J.K. Rowling Webpage Created by Katie Dhamer

    Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Bristol, England in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital. Two years later her sister Di was born. Joanne had always known that she was going to be an author. When she was five she wrote her first book titled, Rabbit about a rabbit. She loved being read to and reading. Her favorite book was Elizabeth Goudge's, The Little White Horse. When her family moved to Winterbourne her and her sister made friends with a boy with a last name of Potter. She dreamed of having a better name than hers, while kids always teased her one way or another. She went to Wyedean Comprehensive for high school. English was her favorite subject. By her senior year she had been named Head Girl.

    She attended Exeter University and recieved her degree in French while spending on year studying in Paris. The summer of 1990 she was working as a secretary and had to take a train ride from Manchester to London. This is when Harry Potter walked into her mind. Four hours later when the train ended at King's Cross Station, the basic idea for her book was planned out, plot, characters and all! Rowling began to write the novel on her lunch hours in restaurants. She moved to Portugal in 1992 and got married to a journalist. They had a baby girl, and named her Jessica and got a divorce. She moved to Edinburgh which was close to her sister. She continued the book when ever Jessica took a nap. Her work was rejected numerous times and then she found an agent who sold it to Bloomsbury Children's Books. The book immediately topped the charts bringing her numerous awards. Seeing the wonderful success of the new author, Scholastic jumped in and bought the American rights for $105,000. Joanne was able to quit her job and work full time on new installments of the series.

    Rowling said in an interview with Book Links that "the book is really about the power of the imagination. What Harry is learning to do is to develop his full potential. Wizardry is just the analogy I use."

    She continues to live in Edinburgh, Scotland with her daughter. She recently remarried and had another child.
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