Happy Birthday : J. K. Rowling [ 31st July ]

31 July 2012 :: Joanne “Jo” Rowling was born 31^st of July 1965. She is a British novelist, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies to become the best-selling book series in history and been the basis for a popular series of films, in which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment. Rowling conceived the idea for the series on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling and Anne Rowling , in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French, half-Scottish. Her mother’s maternal grandfather, Dr. Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother’s paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Although she writes under the pen name “J. K. Rowling”, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply “Joanne Rowling”. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself “Jo” and has said, “No one ever called me ‘Joanne’ when I was young, unless they were angry.” Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

Born 31 July 1965

Birth Place Yate, Gloucestershire, England

Occupation Novelist

Nationality British

Education Bachelor of Arts

Alma mater University of Exeter

Genres Children’s literature, fantasy

Subjects Wizards and witches

Notable work(s) Harry Potter series

Children 2 daughters, 1 son

Relative(s) Peter Rowling (father)

Anne Rowling (mother)