The Creator of a Magician

The person I’m going to talk about is a British woman who was born in 1965.

Today she is one of the most famous writers in the world, although she didn’t always have a successful life.

 In fact, she had economic and personal problems. This situation made her think about suicide.

Before, She had a happy childhood with her younger sister and her parents in  Winterbourne, a town in southern England. At 17, her aunt gave her the book “Hons and Rebels”, about the life of one of the best writers of the twentieth century: Jessica Mitford.  This book changed her life and she was passionate about reading.

She graduated in classical and French studies at the University of Exeter.

In a trip to London, the train remained stopped during 4 hours, when she started thinking about the story of an unlucky child going to a very special school. … when she got home she started writing about what she had thought.

A few months later, her mother died and she decided to move to Porto trying to start a new life. There, she met her first husband and had her first daughter. Unfortunately, she got divorced and ended  broke.

She returned to Edinburgh and began writing again.

In 1995 she finished her first book, but many (12) publishers rejected it. A small publishing house agreed to publish it but without much expectations.

This editorial recommended that she don’t sign with her first name, as they thought the children would not accept stories written by a woman. Then  She decided to use her initials (J.K.) followed by her surname.

The book was a success of sales and she was asked to write another one. This is now  in a series of seven books. The books were followed by films. In all of them, the main character was a young wizard and the adventures with his friends in the most famous magical school.

Over time this character and his adventures would become one of the most successful series of books and films in history.

 … Who is she?

The Young wizard is Harry Potter and the first book is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.

Carmen Gella

English for Fun 4B