Joanne Kathleen Rowling, better known by her pen name J.K. Rowling, is one of the greatest storytellers of all times and the first female billionaire novelist. She is the true definition of struggle and success and woman’s power. She changed her real name to be an author and chose one that would not specify her gender so that the publisher would not reject her work as it came from a woman.
During one fine morning in 1990, when she was riding a train from Manchester to London, she started to develop the idea of Harry Potter’s story. Unfortunately, her mother died later that year which stopped her from pursuing her writing. Her life took a different path when she moved to Portugal in 1992 to teach English as a foreign language. She met Jorge Arantes, a television journalist who later became her husband. The relationship was short-lived. She filed for a divorce in 1993.
This was the turning point of her life when she, along with her infant daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland to be near her sister with three chapters of Harry Potter in her suitcase. It was the most devastating period of Rowling’s life when she got divorced while upbringing an infant without any job.
When life was dark and gloomy, she found the light at the end of a tunnel – always pushing through the trials and tribulations life would throw at her. Taking a stroll around the neighborhood put her daughter to sleep most often, and Rowling would take this time to write in coffee shops in the area. Most of her personal experiences became sources of ideas for the books. After six years, the first installment of the bestselling series was ready to be released to the public.
Unfortunately, all the publishers she sent the manuscript to, turned her down. But a small publishing house agreed to publish the book and only 1,000 copies were published. Soon after, this changed when the book won prestigious awards such as Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year.
As of 2013, the book has sold more than 500 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 73 languages. The book was adapted into a movie series making it a billion-dollar franchise business. Her rags to riches story following her creation of the Harry Potter book series changed the world for the better.
Today, Harry Potter is a global brand worth more than $15 billion dollars. So, Never give up. Believe in yourself. Be passionate. Work hard. It’s never too late.
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Maria Afsha
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE