After the death of her mother, Rowling decided to travel. She took a job teaching english in Portugal. While in Portugal, she wrote her favorite chapter in Philosopher's Stone (1997), The Mirror of Erised. Also while in Portugal, Rowling married a Portuguese television journalist and gave birth to her first child, Jessica Rowling Arantes. The two divorced in 1995.

In 1994, Rowling and her daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh. She was out of money and working in a cafe. Any free time was directed toward finishing her first novel. She finished The Philosopher's Stone in 1995 and in 1997 it was published.

Six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter series have been published, and all became best sellers, making her a billionaire.

In addition to the Harry Potter series, Rowling has two companion publications, Quidditch Through the Ages (2001), and Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them (2001), both mock replications of Harry Potter's textbooks. All proceeds from the sales of these additional books go to charity.

Rowling's main stipulation in releasing rights for the films was that they be shot on location in Britain with an all-British cast. She also demanded that sponsor, Coco-cola, donate $18 million to the U.S. charity, Reading is Fundamental. All films, excluding Goblet of Fire (2000), have a PG rating.

Rowling took the initial of her favorite grandmother's name, Katherine, as the second letter of her pen-name.

Rowling's final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due out in July 2007.

Rowling married anethesiologist Dr. Neil Murray in December 2001. On March 23, 2003 the couple had a son, David Gordon Rowling Murray. Her third child, Mackenszie Jean Rowling Murray, was born on January 23, 2005, fulfilling her dream of having three children.