OLIVIA: Welcome to another edition of People in the News! This week Ben will be telling us about the British writer J. K. Rowling. She's the bestselling author of an extremely popular book series for children and adults—Harry Potter!
BEN: Thank you, Olivia. Joanne, or Jo, Rowling was born in England on July 31, 1965. As a young girl, Jo loved to use her imagination and invent stories. She often turned these stories into games in which she and her sister played the roles of different characters. One of the first stories Jo remembers writing was about a character named Rabbit who got sick and went to visit his friend, Miss Bee.
After college Jo worked for Amnesty International in London, where she read many letters written by people who had suffered terrible human rights abuses. Their stories affected her deeply, making her painfully aware of the evil things that people are capable of doing to other people. Later she would describe her job at Amnesty International as one of the most inspiring and humbling experiences of her life.
Even though Jo wasn't yet writing books professionally, she was constantly coming up with story ideas. Then one day in 1990, during a long train ride, Jo got the idea for a character named Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers he's a wizard. The train was delayed for four hours, and she spent the whole time imagining what Harry was like and what sort of adventures he could have. Unfortunately, though, Jo didn't have a pen with her, and she was too shy to ask anybody for one. So she had to keep all her ideas in her head until she got home and could write everything down.
Over the next five years, Jo worked on developing her ideas for the Harry Potter books. She filled countless notebooks with details about characters, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, magic spells and potions, and, of course, Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed Harry's parents. Jo also outlined plots for seven books, and she began working on the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
This might surprise some people, but Jo's life was not easy while she was writing the first Harry Potter book. Her mother died, and she got married and divorced. By 1993 Jo was a single mother living on public assistance, and she was very poor.
Jo eventually found a job teaching. She knew once the job started, she would have little time to write, so she was determined to finish the first book before then. With her daughter sleeping in a stroller by her side, Jo spent many hours writing in a local cafe. Finally in 1995 the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was done, and Jo set out to find a publisher for it.
OLIVIA: How did that go? Did the book get published right away?
BEN: Nope. It's hard to believe, but Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was rejected by 12 different publishers! Most of them said the book was too long, and that kids wouldn't want to read it. Eventually a small publisher accepted the book, but even there, editors didn't think it would sell well.
OLIVIA: Really? Then why did they publish it?
BEN: Because the daughter of the company's CEO read the manuscript and loved it. And it's a good thing the adults at the company trusted her opinion. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone got great reviews, won several awards, and sold really well. In 1998 an American publisher paid Jo a huge amount of money to publish Harry Potter in the U.S.—so much money, in fact, that Jo was able to quit teaching and start writing full-time.
As everybody knows, Harry Potter soon became an international phenomenon. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in 2007 and became one of the fastest-selling books of all time.
Many elements in the Harry Potter books were inspired by things from Jo's real life. For instance, she based Harry’s friend Hermione on herself as a young girl. Jo's loss of her own mother affected how she wrote about the death of Harry's parents. The train Hogwarts Express plays an important role in the series because Jo got the original idea for Harry Potter on a train. And the series highlights the fight between good and evil, reflecting the influence of Jo's job at Amnesty International.
In 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is the American title of the first book, was made into a movie. It was a huge hit in theaters, and each book in the series has since been made into a movie as well. Jo was able to retain a certain level of control with the films. The scripts all had to be approved by her, and when it came time to cast actors, she insisted they all be British.
In addition to the books and films, there are Harry Potter toys, video games, and even a theme park! There would be still more Harry Potter merchandise if Jo allowed it. She has been approached by many companies wanting to use Harry in advertisements, and Jo has turned most of them down. And, Olivia, did you know that someone wanted to create a Harry Potter musical? We'll never know what that would have been like because Jo said no way!
OLIVIA: It sounds like it was a struggle to get the first Harry Potter book published, but I’m sure glad it finally found its way into print. I bet Jo is glad about that too!
Thanks for telling us all about this popular author, Ben. We'll see you next week, Little Fox readers!