Born inYate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary forAmnesty International in 1990 when she conceived the idea for theHarry Potter series. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, the birth of her first child,divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series,Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. Six sequels followed, concluding withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). By 2008,Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.
Rowling has won many accolades for her work. She has been appointed anOBE and aMember of the Companions of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy.Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition, which she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, and co-founded the charityLumos in 2005. Rowling's philanthropy centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. In 2012,Forbes estimated that Rowling's charitable giving totalled US$160 million. She has also donated to Britain'sLabour Party, and opposedScottish independence andBrexit.
Although she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage her name was Joanne Rowling with no middle name,[2] nicknamed Jo.[3] Staff atBloomsbury Publishing suggested that she use two initials rather than her full name, anticipating that young boys – their target audience – would not want to read a book written by a woman.[2] She choseK as the second initial, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Rowling, and because of the ease of pronunciation of the two consecutive letters.[4] Following her 2001 remarriage,[5] she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business.[6]
Life and career
Early life and family
Rowling's parents met on a train fromKing's Cross; her portal to the magical world is "Platform 9+3⁄4" at King's Cross.[7]
Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 inYate, Gloucestershire,[8][b] to a middle-class family.[10] Her parents Anne (née Volant) and Peter ("Pete") James Rowling had met the previous year on a train, sharing a trip fromKing's Cross station, London, to their naval postings atArbroath, Scotland. Rowling's mother was with theWrens and her father with theRoyal Navy.[14] Pete Rowling was the son of amachine-tool setter who later opened a grocery shop.[15] They left the navy life and sought a country home to raise the baby they were expecting,[15] and married on 14 March 1965[10] when both were 19.[16] The Rowlings settled in Yate,[17] where Pete started work as an assembly-line production worker at theBristol Siddeley factory.[15] The company became part ofRolls-Royce,[18] and he worked his way into management as achartered engineer.[19] Anne Rowling later worked as a science technician.[20] Neither of Rowling's parents attended university.[21]
Rowling is two years older than her sister, Dianne,[10] whose birth was Rowling's earliest memory.[22] When she was four, Rowling's family moved toWinterbourne, Gloucestershire.[16][23] She began at St Michael's Church of England Primary School in Winterbourne when she was five.[10][c] The Rowlings lived near a family called Potter – a name Rowling always liked.[26][d] Rowling's mother liked to read and the family's homes were filled with books.[27] Her father readThe Wind in the Willows to his daughters,[28] while her mother introduced them to the animals inRichard Scarry's books.[29] Rowling's first attempt at writing, a story called "Rabbit" composed when she was six, was inspired by Scarry's creatures.[29]
When Rowling was about nine, the family purchased the historicChurch Cottage inTutshill.[30][e] In 1974, Rowling began attending the nearby Church of England School.[34] Biographer Sean Smith describes her teacher as a "battleaxe"[35] who "struck fear into the hearts of the children";[36] Rowling's teacher seated her in "dunces' row" after she performed poorly on an arithmetic test.[37][f] In 1975, Rowling joined aBrownies pack. Its special events and parties, and the pack groups (Fairies, Pixies, Sprites, Elves, Gnomes and Imps) provided a magical world away from her stern teacher.[40] When she was eleven[41] or twelve, she wrote a short story, "The Seven Cursed Diamonds".[42] She later described herself during this period as "the epitome of a bookish child – short and squat, thick National Health glasses, living in a world of complete daydreams".[43]
Secondary school and university
Church Cottage, Tutshill, Gloucs, Rowling's childhood home
Rowling's secondary school wasWyedean School and College, a state school she began attending at the age of eleven[44] and where she was bullied.[45][46] Rowling was inspired by her favourite teacher, Lucy Shepherd, who taught the importance of structure and precision in writing.[47][48] Smith writes that Rowling "craved to play heavy electric guitar",[49] and describes her as "intelligent yet shy".[50] Her teacher Dale Neuschwander was impressed by her imagination.[51] When she was a young teenager, Rowling's great-aunt gave herHons and Rebels, the autobiography of thecivil rights activistJessica Mitford.[52] Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and she read all her books.[53]
Anne had a strong influence on her daughter.[10] Early in Rowling's life, the support of her mother and sister instilled confidence and enthusiasm for storytelling.[54] Anne was a creative and accomplished cook,[55][g] who helped lead her daughters' Brownie activities,[58] and took a job in the chemistry department at Wyedean while her daughters were there.[20] The three walked to and from school together, with a relationship more like sisters than mother and daughters.[tone][49][59]John Nettleship, the head of science at Wyedean, described Anne as "absolutely brilliant, a sparkling character ... very imaginative".[11] Anne was diagnosed with a "virulent strain" ofmultiple sclerosis when she was 34[60] or 35 and Jo was 15,[61] and had to quit her job.[62] Rowling's home life was complicated by her mother's illness[63] and a strained relationship with her father.[64] Rowling later said "home was a difficult place to be",[65] and that her teenage years were unhappy.[32] In 2020, she wrote that her father would have preferred a son and described herself as having severeobsessive–compulsive disorder in her teens.[66] She began to smoke, took an interest inalternative rock,[60] and adoptedSiouxsie Sioux's back-combed hair and black eyeliner.[11] Sean Harris, her best friend in theUpper Sixth, owned a turquoiseFord Anglia that provided an escape from her difficult home life and the means for Harris and Rowling to broaden their activities.[67][h]
Living in a small town with pressures at home, Rowling became more interested in her schoolwork.[60] Steve Eddy, her first secondary school English teacher, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English".[32] Rowling tookA-levels in English, French, and German, achieving two As and a B, and was namedhead girl at Wyedean.[70] She applied toOxford University in 1982 but was rejected.[10] Biographers attribute her rejection to privilege, as she had attended a state school rather than a private one.[71][72]
Rowling always wanted to be a writer,[73] but chose to study French and the classics at theUniversity of Exeter for practical reasons, influenced by her parents who thought job prospects would be better with evidence ofbilingualism.[74] She later stated that Exeter was not initially what she expected ("to be among lots of similar people – thinking radical thoughts") but that she enjoyed herself after she met more people like her.[53] She was an average student at Exeter, described by biographers as prioritising her social life over her studies, and lacking ambition and enthusiasm.[75][76] Rowling recalls doing little work at university, preferring to readDickens andTolkien.[32] She earned aBA in French from Exeter,[77] graduating in 1987 after a year of study in Paris.[78]
Inspiration and mother's death
After university, Rowling moved to a flat inClapham Junction with friends,[79] and took a course to become a bilingual secretary.[10] While she was working intemporary jobs in London,Amnesty International hired her to document human rights issues in French-speaking Africa.[80] She began writing adult novels while working as a temp, although they were never published.[11][81] In 1990, she planned to move with her boyfriend toManchester,[16] and frequently took long train trips to visit.[41] In mid-1990, she was on a train delayed by four hours from Manchester to London,[82] when the charactersHarry Potter,Ron Weasley, andHermione Granger came plainly into her mind.[83] Having no pen or paper allowed her to fully explore the characters and their story in her imagination before she reached her flat and began to write.[82]
Rowling moved to Manchester around November 1990.[53] She described her time in Manchester, where she worked for the Chamber of Commerce[41] and atManchester University in temp jobs,[84] as a "year of misery".[85] Her mother died of multiple sclerosis on 30 December 1990.[86] At the time, she was writingHarry Potter and had never told her mother about it.[87] Her mother's death heavily affected Rowling's writing.[88] She later said that her literary creation of theMirror of Erised is about her mother's death,[89] and noted an "evident parallelism" between Harry confronting his own mortality and her life.[90]
The pain of the loss of her mother was compounded when some personal effects her mother had left her were stolen.[53] With the end of the relationship with her boyfriend, and "being made redundant from an office job in Manchester", Rowling described herself as being in a state of "fight or flight".[32] An advertisement inThe Guardian led her to move toPorto, Portugal, in November 1991 to teach night classes in English as a foreign language,[91] writing during the day.[32]
Marriage, divorce and single parenthood
Rowling moved toPorto, Portugal, to teach English.
Five months after arriving in Porto, Rowling met the Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes in a bar and found that they shared an interest inJane Austen.[92] By mid-1992, they were planning a trip to London to introduce Arantes to Rowling's family, when she had a miscarriage.[93] The relationship was troubled, but they married on 16 October 1992.[94][i] Their daughter Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford[j]) was born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal.[11][41] By this time, Rowling had finished the first three chapters ofHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – almost as they were eventually published – and had drafted the rest of the novel.[96]
Rowling experienceddomestic abuse during her marriage.[66][97] Arantes said in June 2020 that he had slapped her and did not regret it.[98] Rowling described the marriage as "short and catastrophic".[41] She says she was not allowed to have a house key and that her husband used the growing manuscript of her first book as a hostage.[99] Rowling and Arantes separated on 17 November 1993 after Arantes threw her out of the house; she returned with the police to retrieve Jessica and her belongings and went into hiding for two weeks before she left Portugal.[11][100] In late 1993, with a draft ofHarry Potter in her suitcase,[32] Rowling moved with her daughter toEdinburgh,Scotland,[8] planning to stay with her sister until Christmas.[53]
Her biographer Sean Smith raises the question of why Rowling chose to stay with her sister rather than her father.[101] Rowling has spoken of an estrangement from her father, stating in an interview withOprah Winfrey that "It wasn't a good relationship from my point of view for a very long time but I had a need to please and I kept that going for a long time and then there ... just came a point at which I had to pull up and say I can't do this anymore."[64] Pete had married his secretary within two years of Anne's death,[102] andThe Scotsman reported in 2003 that "[t]he speed of his decision to move in with his secretary ... distressed both sisters and a fault-line now separated them and their father."[11] Rowling said in 2012 that they had not spoken in the last nine years.[32]
Rowling sought government assistance and got £69 (US$103) per week fromSocial Security; not wanting to burden her recently married sister, she moved to a flat that she described as mouse-ridden.[103] She later described her economic status as being as "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless".[32] Seven years after graduating from university, she saw herself as a failure.[104]Tison Pugh writes that the "grinding effects of poverty, coupled with her concern for providing for her daughter as a single parent, caused great hardship".[41] Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child, but she later described this as "liberating" her to focus on writing.[104] She has said that "Jessica kept me going".[102] Her old school friend, Sean Harris, lent her £600 ($900), which allowed her to move to a flat inLeith,[105] where she finishedPhilosopher's Stone.[105]
Arantes arrived in Scotland in March 1994 seeking both Rowling and Jessica.[11][106] On 15 March 1994, Rowling sought anaction of interdict (order of restraint); the interdict was granted and Arantes returned to Portugal.[11][107] Early in the year, Rowling began to experience a deep depression[108] and sought medical help when she contemplated suicide.[41][k] With nine months of therapy, her mental health gradually improved.[108] She filed for divorce on 10 August 1994;[110] the divorce was finalised on 26 June 1995.[111]
Rowling wanted to finish the book before enrolling on a teacher training course, fearing she might not be able to finish once she started the course.[53] She often wrote in cafés,[112] including Nicolson's, part-owned by her brother-in-law.[113] Secretarial work brought in £15 ($22.50) per week, but she would lose government benefits if she earned more.[114] In mid-1995, a friend gave her money that allowed her to come off benefits and enrol full-time in college.[115] Still needing money and expecting to make a living by teaching,[116] Rowling began a teacher training course in August 1995 atMoray House School of Education[117][a] after completing her first novel.[118] She earned her teaching certificate in July 1996[2] and began teaching atLeith Academy.[119] Rowling later said that writing the firstHarry Potter book had saved her life and that her concerns about "love, loss, separation, death ... are reflected in the first book".[90]
Rowling completedHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1995.[120] The initial draft included an illustration of Harry by a fireplace, showing a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.[121] Following an enthusiastic report from an early reader,[122]Christopher Little Literary Agency agreed to represent Rowling. Her manuscript was submitted to twelve publishers, all of which rejected it.[11]Barry Cunningham, who ran the children's literature department atBloomsbury Publishing, bought it,[123] afterNigel Newton, who headed Bloomsbury at the time, saw his eight-year-old daughter finish one chapter and want to keep reading.[41][124] Rowling recalls Cunningham telling her, "You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo."[125] Rowling was awarded a writer's grant by theScottish Arts Council[l] to support her childcare costs and finances beforePhilosopher's Stone's publication, and to aid in writing the sequel,Chamber of Secrets.[126][127] On 26 June 1997, Bloomsbury publishedPhilosopher's Stone with an initialprint run of 5,650 copies.[128][m] BeforeChamber of Secrets was published, Rowling had received £2,800 ($4,200) in royalties.[130]
Rowling received the news that the US rights were being auctioned at theBologna Children's Book Fair.[133] To her surprise and delight,Scholastic Corporation bought the rights for $105,000.[134] She bought a flat inEdinburgh with the money from the sale.[135] Arthur A. Levine, head of theimprint at Scholastic, pushed for a name change. He wantedHarry Potter and the School of Magic; as a compromise Rowling suggestedHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[136]Sorcerer's Stone was released in the United States in September 1998.[137] It was not widely reviewed, but the reviews it received were generally positive.[138]Sorcerer's Stone became aNew York Times bestseller by December.[139]
In 1999,Warner Bros. purchased film rights to the first twoHarry Potter novels for a reported $1 million.[146][147] Rowling accepted the offer with the provision that the studio only produceHarry Potter films based on books she authored,[148] while retaining the right to final script approval,[149] and some control over merchandising.[147]Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, an adaptation of the firstHarry Potter book, was released in November 2001.[150]Steve Kloves wrote the screenplays for all but the fifth film,[151] with Rowling's assistance, ensuring that his scripts kept to the plots of the novels.[152]The film series concluded withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was adapted in two parts;part one was released on 19 November 2010,[153] andpart two followed on 15 July 2011.[154]
Warner Bros. announced an expanded relationship with Rowling in 2013, including a planned series of films about her character Newt Scamander, fictitious author ofFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.[155] Thefirst film of five, a prequel to theHarry Potter series, set roughly 70 years earlier, was released in November 2016.[156] Rowling wrote the screenplay, which was released as a book.[157]Crimes of Grindelwald was released in November 2018.[158]Secrets of Dumbledore was released in April 2022.[159] In November 2022,Variety reported that Warner Bros. Discovery was not actively planning to continue the film series or to develop any further films related to the Wizarding World franchise.[160]
By 1998, Rowling was portrayed in the media as a "penniless divorcee hitting the jackpot".[130] According to her biographer Sean Smith, the publicity became effective marketing forHarry Potter,[130] but her journey from living on benefits to wealth brought, along with fame, concerns from different groups about the books'portrayals of the occult andgender roles.[161] Ultimately, Smith says that these concerns served to "enhance [her] public profile rather than damage it".[162]
Rowling identifies as a Christian.[163] Although she grew up next door to her church,[164] accounts of the family's church attendance differ.[n] She began attending aChurch of Scotland congregation, where Jessica was christened, around the time she was writingHarry Potter.[166] In a 2012 interview, she said she belonged to theScottish Episcopal Church.[167] Rowling has stated that she believes in God,[168] but has experienced doubt,[169] and that her struggles with faith play a part in her books.[90] She does not believe in magic orwitchcraft.[163][168]
Rowling married Neil Murray, a doctor, in 2001.[5] The couple intended to marry that July in theGalapagos, but when this leaked to the press, they delayed their wedding and changed their holiday destination toMauritius.[170] After the UKPress Complaints Commission ruled that a magazine had breached Jessica's privacy when the eight-year-old was included in a photograph of the family taken during that trip,[171][172] Murray and Rowling sought a more private and quiet place to live and work.[173] Rowling boughtKilliechassie House and its estate inPerthshire, Scotland,[174] and on 26 December 2001, the couple had a small, private wedding there, officiated by an Episcopalian priest who travelled from Edinburgh.[5] Their son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born in 2003,[175] and their daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray in 2005.[176]
In 2004,Forbes named Rowling "the first billion-dollar author".[177] Rowling denied that she was a billionaire in a 2005 interview.[178] By 2012,Forbes concluded she was no longer a billionaire due to her charitable donations and high UK taxes.[179] She was named the world's highest paid author byForbes in 2008,[180] 2017[181] and 2019.[182] Her UK sales total in excess of £238 million, which made her the best-selling living author in Britain,[183] until 2025 when she was supplanted byJulia Donaldson.[184] The 2021Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £820 million, ranking her as the 196th-richest person in the UK.[185] As of 2020, she also owns a £4.5 millionGeorgian house inKensington and a £2 million home in Edinburgh,[186] where she lives with Murray and her two youngest children.[8]
In mid-2011, Rowling left Christopher Little Literary Agency and followed her agentNeil Blair to the Blair Partnership. He represented her for the publication ofThe Casual Vacancy, released in September 2012 byLittle, Brown and Company.[187] It was Rowling's first sinceHarry Potter ended, and her first book for adults.[188] A contemporary take on 19th-century British fiction about village life,[189]Casual Vacancy was promoted as ablack comedy,[190] while the critic Ian Parker described it as a "ruralcomedy of manners".[32] It was adapted to aminiseries co-created by theBBC andHBO.[191]
Little, Brown and Company also publishedThe Cuckoo's Calling, the purported début novel of Robert Galbraith, in April 2013.[192] Telling the story of detective Cormoran Strike, a disabled veteran of theWar in Afghanistan,[193] it initially sold 1,500 copies in hardback.[194] After an investigation prompted by discussion onTwitter, the journalist Richard Brooks contacted Rowling's agent, who confirmed Galbraith was Rowling's pseudonym.[194] Rowling later said she enjoyed working as Robert Galbraith,[195] a name she took fromRobert F. Kennedy, a personal hero, and Ella Galbraith, a name she invented for herself in childhood.[196] After the revelation of her identity, sales ofCuckoo's Calling escalated.[197]
In September 2024, Rowlingtweeted that she had begun work on a futuristic novel; she added that there were three different projects she could turn to, once the tenth and final plannedStrike novel had been published.[208]
Pottermore, a website with information and stories about characters in theHarry Potter universe, launched in 2011. On its release,Pottermore was rooted in theHarry Potter novels, tracing the series's story in an interactive format. Its brand was associated with Rowling: she introduced the site in a video as a shared media environment to which she andHarry Potter fans would contribute. The site was substantially revised in 2015 to resemble an encyclopedia ofHarry Potter.[209][210]
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child premiered in theWest End in May 2016[211] and onBroadway in July.[212] At its London premiere, Rowling confirmed that she would not write any moreHarry Potter books.[213] Rowling collaborated with writerJack Thorne and directorJohn Tiffany.[211][212]Cursed Child's script was published as a book in July 2016.[214] The play follows the friendship between Harry's son Albus and Scorpius Malfoy,Draco Malfoy's son, at Hogwarts.[212]
The Ickabog was Rowling's first book aimed at children sinceHarry Potter.[219] Ickabog is a monster that turns out to be real; a group of children find out the truth about the Ickabog and save the day.[220][221] Rowling releasedThe Ickabog for free online in mid-2020, during theCOVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.[222] She began writing it in 2009 but set it aside to focus on other works includingCasual Vacancy.[222] Scholastic held a competition to select children's art for the print edition, which was published in the US and Canada on 10 November 2020.[223] Profits went to charities focused on COVID-19 relief.[219][224]
InThe Christmas Pig, a young boy loses his favourite stuffed animal, a pig, and the Christmas Pig guides him through the fantastical Land of the Lost to retrieve it.[225] The novel was published on 12 October 2021[226] and became a bestseller in the UK[227] and the US.[228]
Rowling has namedJessica Mitford as her greatest influence. She said Mitford had "been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in theSpanish Civil War", and that what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target".[229] As a child, Rowling readC. S. Lewis'sThe Chronicles of Narnia,Elizabeth Goudge'sThe Little White Horse,Manxmouse byPaul Gallico, and books byE. Nesbit andNoel Streatfeild.[230] Rowling describes Jane Austen as her "favourite author of all time".[231]
Earlier works prominently featuring characters who learn to use magic include Le Guin'sEarthsea series, in which a school of wizardry also appears, and theChrestomanci books by Jones.[237][238] Rowling's setting of a "school of witchcraft and wizardry" departs from the still older tradition of protagonists as apprentices to magicians, exemplified byThe Sorcerer's Apprentice: yet this trope does appear inHarry Potter, when Harry receives individual instruction fromRemus Lupin and other teachers.[237] Rowling also draws on the tradition ofstories set in boarding schools, a major example of which isThomas Hughes's 1857 volumeTom Brown's School Days.[239][240]
Rowling is known primarily as an author offantasy andchildren's literature.[241] Her writing in other genres, includingliterary fiction andmurder mystery, has received less critical attention.[242] Rowling's most famous work,Harry Potter, has been defined as afairy tale, aBildungsroman and a boarding-school story.[243][244] Her other writings have been described by Pugh as gritty contemporary fiction with historical influences (The Casual Vacancy) andhardboiled detective fiction (Cormoran Strike).[245]
InHarry Potter, Rowling juxtaposes the extraordinary against the ordinary.[246] Her narrative features two worlds – the mundane and the fantastic – but it differs from typicalportal fantasy in that its magical elements stay grounded in the everyday.[247] Paintings move and talk; books bite readers; letters shout messages; and maps show live journeys,[246][248] making the wizarding world "both exotic and cosily familiar" according to the scholarCatherine Butler.[248] This blend of realistic and romantic elements extends to Rowling's characters.[249][250] Harry is ordinary and relatable, with down-to-earth features such as wearing broken glasses;[251] these elements serve to highlight Harry when he is heroic, making him both aneveryman and a fairytale hero.[251][252]
Arthurian, Christian and fairytale motifs are frequently found in Rowling's writing. Harry's ability to draw theSword of Gryffindor from theSorting Hat resembles the Arthuriansword in the stone legend.[253] His life with the Dursleys has been compared toCinderella.[254] Like C. S. Lewis'sThe Chronicles of Narnia,Harry Potter contains Christian symbolism andallegory. The series has been viewed as a Christian moral fable in thepsychomachia tradition, in which stand-ins for good and evil fight for supremacy over a person's soul.[255] The critic of children's literature Joy Farmer sees parallels between Harry andJesus Christ.[256] According toMaria Nikolajeva, Christian imagery is particularly strong in the final scenes of the series: she writes that Harry dies in self-sacrifice and Voldemort delivers anecce homo speech, after which Harry isresurrected and defeats his enemy.[257]
Themes
Death is Rowling's overarching theme inHarry Potter.[258][259] In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, he feels both joy and "a terrible sadness" at seeing his desire: his parents, alive and with him.[260] Confronting their loss is central to Harry's character arc and manifests in different ways through the series, such as in his struggles withDementors.[260][261] Other characters in Harry's life die; he even faces his own death inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[262] Rowling has spoken about thematising death and loss in the series. Soon after she started writingPhilosopher's Stone, her mother died, and she said that "I really think from that moment on, death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books".[263] Rowling has described Harry as "the prism through which I view death", and further stated that "all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death".[264]
WhileHarry Potter can be viewed as a story about good versus evil, its moral divisions are not absolute.[265][266] First impressions of characters are often misleading. Harry assumes in the first book that Quirrell is good because he opposes Snape, who appears malicious; in reality, their positions are reversed.[265] In Rowling's world, good and evil are choices rather than inherent attributes: second chances and redemption are key themes of the series.[267]
Reception
Rowling has enjoyed enormous commercial success as an author. HerHarry Potter series topped bestseller lists,[268] spawned aglobal media franchise includingfilms[64] andvideo games,[269] andhad been translated into 84 languages by 2023.[270] The first threeHarry Potter books occupied the top three spots ofThe New York Times bestseller list for more than a year; they were then moved to a newly created children's list.[271] The final four books each set records as the fastest-selling books in the UK or US,[o] and the series as a whole had sold more than 600 million copies as of 2023[update].[270] Neither of Rowling's later works,The Casual Vacancy and theCormoran Strike series, has been as successful,[275] althoughCasual Vacancy was still a bestseller in the UK within weeks of its release.[276]Harry Potter's popularity has been attributed to factors including the nostalgia evoked by the boarding-school story, the endearing nature of Rowling's characters, and the accessibility of her books to a variety of readers.[277][278] According toJulia Eccleshare, the books are "neither too literary nor too popular, too difficult nor too easy, neither too young nor too old", and hence bridge traditional reading divides.[279]
Critical response toHarry Potter has been more mixed.[280]Harold Bloom regarded Rowling's prose as poor and her plots as conventional,[281][282] whileJack Zipes argues that the series would not be successful if it were not formulaic.[283] Zipes states that the early novels have the same plot: in each book, Harry escapes the Dursleys to visit Hogwarts, where he confronts Lord Voldemort and then heads back successful.[284] Rowling's prose has been described as simple and not innovative;Le Guin, like several other critics, considered it "stylistically ordinary".[285] According to the novelistA. S. Byatt, the books reflect a dumbed-down culture dominated bysoap operas andreality television.[243][286] Thus, some critics argue,Harry Potter does not innovate on established literary forms; nor does it challenge readers' preconceived ideas.[243][287] Conversely, the scholarPhilip Nel rejects such critiques as "snobbery" that reacts to the novels' popularity,[281] whereas Mary Pharr argues thatHarry Potter's conventionalism is the point: by amalgamating literary forms familiar to her readers, Rowling invites them to "ponder their own ideas".[288] Other critics who see artistic merit in Rowling's writing includeMarina Warner, who viewsHarry Potter as part of an "alternative genealogy" of English literature that she traces fromEdmund Spenser toChristina Rossetti.[280]Michiko Kakutani praises Rowling's fictional world and the darker tone of the series' later entries.[289]
Reception of Rowling's later works has varied among critics.The Casual Vacancy, her attempt at literary fiction, drew mixed reviews. Some critics praised its characterisation, while others stated that it would have been better if it had contained magic.[290] TheCormoran Strike series was more warmly received as a work of British detective fiction, even as some reviewers noted that its plots are occasionally contrived.[291] Theatrical reviews ofHarry Potter and the Cursed Child were highly positive.[211][212] Fans have been more critical of the play's use oftime travel, changes to characters' personalities, and perceivedqueerbaiting in Albus and Scorpius's relationship, leading some to question its connection to theHarry Potter canon.[292]
Gender and social division
Rowling's portrayal of women inHarry Potter has been described as complex and varied, but nonetheless conforming to stereotypical andpatriarchal depictions of gender.[293] Gender divides are ostensibly absent in the books: Hogwarts iscoeducational and women hold positions of power in wizarding society. However, this setting obscures the typecasting of female characters and the general depiction of conventional gender roles.[294] According to the scholars Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson, the subordination of female characters goes further early in the series. The final three books "showcase richer roles and more powerful females": for instance, the series' "most matriarchal character", Molly Weasley, engages substantially in the final battle ofDeathly Hallows, while other women are shown as leaders.[295] Hermione Granger, in particular, becomes an active and independent character essential to the protagonists' battle against evil.[296] Yet, even particularly capable female characters such as Hermione andMinerva McGonagall are placed in supporting roles,[297] and Hermione's status as a feminist model is debated.[298] Girls and women are frequently shown as emotional, defined by their appearance, and denied agency in family settings.[299]
The social hierarchies in Rowling's magical world have been a matter of debate among scholars and critics.[300] The primary antagonists ofHarry Potter, Voldemort and his followers, believe blood purity is paramount, and that non-wizards, or "muggles", are subhuman.[301] Their ideology of racial difference is depicted as unambiguously evil.[302] However, the series cannot wholly reject racial division, according to several scholars, as it still depicts wizards as fundamentally superior to muggles.[303] Blake and Zipes argue that numerous examples of wizardly superiority are depicted as "natural and comfortable".[304] Thus, according to Gupta,Harry Potter depicts superior races as having a moral obligation of tolerance and altruism towards lesser races, rather than explicitly depicting equality.[305]
Rowling's depictions of the status of magical non-humans is similarly debated.[306] Discussing the slavery ofhouse-elves withinHarry Potter, scholars such asBrycchan Carey have praised the books'abolitionist sentiments, viewing Hermione'sSociety for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare as a model for younger readers' political engagement.[307] Other critics, includingFarah Mendlesohn, find the portrayal of house-elves extremely troublesome; they are written as happy in their slavery, and Hermione's efforts on their behalf are implied to be naïve.[308] Pharr terms the house-elves a disharmonious element in the series, writing that Rowling leaves their fate hanging;[309] at the end ofDeathly Hallows, the elves remain enslaved and cheerful.[310] More generally, the subordination of magical non-humans remains in place, unchanged by the defeat of Voldemort.[311] Thus, scholars suggest, the series's message is essentially conservative; it sees no reason to transform social hierarchies, only being concerned with who holds positions of power.[312]
There have beenattempts to banHarry Potter around the world, especially in the United States,[313][314] and in theBible Belt in particular.[315] The series topped theAmerican Library Association's list of most challenged books in the first three years of its publication.[316] In the following years, parents in several US cities launched protests against teaching it in schools.[317] Some Christian critics, particularlyEvangelical Christians, have claimed that the novels promote witchcraft and harm children;[318][319] similar opposition has been expressed to the film adaptations.[320] Criticism has taken two main forms: allegations thatHarry Potter is apagan text; and claims that it encourages children to oppose authority, derived mainly from Harry's rejection of the Dursleys, his guardians.[321] The author and scholar Amanda Cockrell suggests thatHarry Potter's popularity, and recent preoccupation with fantasy and the occult among Christian fundamentalists, explains why the series received particular opposition.[314] Some groups ofShia andSunni Muslims also argued that the series contained Satanic subtext, and it was banned in private schools in theUnited Arab Emirates by its Ministry of Education and Youth, which stated it contradicted Islamic values.[322][323][324]
TheHarry Potter books also have a group of vocal religious supporters who believe thatHarry Potter espouses Christian values, or that the Bible does not prohibit the forms of magic described in the series.[325] Christian analyses of the series have argued that it embraces ideals of friendship, loyalty, courage, love, and the temptation of power.[326][327] After the final volume was published, Rowling said she intentionally incorporated Christian themes, in particular the idea that love may hold power over death.[326] According to Farmer, it is a profound misreading to think thatHarry Potter promotes witchcraft.[328] The scholar Em McAvan writes that evangelical objections toHarry Potter are superficial, based on the presence of magic in the books: they do not attempt to understand the moral messages in the series.[315]
Rowling'sHarry Potter series has been credited with a resurgence in crossover fiction: children's literature with an adult appeal.[329][p] Crossovers were prevalent in 19th-century American and British fiction, but fell out of favour in the 20th century[331] and did not occur at the same scale.[332] The post-Harry Potter crossover trend is associated with the fantasy genre.[333] In the 1970s, children's books were generallyrealistic as opposed to fantastic,[334] while adult fantasy became popular because of the influence ofThe Lord of the Rings.[335] The next decade saw an increasing interest in grim, realist themes, with an outflow of fantasy readers and writers to adult works.[336][337]
The commercial success ofHarry Potter in 1997 reversed this trend.[338] The scale of its growth had no precedent in the children's market: within four years, it occupied 28% of that field by revenue.[339] Children's literature rose in cultural status,[340] and fantasy became a dominant genre.[333][341] Older works of children's fantasy, includingDiana Wynne Jones'sChrestomanci series andDiane Duane'sYoung Wizards, were reprinted and rose in popularity; some authors re-established their careers.[342] In the following decades, manyHarry Potter imitators and subversive responses grew popular.[343][344]
Rowling has been compared withEnid Blyton, who also wrote in simple language about groups of children and long held sway over the British children's market.[345][346] She has also been described as an heir toRoald Dahl.[347] Some critics viewHarry Potter's rise, along with the concurrent success ofPhilip Pullman'sHis Dark Materials, as part of a broader shift in reading tastes: a rejection of literary fiction in favour of plot and adventure.[348] This is reflected in the BBC's 2003 "Big Read" survey of the UK's favourite books, where Pullman and Rowling ranked at numbers 3 and 5, respectively, with very few British literary classics in the top 10.[349]
Harry Potter's popularity led its publishers to plan elaborate releases and spawned a textual afterlife among fans and forgers. Beginning with the release ofPrisoner of Azkaban on 8 July 1999 at 3:45 pm,[350] its publishers coordinated selling the books at the same time globally, introduced security protocols to prevent premature purchases, and required booksellers to agree not to sell copies before the appointed time.[351] Driven by the growth of the internet,fan fiction about the series proliferated and has spawned a diverse community of readers and writers.[352][353] While Rowling has supported fan fiction, her statements about characters – for instance, that Harry and Hermione could have been a couple, and that Dumbledore was gay – have complicated her relationship with readers;[354][355] according to Pugh, she only announced Dumbledore's sexuality to her fans, but not in the books, thus "closeting this character for unexplained reasons".[356] According to scholars, this shows that modern readers feel a sense of ownership over the text that is independent of, and sometimes contradicts,authorial intent.[357][358]
In the 1990s and 2000s, Rowling was both a plaintiff and defendant in lawsuits allegingcopyright infringement. Nancy Stouffer sued Rowling in 1999, alleging thatHarry Potter was based on stories she published in 1984.[359][360] Rowling won in September 2002.[361]Richard Posner describes Stouffer's suit as deeply flawed and notes that the court, finding she had used "forged and altered documents", assessed a $50,000 penalty against her.[362]
With her literary agents and Warner Bros., Rowling has brought legal action against publishers and writers ofHarry Potter knockoffs in several countries.[363] In the mid-2000s, Rowling and her publishers obtained a series of injunctions prohibiting sales or published reviews of her books before their official release dates.[364][365]
Beginning in 2001, after Rowling sold film rights to Warner Bros., the studio tried to takeHarry Potter fan sites offline unless it determined that they were made by "authentic" fans for innocuous purposes.[366] In 2007, with Warner Bros., Rowling started proceedings to cease publication of a book based on content from a fan site calledThe Harry Potter Lexicon.[359][367] The court held thatLexicon was neither afair use of Rowling's material nor aderivative work, but it did not prevent the book from being published in a different form.[368]Lexicon was published in 2009.[369]
Philanthropy
Long interested in issues affecting women and children,[370] Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, named after her mother[371] to address social deprivation in at-risk women, children and youth.[372] She was appointed president of One Parent Families (nowGingerbread) in 2004,[373] after becoming its first ambassador in 2000.[371] She collaborated withSarah Brown[374] on a book of children's stories to benefit One Parent Families.[371] Together with theMEPEmma Nicholson,[375] Rowling founded the charity now known asLumos in 2005.[371] Lumos has worked with an orphanage west ofKyiv,Ukraine since 2013;[376][377] after the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rowling offered to personally match up to £1million in donations to Lumos for Ukraine.[378] Later in 2022, during her advocacy against theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill,[379] Rowling stated she had founded and would fundBeira's Place, a women-only rape help centre that provides free support services to survivors of sexual violence.[370] The centre excludes trans women.[380] She has donated several hundred thousandpounds to help women lawyers flee from theTaliban's control, helping hundreds ofAfghans escape.[381]
Several publications in theHarry Potter universe have been sold for charitable purposes. Profits fromFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them andQuidditch Through the Ages, both published in 2001, went toComic Relief.[371] To support Children's Voice, later renamed Lumos, Rowling sold a deluxe copy ofThe Tales of Beedle the Bard at auction in 2007.Amazon's £1.95 million purchase set a record for a contemporary literary work and for children's literature.[386][387] Rowling published the book and, in 2013, donated the proceeds of nearly £19 million (then about $30 million) to Lumos.[388][389] Rowling and 12 other writers composed short pieces in 2008 to be sold to benefit Dyslexia Action and EnglishPEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-wordHarry Potter prequel.[390][q] When the revelation that Rowling wroteThe Cuckoo's Calling led to an increase in sales,[197] she donated the royalties toABF The Soldiers' Charity (formerly the Army Benevolent Fund).[371][392]
Rowling's charitable donations before 2012 were estimated byForbes at $160 million.[179] She was the second most generous UK donor in 2015 (following the singerElton John), giving about $14 million.[393]
Views
Rowling was actively engaged on the internet before author webpages were common.[394] She has usedTwitter to reach herHarry Potter fans and followers.[395][396]
In her "Single mother's manifesto" published inThe Times in 2010, Rowling criticised the prime minister David Cameron's plan to offer married couples an annual tax credit. She thought that the proposal discriminated against single parents, whose interests the Conservative Party failed to consider.[399] Rowling opposed the2014 Scottish independence referendum, due to concerns about the economic consequences, and donated £1 million to theBetter Together anti-independence campaign.[400] She campaigned for the UK to stay in theEuropean Union in the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. She defined herself as an internationalist, "the mongrel product of this European continent",[29] and expressed concern that "racists and bigots" were directing parts of the Leave campaign.[401]
She opposed Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, but refused to support acultural boycott of Israel in 2015, believing that depriving Israelis of shared culture would not dislodge him.[402] In 2015, Rowling joined 150 others in signing a letter published inThe Guardian in favour of cultural engagement with Israel.[403]
Press
Rowling has a difficult relationship with the press and has tried to influence the type of coverage she receives.[404] She described herself in 2003 as "too thin-skinned".[405] As of 2011, she had taken more than 50 actions against the press.[406] Rowling dislikes the British tabloid theDaily Mail,[407] which she successfully sued in 2014 for libel about her time as a single mother.[408]
TheLeveson Inquiry into the British press named Rowling as a "core participant" in 2011. She was one of many celebrities alleged to have been victims ofphone hacking.[409] The following year she criticised Cameron's decision not to implement all the inquiry's recommendations and supported the Hacked Off campaign, pushing for stricter media reform.[410][411]
Rowling hasgender-critical views,[412] and she opposes many proposed laws that would make it simpler for transgender people totransition.[413][414][415] Her views are often described as transphobic or anti-trans,[416][417][418][419] though Rowling disputes this.[66][420] In 2024,Variety wrote that Rowling had "made her campaign against trans identity the central focus of her online persona".[421]
Friction over Rowling's gender-critical writings surged in 2019 when she defendedMaya Forstater,[422] whoseemployment contract was not renewed after she made gender-critical statements, which some considered "anti-trans".[356][423] Rowling wrote thattransgender people should live in "peace and security" but said she opposed "forc[ing] women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real".[424][r] According toHarry Potter scholar Lana Whited, in the next six months "Rowling herself fanned the flames as she became increasingly vocal".[429] In June 2020,[429] Rowling mocked the phrase "people who menstruate"[430] and tweeted thatwomen's rights and "lived reality" would be "erased" if "sex isn't real".[431][356] In April 2024, responding toScotland's Hate Crime and Public Order Act, she tweeted a list of trans women, writing that they are "men, every last one of them".[432]
Rowling believes that making it simpler for transgender people to transition could impinge on access to female-only spaces and legal protections for women.[413][414][415] She opposes legislation[s] to advancegender self-recognition and enable transition without a medical diagnosis.[437][438][t] On social media, Rowling suggests that children andcisgender women are threatened by trans women and trans-positive messages.[439]
Rowling denies being transphobic.[66][420] In an essay posted on her website in June 2020, she explained that her views on women's rights sprang from her experience of domestic abuse andsexual assault.[454][455] While affirming that "the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable ... transgender people need and deserve protection", she wrote that it would be unsafe to allow "any man who believes or feels he's a woman" into bathrooms or changing rooms.[455][456][457] Writing of her own experiences withmisogyny,[458] she wondered if the "allure of escapingwomanhood" would have led her to transition if she had been born later, and she said that trans activism was "seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class".[459] Whited asserted in 2024 that Rowling's sometimes "flippant" and "simplistic understanding of gender identity" had left some transgender people feeling betrayed and permanently changed her "relationship not only with fans, readers, and scholars ... but also with her works themselves".[460]
Rowling shared theBritish Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema with the cast and crew of theHarry Potter films in 2011.[477] Her other awards include the 2017Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play forHarry Potter and the Cursed Child,[478] and the 2021 British Book Awards' Crime and Thriller prize for the fifth volume of herCormoran Strike series.[479]
Reynolds, Kim; Cooling, Wendy, project consultants.Families Just Like Us: The One Parent Families Good Book Guide. National Council for One Parent Families; Book Trust.
^Sources differ on the precise name of Rowling's place of birth. As of July 2024[update], Rowling's personal website said she was born at "Yate General Hospital near Bristol".[8] She has sometimes said she was born inChipping Sodbury, which is near Yate.[9]Tison Pugh says she was born in Chipping Sodbury General Hospital.[10]The Scotsman lists Cottage Hospital in Chipping Sodbury.[11] Biographer Smith describes Chipping Sodbury as "Yate's elegant neighbor", and reproduces a birth certificate that says District Sodbury, but lists the hospital as Cottage Hospital, 240 Station Road, Yate.[12] According to Smith: "... the [BBC Television] documentary still erroneously claimed that Joanne was born in Chipping Sodbury. Yet despite the mistake, the good folk of Yate are pressing for some kind of plaque or feature in their town to record it as her place of birth."[13]
^St Michael's Primary School headmaster, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for theHarry Potter headmasterAlbus Dumbledore;[24] biographer Smith writes that Rowling's father, and other figures in her education, provide more likely examples.[25]
^Rowling denies that her young playmate Ian Potter represents Harry.[26]
^Smith describes Tutshill as "staunchly middle class",[31] and Parker describes Church Cottage as a "handsomeGothic Revival cottage".[32] In 2020, it was reported that a company listing Rowling's husband, Neil Murray, as director had purchased Church Cottage and renovations were underway.[33]
^Pugh writes that "Rowling reportedly modeled the strict pedagogical style ofSeverus Snape after [Sylvia] Morgan's methods."[10] Kirk states that "Jo has admitted modeling Professor Snape on a few of her most memorable and least favorite people from her past, and she has said that Mrs. Morgan ... was definitely one of them."[38] According to Smith, "Aspects of Mrs Morgan's fearsome character are embodied in the Hogwarts' Potions master, Professor Severus Snape."[39]
^Smith compares the place meals held in the Rowling household[56] and the descriptions of food inThe Little White Horse to the elaborate food prepared for Hogwarts pupils.[57]
^Rowling later described Harris as her "getaway driver and foul weather friend"; his Anglia inspired a flying version that appeared inHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a symbol of escape and rescue.[68][69]
^Pugh writes, "In a droll allusion to this ill-fated union, Professor Trelawney warns Lavender Brown, 'Incidentally, that thing you are dreading – it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October'."[41]
^Rowling says that Jessica was named after Mitford and a boy would have been named Harry; according to Smith (2002), Arantes says that Jessica was named afterJezebel from the Bible.[95]
^The Scottish Arts Council grant was after Rowling had a contract for publication ofPhilosopher's Stone but before it was published.[126]
^According to Errington, 500 hardbacks and 5,150 paperbacks "were published on the same date and neither has bibliographical priority". It was previously believed that the initial print run was 500 copies total, but this number is "woefully inaccurate".[129]
^Smith writes that the Rowling sisters "never attended Sunday school or services",[165] and Parker writes that the other Rowling family members were not regular churchgoers, but that "Rowling regularly attended services in the church next door".[32]
^While noting the prevalent view thatHarry Potter catalysed this change, the critic Rachel Falconer also credits socio-economic factors. In her view, Rowling's success is part of "a larger cultural change in contemporary Western society which accords greater weight and value to the signifier, the 'child', than in previous decades".[330]
^The originalHarry Potter prequel manuscript was stolen in 2017.[391]
^Rowling wrote in 2020: "The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law."[66]
^Kirk 2003, p. 33. The years of British secondary school are equivalent to the United States grades of 6–12; Kirk compares them to the seven years of the books in theHarry Potter series.
^Loer, Stephanie (18 October 1999). "All about Harry Potter from Quidditch to the future of the Sorting Hat".The Boston Globe. p. C7.ProQuest405306485.
^Kirk 2003, p. 57: "Soon, by many eyewitness accounts and even some versions of Jorge's own story, domestic violence became a painful reality in Jo's life.".
^Weeks, Linton (20 October 1999). "Charmed, I'm sure; the enchanting success story of Harry Potter's creator, J.K. Rowling".The Washington Post. p. C01.ProQuest408532236.
^Presenter: Mark Lawson (27 September 2012)."J. K. Rowling".Front Row. Event occurs at 17:45.BBC Radio 4.Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved27 September 2012.
^Beckett 2008, p. 114: "The Goblet of Fire was the fastest-selling book in history.".
^Grenby 2016, p. 1: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003) was the fastest selling book in UK history (5 million copies in one day)".
^Falconer 2008, p. 16: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ... broke records as the fastest selling book in history, selling nine million copies on its first day in July 2005. The final volume went even further and broke sales records on both sides of the Atlantic, selling eleven million copies in its first 24 hours.".
^"Elton John, JK Rowling top list of charitable UK celebrities in 2015". EFE News Service. 17 April 2016.ProQuest1781399093.Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, allocated around $14 million for the benefit of two NGOs; the Lumos Foundation, which aims to end the institutionalizing of children by 2050, and the Volant Charitable Trust, which funds projects that alleviate social deprivation, as well as research into multiple sclerosis.
^Whited 2024, p. 7. "But in June 2020, Rowling's manifesto led some people to label her as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF), a term first used in 2008 that has more recently evolved as 'gender critical'.".
^Steinfeld 2020, pp. 34–35. "Just ask JK Rowling and other women who have been labelled as Terfs".
^Schwirblat, Freberg & Freberg 2022, pp. 367–368. "This sparked a heated discussion within the Twitter community, one side buttressing Rowling's statements, and the other espousing her as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF)".
Brummitt, Cassie; Sellars, Kieran (1 December 2019). "'Friends? Always': queerbaiting, ambiguity, and erasure inHarry Potter and the Cursed Child". In Brennan, Joseph (ed.).Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities.University of Iowa Press.ISBN978-1-60938-672-6.OCLC1104912811.
McAvan, Em (2012). "Harry Potter and the origins of the occult". In Hallett, Cynthia J.; Huey, Peggy J. (eds.).J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-333-69345-2.
Schwirblat, Tatiana; Freberg, Karen; Freberg, Laura (2022). "Chapter 21: Cancel culture: a career vulture amongst influencers on social media". In Lipschultz, Jeremy Harris; Freberg, Karen; Luttrell, Regina (eds.).The Emerald Handbook of Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Media.Emerald Publishing Limited.doi:10.1108/978-1-80071-597-420221021.ISBN978-1800715981.
Whited, Lana A. (2015). "A survey of the critical reception of the Harry Potter series". In Grimes, M. Katherine; Whited, Lana A. (eds.).Critical Insights: The Harry Potter Series.Salem Press.ISBN978-1-61925-520-3.EBSCOhost108515151.
Cockrell, Amanda (February 2006). "Harry Potter and the witch hunters: a social context for the attacks on Harry Potter".The Journal of American Culture.29 (6):24–30.doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.2006.00272.x.ISSN1542-7331.
"J.K. Rowling, creadora de Harry Potter, Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia" [J.K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter, Concord Prince of Asturias].El País (in Spanish). 10 September 2003. Retrieved8 January 2022.La escritora británica J.K. Rowling ... ha obtenido este año el premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia ... La Fundación Príncipe de Asturias ha destacado su labor para que los niños lean y ha alabado su literatura como 'vínculo entre continentes y generaciones'. El acta del jurado ... destaca además que sus libros promueven 'la imaginación como fuente de libertad al servicio del bien y la cooperación y la solidaridad entre las personas'. [British writer J.K. Rowling ... has won this year's Prince of Asturias Award for Concord ... The Prince of Asturias Foundation has highlighted her work towards children's reading and has praised her literature as 'a link between continents and generations'. The jury's record ... also highlights that her books promote 'imagination as a source of freedom at the service of good and cooperation and solidarity between people'.]
Cruz, Juan (8 February 2008)."'Ser invisible ... eso sería lo más'" [Being invisible ... that would be the most].El País (in Spanish).Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved6 January 2021.Y de pronto alguien cercano se muere y entonces cae la bomba. Harry tiene un entendimiento precoz de la muerte, mucho antes de ese capítulo. Y eso tiene un evidente paralelismo con mi vida. ... Asuntos como el amor, la pérdida, la separación, la muerte ... Y todo eso queda reflejado en el primer libro. ... Me siento muy atraída por la religión, pero al mismo tiempo siento mucha incertidumbre. Vivo en un estado de flujo espiritual. Creo en la permanencia del alma. Y eso queda reflejado en el último libro. ... Quiero a un demócrata en la Casa Blanca. Y me parece una lástima que Clinton y Obama tengan que ser rivales porque ambos son extraordinarios. [And suddenly someone close [to you] dies and then a bomb drops. Harry has a precocious understanding of death, long before that chapter. And that has obvious parallels with my life. ... Issues like love, loss, separation, death ... And all of that is reflected in the first book. ... I feel very attracted to religion, but at the same time I feel a lot of uncertainty. I live in a state of spiritual flux. I believe in the permanence of the soul. And that is reflected in the last book. ... I want a Democrat in the White House. And I think it's a pity that Clinton and Obama have to be rivals because they are both extraordinary.]
Marsick, Laurent (3 February 2023). Abelard, Agathe (ed.)."'Harry Potter': comment J.K. Rowling est-elle passée de l'ombre à la lumière?" ['Harry Potter': how did J.K. Rowling go from the shadows to the light?] (in French).RTL. Retrieved15 February 2023.Traduits en 84 langues, les 7 romans d'Harry Potter se sont écoulés à plus de 600 millions d'exemplaires dans le monde. [Translated into 84 languages, the 7 Harry Potter novels have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide.]
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