J.K.ROWLING
English author (1965)
Biography:
Joanne Katheleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury, United Kingdom, in 1965. After school, she attended Exeter University, where she studied French. She began writing at a very young age. Indeed, her first book was written when she was only six, and it was called The Rabbit. But life turn out to be difficult for her, since she found herself in Edimburgh with a baby daughter, living on public assistance and unemployed. She had had the idea of Harry Potter in her mind for a long time, so she set herself a target: finish Harry's first novel and get it published.
She wrote in her brother's cafe, a quiet place in the town center, while her daughter was peacefully asleep. In 1996, one year after finishing the book, Bloomsbury Publishing House bought her first novel, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (in USA, this was slightly changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).
She began writing full-time. Her idea is to write a book for every year that Harry studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "There's going to be 7 Harrys all together. He will be 17 in the final book, which means he will have come of age in the Wizarding World. In Book 7, he will become a full wizard, and free to use his magic outside school", she stated.
She has been given The British Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year and the Smarties Prize. Some critics begin to consider her as Roald Dahl successor.
J.K.Rowling, author of illustrated works:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, illustrated by Thomas Taylor, Bloomsbury, 1997.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, illustrated by Mary Grandpre, Scholastic Press.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 1999
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000
The fifth of Harry Potter's adventures will presumably be published by the year 2001 under the title of Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix.