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Joanne Rowling (born July 31, 1965) is the British author of the internationally famous series of children's fantasy
stories concerning the exploits of the boy wizard Harry Potter. She was
born in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire.
As her publisher, Bloomsbury, wanted to use
initials on the cover of the Harry Potter books (suggesting that if they put an obviously female name on the cover, young boys
might be reluctant to buy them), Rowling chose to adopt her grandmother's middle name of "Kathleen".
In February 2004, Rowling was listed by
Forbes magazine as having a fortune of £576 million, making her a US$
billionaire and the first person in history to become a billionaire by writing books. She is the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom (well
ahead of even Queen Elizabeth II).
Career
Rowling wrote two novels for adults (neither of which she tried to publish) before she had the idea for Harry Potter during a
four-hour train trip. According to her, by the time she reached her destination she had the characters and a good part of the
plot for Harry
Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in her head. She started writing during her lunch hours, and continued working on the
manuscript throughout a stint in Portugal teaching English as a second language.
The book was completed in Edinburgh after her marriage to Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes failed
and she returned to the UK with her infant daughter. The book was a
huge success, and she has so far had four sequels published. The sales made her a multi-millionaire, and in 2001 she used the proceeds to buy a luxurious 19th century
mansion on the banks of the River Tay in Perthshire, central Scotland, where she married her second
husband, Dr. Neil Murray,
on December 26th, 2001.
Soon after the fourth book was published, she published to booklets for Comic Relief, supposedly Harry Potter's school-books,
whose royalties go to charity. She has contributed an uncountable amount of money and support to many charitable causes over the
world, especially research and treatment of Multiple Schlerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death above all has
affected the book, according to Rowling.
The Harry Potter series is expected to run to seven volumes, one for each year Harry spends in school. Five of these have
already been published. The fifth book, titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was delayed by an unsuccessful
plagiarism suit directed towards her by rival author Nancy Stouffer
(see below). Rowling decided took some time off writing at this point because, while in the process of writing the fourth book,
she felt her workload was too heavy. She said that at one point she had considered breaking her arm to get out of writing,
because the pressure on her was too much. After forcing her publishers to drop her deadline, she enjoyed three years of quiet
writing and has commented she had some work done on something else she might return to when she is finished with the series. The
fifth book was released on June 21, 2003.
In late 2003 she was approached by the television producer Russell T. Davies to contribute an episode to the famous British
television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Although she was "amused
by the suggestion," she turned the offer down as she is busy working on the next novel in the Potter series.
Rowling has also made a guest appearance as herself on American cartoon The
Simpsons. She was in a special British episode entitled The Regina
Monologues
The Harry Potter books:
Harry Potter-related books:
The last two purport to be facsimiles of books mentioned in the novels. Fantastic Beasts is a textbook, while
Quidditch is probably the most popular book in the Hogwarts library. They are complete with handwritten annotations and
scribblings in the margins, and include introductions by Albus Dumbledore. All proceeds from them go to the UK Comic Relief charity.
Harry Potter Movies
A film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone only in the
USA), directed by Chris Columbus, was released in late 2001. Each scene with a mention of
the title stone was filmed twice, once for the USA release with sorcerer and once for world release with
philosopher. Historically, the magical stone that will change lead to gold was always called the philosopher's stone.
The film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, also directed by Chris Columbus, was released in
2002, and starred largely the same set of actors.
A darker atmosphere was adopted in the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which many critics
applauded and attributed to the new director, Alfonso Cuaron.
Rowling resisted suggestions by the filmmakers that the movies should be filmed in the United States or cast with American
actors (only one American appears in the first film). She only reluctantly went along with the change from Philosopher's
Stone to Sorcerer's Stone, and limited it to the US only.
Rowling assists Steve Kloves
in writing the scripts for the films, ensuring that his scripts do not contradict future books in the series. She says she has
told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. She has also said that she has told Alan Rickman and Robbie
Coltrane secrets about their characters, that have not yet been revealed in the books.
Lawsuits
Rowling has been involved in a lawsuit over the Harry Potter series, and other
litigation has been suggested or rumored.
Nancy Stouffer
In the late 1990s, Nancy
Stouffer, an author of children's books published in the 1980s, began to publicly
charge that Rowling's book were based on her books, including The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and Larry Potter and His Best Friend
Lilly. In 2001, Rowling, Scholastic Press (the American publisher of her books), and Warner Bros. (the producer of the film adaptations) sued Stouffer, asking the court to judge that there was no
infringement of Stouffer's trademarks or copyright. Stouffer, who had not previously sued, then filed counterclaims alleging such
infringement.
Rowling and her colitigants argued that much of the evidence that Stouffer
presented was fraudulent and asked for sanctions and attorneys' fees as punishment. When
the case finally came to court in September 2002, the court found in Rowling's favor,
stating that Stouffer had lied to the court and falsified and forged documents to
support her case. The court fined Stouffer US$50,000 and ordered her to pay part (but not all) of the plaintiffs' costs.
In January 2004 it was reported that Stouffer's appeal against the
judgement had been rejected. The appeals court agreed that Stouffer's claims were properly dismissed because "no reasonable juror
could find a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the two parties' works." The Court explained:
- Stouffer's and Plaintiffs' marks are used in two very different ways. Rowling's use of the term "Muggles" describes
ordinary humans with no magical powers while Stouffer's "Muggles" are tiny, hairless creatures with elongated heads. Further, the
Harry Potter books are novel-length works and whose primary customers are older children and adults whereas Stouffer's booklets
appeal to young children. Accordingly, the District Court correctly dismissed Stouffer's trademark claims.
Stouffer was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal. A report of the judgement can be found at Entertainment Law Digest . The 2002 judgement can be found here: ROWLING v.
STOUFFER
No proceedings to date
In June of 2003, Rowling announced that she would sue the New York Daily News for $100 million because the newspaper had printed excerpts from her work Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix before the book's official release date.
Comic book fans have noted that an earlier comic book series by Neil Gaiman, The
Books of Magic, contains many similarities to Harry Potter, but Gaiman has written on his blog that he does not personally accuse Rowling of plagiarism, nor does he have any intention of pressing charges
against her, despite one journalist's attempt to weave a story around this matter. Another rumor has circulated that Jill Murphy, author of The Worst Witch books, had
sued Rowling, but this too was a false rumor and it seems unlikely that Murphy will do so in future, judging by statements she
has given in interview. Other authors whose earlier work bears some striking resemblances to Rowling's Harrypotterverse include
Eva Ibbotson author of
The
Secret of Platform 13, and Diana Wynne Jones author of
Charmed Life; but so far no author other than Stouffer has shown
any intention of taking legal action against Rowling.
Family
Rowling married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on October 16, 1992, and they had one child, a daughter named Jessica (born July 27,
1993), before their divorce in 1995.
On December 26, 2001, Rowling
married Dr. Neil Murray, in a private ceremony at her home in the Perthshire village of Aberfeldy. On
March 23, 2003, Rowling gave birth to her
second child, a boy called David Gordon Rowling Murray. The birth took place at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the New Royal Infirmary in
Edinburgh.
External links
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