Little Known Facts About J. K. Rowling

How Well Do You Know the Creator of the Harry Potter Series?

You and your child may know everything there is to know about Harry Potter, but how much do you know about his creator, English author J. K. Rowling? Here are some little known facts about J. K. Rowling.

J. K. stands for Joanne Kathleen. J. K. Rowling chose to use initials for her books because her publisher feared that if readers knew she was female, they would lose interest in the boy wizard, Harry Potter. Of course, everyone later learned this was hardly the case. 

Harry Potter was created on napkins while J. K. Rowling was a single mother traveling by train. She completed her first book-length manuscript on an old manual typewriter while she was unemployed and living on state benefits.

Twelve publishing houses initially rejected her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. A small publisher, Bloomsbury, finally decided to give Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling a chance, awarding the author a small advance.

J. K. Rowling experienced quite a turnaround with the success of Harry Potter, and in 2006, the author was named the second richest female entertainer in the world behind Oprah Winfrey. Her fortune is estimated at just over One Billion U.S. Dollars.

The sixth book of the Harry Potter series sold more copies in twenty-four hours than The Da Vinci Code sold in a year. It also earned the Guinness Book of World Records Award for being the fastest selling book ever.

J. K. Rowling has assured the world that the seventh book in the Harry Potter series will also be the last. Although famous authors such as Stephen King and John Irving have begged J. K. Rowling not to kill off Harry Potter, the author has remained ambiguous about the boy wizard's fate.

J. K. Rowling contributes a good deal of money and support to charitable causes. She has suggested that she might publish an encyclopedia of the Harry Potter world, and contribute any and all earnings from the publication to charity.