Friday, April 25, 2014

MY INSPIRING PERSON : JOANNE KATHLEEN ROWLING


Have you ever read one of those books?


Or... have you ever watched one of those films?

I'm sure all of you have read the book(s) or watched the film(s). Yes, it is HARRY POTTER. The books and the films are really really really amazing! I read the books when I was in elementary school :p And do you know who is the author of those books? Of course you do! Hahaha. Yes, the author is J. K. Rowling or her full name is Joanne Kathleen Rowling. We usually call her "Jo". She is my inspiring person, because she is very creative and she has shown true kindness. She could write 7 amazing books with wonderful story. The books were become best seller all around the world hahaha :p And her books were adapted to make films. She also write another books, such as The Cuckoo's Calling, The Casual Vacancy, etc. Do you want to know more about her? Let's check it out!

I'm sure you have seen this picture lol

Biography



Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate, Gloucestershire is a British writer and author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea came to her whilst on a train journey in 1990 and she wrote her first story in Edinburgh. Her books have gained worldwide attention, won many awards, and sold nearly 400 million copies. 

Rowling read for a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, with a year of study in Paris, Rowling moved to London to work for Amnesty International. In 1990, while she was on a delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately. However, in December of that year, Rowling's mother succumbed to a 10 year battle with multiple sclerosis. Rowling said this death heavily affected her writing and that she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, because she knew about how it felt. 

Unemployed and living on state benefits, Rowling completed her first novel in numerous cafés in Edinburgh and since then she has received world wide success, encouraging children and adults to get back into reading. Forbes has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar billionaire by writing books, the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world. 

In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which aids women and children, and to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research. Rowling said, "I think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently."

In 2001, the UK anti-poverty fundraiser Comic Relief asked Rowling to submit a booklet related to her most famous works. Rowling's two booklets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, and since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million for the fund. The £10.8 million they have raised outside the UK have been channeled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis. 

In 2005, to improve the lot of vulnerable children in eastern Europe, Rowling and MEP Emma Nicholson founded the Children's High Level Group. In 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to highlight the use of caged beds in children's mental institutions. To further support the CHLG, Rowling auctioned one of seven handwritten and illustrated copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a series of fairy tales referred to inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book was purchased for £1.95 million by on-line bookseller Amazon.com. Rowling commented "This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help. It means Christmas has come early to me." 

Rowling has contributed money and support for research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University.

J K Rowling was runner up in the 'Person of the Year' 2007 for her social, moral and political inspiration she has given her fans.

As well as writing she supports charities such as Comic relief, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and one parent families.

She is an inspiration to both adults and children through her writing. The Harry Potter series has encouraged children and adults to read. Also her achievements as an author have inspired others to write.



Her Inspiration

JK Rowling lived in Edinburgh when she wrote the Harry Potter books. 

She went to Greyfriars Kirk (a Scottish word for a church) and the churchyard, which is the home to a very famous dog called Greyfriars Bobby, but lets not go there now because that's a whole different story. In the graveyard she found ideas for spooky settings such as the castle, a very old graveyard with spooky trees lurking in the background. A lot of these gravestones have a skull and crossbones on them, this shows that these gravestones are very old. This is where she got ideas for Tom Riddle's family grave. Also in the graveyard she found old stone books, this probably gave her the idea for the restricted section in the library which was full of the oldest books.

In the Churchyard she also found the grave of Tom Riddle, and used this name for Lord Voldemort. She also found inspiration for the name of Professor McGonagall the head of Gryfindor.

Castle and Graveyard
Skull and Crossbones
Tom Riddle's Grave
Mc Gonagall's Grave
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After working at Amnesty International in London, Rowling and her then boyfriend decided to move to Manchester. In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. She told The Boston Globe that "I really don't know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head."

Rowling described the conception of Harry Potter on her website:

"I was travelling back to London on my own on a crowded train, and the idea for Harry Potter simply fell into my head. I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. To my immense frustration, I didn't have a pen that worked, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one… I did not have a functioning pen with me, but I do think that this was probably a good thing. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, while all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. Perhaps, if I had slowed down the ideas to capture them on paper, I might have stifled some of them (although sometimes I do wonder, idly, how much of what I imagined on that journey I had forgotten by the time I actually got my hands on a pen). I began to write 'Philosopher's Stone' that very evening, although those first few pages bear no resemblance to anything in the finished book."



Another J. K. Rowling's Books






"I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." - Joanne Kathleen Rowling


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