Joanne had a serious decision to make now that she was once again settled down in a two-room apartment. She wanted to continue Harry Potter, but she needed money to support her child. To her dismay Rowling ended up living entirely on public assistance (welfare). Rowling abhorred the idea of being forced to live on charity. As Rowling visited her friend who had just had a baby, she couldn’t help but cry as she noticed that her friend’s child had a large room full of toys, while her daughter’s playthings were snugly fit within a single shoebox.
Writing Sorcerer’s Stone was tough with a baby, and whenever Rowling could get Jessica to sleep, she would rush to a nearby cafi?? , and hurriedly write a few chapters, often rewriting the same chapters until she decided she had to move on. The cafi?? employees and manager did not take kindly to Rowling’s intrusion in their coffee shop, for she would buy a single cup of tea as she longhand wrote her novel for hours. Luckily, with the opening her brother-in-law’s cafi?? , Rowling was able to write in peace and in 1995, finished the first copy of her novel.
After the completion of her manuscript she began to type it on an inexpensive manual typewriter. She struggled to finish typing and even wrote her novel in the computer labs at the college where she was taking her teaching classes. In the end, she worriedly noted that her novel was twice the length of a regular children’s novel. She set off to find a job now that she once again had free-time on her hands, and soon began teaching French. She sent two copies of her manuscript to various researched publishers but was rejected by all of them. She tried again, this time sending her manuscript to an agent by the name of Christopher Little.
However, her copy instead reached Bryony Evans, the office manager. After reviewing the first three chapters, the company agreed to represent Rowling. Right away they sent copies of the book to twelve various publishing houses, all of which rejected it. They continued to try and find a publisher and a year later success was at hand. Rowling received a letter of acceptance from editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury. The decision to take Rowling on was due to the eight year old daughter of the company’s chairman who insisted on reading the rest of the book after receiving the first chapter.
Rowling was immensely satisfied at finally getting published and did not care that writing children’s books would not be a very profitable career. After the publication Rowling received an “i?? 8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing”. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published merely five thousand copies of Philosopher’s Stone, and most of them were sent to libraries, however, those first copies are now prized greatly by collectors around the world, and are valued over fifteen thousand dollars.
In America, the rights to publish the novel were being auctioned and Scholastic Inc. came out the winner, buying the right to the novel for over one hundred thousand dollars. News which blew Rowling’s mind. In October of 1998 Scholastic published Rowling’s novel under the new title; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Soon news of Rowling’s fantasy novel spread throughout the world and with it Rowling’s fame. Rowling won numerous prizes and honorary awards from her series including: Nestli?’smarties Book Prize; British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year; Children’s Book Award.
In December of 1999, Rowling having finished the second book, published the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and once more won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to ever be awarded the Smarties Prize three times in a row. Her fame reached such a height that she felt it would only be right to withdraw her fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from the running to give other authors a chance. Rowling’s awards did not end there however, in January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the first Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award ever given out.
Rowling did lose the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. That same year, in June, the Queen of England honored Rowling by dawning her as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Rowling’s novels have broken sales records, even being noted as the fastest selling books in history. The speed and amount of money at which Rowling’s books sold is greater than that of any blockbuster film. A Guinness World Records Award was given to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for being the fastest selling book ever.
Despite her great wealth Rowling constantly cares for those in desperate need for aid and help. She has contributed greatly to society through various charitable causes. A popular charity being Comic Relief in which she wrote two catalogues relating to the Wizarding world in her novels: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, both of these books were mentioned in the Harry Potter series and so she even went as far as to write under the names of Newt Scamander and Kennilworthy Whisp each being the “author” of one of the catalogues.
The books grossed over fifty million dollars and she even contributed a separate twenty-two million to the organization as well. J. K. Rowling is currently married to Neil Murray, an anesthetist, and lives in an estate in Perth and Kinross, Scotland with their three children: their daughter Jessica, their son David and Rowling’s youngest child, Mackenzie. Rowling has lived in many different places, suffered tragedy and experienced success. As we look closer at her works we see how her life has been exemplified by her works. Rowling draws her readers through ha fascinating storyline, through the world she created.
True, the Harry Potter series may not be noted as a great “lyrical” work, such as Tolkein’s fantasy, Lord of the Rings; however, what Rowling lacks in her style she indisputably makes up with her content. The twists near the end of every chapter, ever book, keep the reader on an edge. The witty humor is cleverly placed to break the gloom and darker moments of the series. Rowling is unquestionably a master storyteller, and though some may compare her works to others and decide them to be a poor display of literature; must an author create a flawless epic to be noted as a worthy read?
Works Cited Gray, Paul. “The Magic of Potter. ” Time. com, 17 December 2000 ;http://www. time. com/time/poy2000/mag/rowling. html;. Fialkoff, Francine. “Potter for Parents. ” Library Journal 15 October 1999: Contemporary Literary Criticism. Literary Resource Center, East Islip High School, Islip Terrace, NY. 12 January 2007 ;http://www. esboces. org/SLS/vrc. cfm;. Kakutani, Michiko. “Harry Potter Works His Magic Again in a Far Darker Tale” New York Times 16 July 2005: Contemporary Literary Criticism. Literary Resource Center, East Islip High School, Islip Terrace, NY.
12 January 2007 ;http://www. esboces. org/SLS/vrc. cfm;. Rowling Kathleen, Joanne. J. K. Rowling Official Site. Lightmaker. 15 January 2007 ;http://www. jkrowling. com/textonly/en/biography. cfm;. Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations With J. K. Rowling. London: Scholastic Inc. , 2000. Ward, S. Meet J. K. Rowling. New York: PowerKids Press, 2001. Chippendale, Lisa A. Triumph of the Imagination : the Story of Writer J. K. Rowling. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic Publishing
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Publishing Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Publishing Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Publishing Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Publishing Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York: Scholastic Publishing “J. K. Rowling. ” Wikipedia. 10 February 2007. 15 January 2007 ;http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/J. _K. _Rowling; .
