J.K Rowling (Joanne Rowling), one of the most famous authors in the world. She’s mainly known for her work on the “Harry Potter” Series. In 2001, the movie based off of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was released.

Born on July 31st, 1965, she grew up in Gloucestershire in England and, later, in Chepstow, Gwent, in the south-eastern part of Wales. Her mother was a science technician, and her father was an aircraft engineer. She also had a little sister named Di. In 1992, she got married and had a little girl named Jessica in 1993.

Joanne’s mother unfortunately passed away in 1990, before the Harry Potter books were written. She was very upset not to be able to share the books with her mother.

The idea of Harry Potter started while she was sitting on a delayed train to London’s King's Cross station. Over the course of five years, she started planning out her books. After being rejected by twelve different publishers, she finally got her first book published in 1997. Her last book was published in 2007.

All in all, J.K. Rowling sold around 600 million copies of “Harry Potter”, translated it into 85 different languages, and definitely would win the award for one of the richest authors in the world. Her books also inspired the movie “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, which are also pretty popular.

Safe to say, J.K. Rowling definitely made a difference and is one of the best authors in the world.

Thanks for reading!

Note: This is all information I found and wrote down, as such, I encourage you to do your own research on J. K. Rowling!

Total Awards Won: At least 30

Here are some of J.K Rowling’s most famous awards.

Order of the British Empire (awarded by the Prince of Wales) - 2001

British Book Awards

British Academy Film Award - 2011

Carnegie Medal

Children’s BAFTA Awards

Books J.K Rowling has Written

Harry Potter - Series of seven books (Ages 8-10)

Tales of Beddle the Bard - Single book (Ages 10+)

Quidditch through the Ages - Single book (Ages 9+)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Single book (Ages 9+)

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Play (Ages 10+)

The Ickabog - Single book (Ages 7-12)

(She’s written other books too, which are all at least 18+ that I won’t list here)

Fun Facts

Joanne said she based the character of Hermione Granger off of her younger self.

She’s a big fan of the video game “Minecraft”

Quidditch was based on her favourite sport, basketball.

Quidditch has become an actual sport, with its own world cup tournament.

Joanne created a mystery novel under the pen name: Robert Galleraith

The actor who played Hagrid in the movies said that his character was based off of a biker J.K Rowling met.

The names of the houses of Hogwarts were originally written on a paper bag.

Joanne wrote her first book at the age of six, called Rabbit

Joanne’s parents met at the train station King’s Cross.

When she turned 45, she donated a lot of money for a hospital dedicated in her mother’s name.

Resources

https://www.jkrowling.com/about/

https://www.cbc.ca/books/50-things-you-might-not-know-about-j-k-rowling-1.4093971