After working as a researcher and bilingual secretary in London for Amnesty International, Rowling moved with her then-boyfriend to Manchester, where she worked at the Chamber of Commerce. 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. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately. In December, Rowling's mother, Anne, died after ten years suffering from multiple sclerosis. Rowling was writing "Harry Potter" at the time and had never told her mother about it.
Inspiration and mother's death
J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling | Inspiration and mother's death
In 1990, while she was on a 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. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the "Harry Potter" headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Her mother's death heavily affected Rowling's writing 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. Her mother's death heavily affected Rowling's writing, she channelled her own feelings of loss by writing about Harry's own feelings of loss in greater detail in the first book. Her mother
when did jk rowling wrote the harry potter books
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Her debut novel was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995.
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who is j.k. rowling?
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A British writer and philanthropist.
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what is her full name?
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Joanne Kathleen Rowling
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who were her parents?
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Science technician Anne and Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer Peter James Rowling.
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did she get married?
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Yes -She married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes in 1992 but they separated. Then she married Neil Murray a Scottish doctor in 2001
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how many kids does she have?
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3 kids - Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes, David Gordon Rowling Murray, Mackenzie Jean Rowling
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where did she study?
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Wyedean School and College, University of Exeter.
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what are her views on religions?
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She identifies herself as a Christian; She believes in God, not magic; she is an adherent of the Church of England; believes in an afterlife, and that her faith plays a part in her books.
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what was her inspiration to write the aforementioned books?
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Her mother's death heavily affected Rowling's writing, and she channelled her own feelings of loss by writing about Harry's own feelings of loss in greater detail in the first book.
J. K. Rowling | Inspiration and mother's death
After working as a researcher and bilingual secretary in London for Amnesty International, Rowling moved with her then-boyfriend to Manchester, where she worked at the Chamber of Commerce. 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. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately. In December, Rowling's mother, Anne, died after ten years suffering from multiple sclerosis. Rowling was writing "Harry Potter" at the time and had never told her mother about it.
J. K. Rowling | Inspiration and mother's death
Later, she started to attend a Church of Scotland congregation at the time she was writing "Harry Potter". Her eldest daughter, Jessica, was baptised there. In a 2006 interview with "Tatler", Rowling noted that, "like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes about if my faith will return. It's important to me." She has said that she has struggled with doubt, that she believes in an afterlife, and that her faith plays a part in her books. In a 2012 radio interview, she said that she was a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, a province of the Anglican Communion.
J. K. Rowling | Religion
As a child, Rowling has said her early influences included "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis, "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge, and "Manxmouse" by Paul Gallico.
J. K. Rowling | Influences
Over the years, some religious people, particularly Christians, have decried Rowling's books for supposedly promoting witchcraft. Rowling identifies as a Christian. She once said, "I believe in God, not magic." Early on and in response to the criticism, she felt that if readers knew of her Christian beliefs they would be able to predict plot lines of characters in her books. In 2007, Rowling said she was the only one in her family who went regularly to church and that she was an adherent of the Church of England. As a student, she became annoyed at the "smugness of religious people" and attended less often.
J. K. Rowling | Religion
Rowling later said that she based the character of Hermione Granger on herself when she was eleven. Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth, owned a turquoise Ford Anglia which she says inspired a flying version that appeared in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Like many teenagers, she became interested in rock music, listening to the Clash, the Smiths, and Siouxsie Sioux, adopting the look of the latter with back-combed hair and black eyeliner, a look that she would still sport when beginning university.
J. K. Rowling | Childhood
While many describe the books as secular or Satanic, many writers, including Rowling herself, have gone to great lengths to demonstrate that the books actively promote Christian values. Rowling attended a Church of Scotland congregation while writing "Harry Potter" and her eldest daughter, Jessica, was baptised into that faith. "I go to church myself", she told MTV in 2007, "I don't take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion". In 2000, when asked if she was a Christian by journalist Max Wyman of "The Vancouver Sun", she replied: Yes, I am, which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Christianity in the novels
Rowling has named civil rights activist Jessica Mitford as her greatest influence. She said "Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War", and claims what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target". Rowling has described Jane Austen as her favourite author, calling "Emma" her favourite book in "O, The Oprah Magazine".
J. K. Rowling | Influences
Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the winner in the race to tie in their products to the film series, donate US$18 million to the American charity Reading Is Fundamental, as well as several community charity programs. Steve Kloves wrote the screenplays for all but the fifth film; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) asked her if Harry died at any point in the series; Rowling answered him by saying, "You have a death scene", thereby not explicitly answering the question.
J. K. Rowling | "Harry Potter" films
J. K. Rowling has repeatedly denied that her books lead children into witchcraft. In an interview with CNN in 1999, she said, I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft. I'm laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd. I have met thousands of children and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, "Ms Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I want to be a witch." In an interview on the "Donny & Marie Show" in 1999, Rowling said that "You have a perfect right, of course, as every parent does, and I'm a parent, to decide what your child is exposed to.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Rowling's response
Rowling started writing the book soon after finishing work on the seventh "Harry Potter" novel. During an interview with her fandom she also stated that she used other books as a source of inspiration for the tales. More specifically, "The Tale of the Three Brothers", the only story included entirely in "The Deathly Hallows", was inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales".
The Tales of Beedle the Bard | Publication history
In a 2007 reading for students in New Orleans, Rowling said that the first book to inspire her was Kenneth Grahame's children's fantasy "The Wind in the Willows", read to her when she had the measles at age 4.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "The Wind in the Willows"
J. K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, has recalled that "The Little White Horse" was her favourite book as a child. She has also identified it as one of very few with "direct influence on the Harry Potter books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts."
Elizabeth Goudge | Influence
It also contains an inscription written on one window-frame, "Joanne Rowling slept here circa 1982". Rowling also drew inspiration from the adjoining church graveyard, and the local countryside. She attended the nearby primary school in Tutshill, before moving on to Wyedean secondary school, and later named one of her fictional Quidditch teams as the "Tutshill Tornados".
Church Cottage, Tutshill | J. K. Rowling
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village of Winterbourne when Rowling was four. As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories which she frequently read to her sister. Aged nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great-aunt gave her a copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, "Hons and Rebels." Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling read all of her books. Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and a strained relationship with her father, with whom she is not on speaking terms.
J. K. Rowling | Childhood
Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books. "Personally", she said of her religious faith, "I think you can see that in the books. Of course, Hogwarts is a multifaith school." Rowling claims to have been very careful not to colour her novels in an overtly religious way, lest one faith be given prominence over any other.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Christianity in the novels
In June 2007, the Anglican Church published "Mixing it up with Harry Potter", a 48-page book designed to use parallels from the novels to teach the faith to 9–13-year-olds. The author of the book, Kent youth worker Owen Smith, argued that, "These sessions draw parallels between events in the world of Harry and his friends, and the world in which we are seeking to proclaim the gospel to young people [...] To say, as some have, that these books draw younger readers towards the occult seems to me both to malign J. K. Rowling and to vastly underestimate the ability of children and young people to separate the real from the imaginary."
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Anglicanism
Walton also credits her own experiences growing up with a paranoid schizophrenic mother as giving her a "useful knowledge of evil" that informed the portrayal of her protagonist's mother in this novel. The author indicates the inspiration was the response she received to an article she posted in her online journal that year about the area of Wales in which she grew up and how she "thought [she] was living in a fantasy landscape, when actually [she] was living in a science fictional one". However, she notes that it is not actually autobiography, but rather "a mythologisation of part of my life.
Among Others | Background
Hogwarts has to be a boarding school—half the important stuff happens at night! Then there's the security. Having a child of my own reinforces my belief that children above all want security, and that's what Hogwarts offers Harry." Her own mother's death on 30 December 1990 inspired Rowling to write Harry as a boy longing for his dead parents, his anguish becoming "much deeper, much more real" than in earlier drafts because she related to it herself. In a 2000 interview with "The Guardian", Rowling also established that the character of Wart in T. H. White's novel "The Once and Future King" is "Harry's spiritual ancestor." Finally, she established Harry's birth date as 31 July, the same as her own.
Harry Potter (character) | Concept and creation
According to Rowling, a major theme in the series is death: "My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it." Rowling stated that ""Harry Potter" books have always, in fact, dealt explicitly with religious themes and questions" and that she did not reveal its Christian parallels in the beginning because doing so would have "give[n] too much away to fans who might then see the parallels".
Harry Potter | Themes
In an interview Trapido said that the book had the form of a Shakespearean comedy. she goes on to say "the book’s motivation had to do with the fact that "Temples of Delight", the previous book was such a troubling one for me that I was still brooding on it...I was still worrying about Alice...So I used Alice and her husband as a kind of backdrop to the story about Christina and her sister Pam, which meant I could unravel the mysteries of Alice’s head along the way."
Juggling (novel) | Inspiration
I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do." Raymond Keating also outlines several Christian themes of the last book in an article in "Newsday", concluding that "It's possible to read "Lord of the Rings" and "Narnia" without recognizing the religious aspects. That's even more so the case with "Harry Potter". But Christian themes are there nonetheless". Christian commentator Jerry Bowyer says of Rowling's "fundamentalist bashers", "So much of the religious right failed to see the Christianity in the "Potter" novels because it knows so little Christianity itself [...] The gospel stories themselves, the various metaphors and figures of the Law and the Prophets, and their echoes down through the past two millennia of Christian literature and art are largely unknown to vast swaths of American Christendom." As regards Rowling's belief that discussing her faith would spoil the books, Bowyer says, "For once, I disagree with her: I don't think [the bashers] would have guessed the ending.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Christian allegories in "Deathly Hallows"
The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", was published in 1997. There were six sequels, of which the last was released in 2007. Since then, Rowling has written several books for adult readers: "The Casual Vacancy" (2012) and—under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith—the crime fiction "Cormoran Strike" series. In 2020, her "political fairytale" for children, "The Ickabog", was released in instalments in an online version. Rowling has lived a "rags to riches" life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being named the world's first billionaire author by "Forbes".
J. K. Rowling | Introduction
Rowling said that to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". The key for her was the choice between what is right and what is easy, "because that, that is how tyranny is started, with people being apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble." In an interview with MTV after the publication of the last book, she is quoted as saying, "To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious, but I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going."
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Christianity in the novels
Rowling's work invites children to a world where witchcraft is 'neutral' and where authority is determined solely by one's cleverness. Lewis invites readers to a world where God's authority is not only recognised, but celebrated — a world that resounds with His goodness and care." Rowling's attitude toward the Inklings, and to Lewis in particular, has undergone change. In 1998, in one of her earliest interviews, she said that she had a lifelong love of C. S. Lewis. "Even now, if I was in a room with one of the Narnia books I would pick it up like a shot and re-read it." However, in later interviews she expressed a different opinion.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Rowling and the Inklings
The British author J. K. Rowling, known for writing "Harry Potter" and other Wizarding World works, has a variety of political views. Rowling stated in 2000 that she is left-wing and said "there is a certain amount of political stuff in ["Harry Potter"]. But I also feel that every reader will bring his own agenda to the book. People who send their children to boarding schools seem to feel that I'm on their side. I'm not. Practicing Wiccans think I'm also a witch. I'm not." In 2002, she said her biggest literary influence was muckraker Jessica Mitford, whom she described as a "self-taught socialist".
Politics of J. K. Rowling | Introduction
K. Rowling identified "The Little White Horse" as one of her favourite books and one of few with direct influence on the "Harry Potter" series.
Elizabeth Goudge | Introduction
Rowling completed the book while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh in January 2007, and left a signed statement on a marble bust of Hermes in her room which read: "J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (552) on 11 January 2007". In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of "David Copperfield", "a two-years' imaginative task".
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Rowling on finishing the book
In Diana Wynne Jones' "Charmed Life" (1977), two orphaned children receive magical education while living in a castle. The setting is a world resembling early 1900s Britain, where magic is commonplace. Diana Wynne Jones has stated in answer to a question on her webpage: "I think Ms Rowling did get quite a few of her ideas from my books – though I have never met her, so I have never been able to ask her. My books were written many years before the Harry Potter books ("Charmed Life" was first published in 1977), so any similarities probably come from what she herself read as a child.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "Charmed Life"
Rice has cited Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, John Milton, Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, the Brontë sisters, Jean-Paul Sartre, Henry James, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, and Stephen King as influences on her work. She has repeatedly returned to King's "Firestarter" for inspiration, saying "I study the novel, "Firestarter" whenever I'm blocked. Reading the first few pages of "Firestarter" helps to get me going."
Anne Rice | Influences
During this period, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. Her illness inspired the characters known as Dementors, soul-sucking creatures introduced in the third book. Rowling signed up for welfare benefits, describing her economic status as being "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless." Rowling was left in despair after her estranged husband arrived in Scotland, seeking both her and their daughter. She obtained an Order of Restraint, and Arantes returned to Portugal, with Rowling filing for divorce in August 1994. She began a teacher training course in August 1995 at the Moray House School of Education, at Edinburgh University, after completing her first novel while living on state benefits.
J. K. Rowling | Marriage, divorce, and single parenthood
In the "Scotsman" interview, Rowling described civil rights activist Jessica Mitford as "my most influential writer", saying, "I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits, remaining true to her politics – she was a self-taught socialist – throughout her life." In a review of "Decca—The letters of Jessica Mitford", she went further saying, "Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War", and claims what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target."
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Jessica Mitford
Rowling has said it is unlikely she will write any more books in the "Harry Potter" series. In October 2007, she stated that her future work was unlikely to be in the fantasy genre. On 1 October 2010, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rowling stated a new book on the saga might happen. In 2007, Rowling stated that she planned to write an encyclopaedia of "Harry Potter"s wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity. During a news conference at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2007, Rowling, when asked how the encyclopaedia was coming along, said, "It's not coming along, and I haven't started writing it.
J. K. Rowling | Subsequent "Harry Potter" publications
As a child, Rowling attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the "Harry Potter" headmaster Albus Dumbledore. She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother worked in the science department. Steve Eddy, her first secondary school English teacher, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English". Rowling took A-levels in English, French and German, achieving two As and a B and was head girl.
J. K. Rowling | Education
In her 1914 autobiography "My Own Story", Goulden recalls visiting a bazaar at a young age to collect money for newly freed slaves in the U.S. Emmeline began to read books when she was very young, with one source claiming that she was reading as early as the age of three. She read the "Odyssey" at the age of nine and enjoyed the works of John Bunyan, especially his 1678 story "The Pilgrim's Progress". Another of her favourite books was Thomas Carlyle's three-volume treatise "", and she later said the work "remained all [her] life a source of inspiration". Despite her avid consumption of books, however, she was not given the educational advantages enjoyed by her brothers.
Emmeline Pankhurst | Early life
Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence. Rowling has said: "My attitude to Jane Austen is accurately summed up by that wonderful line from "Cold Comfort Farm": 'One of the disadvantages of almost universal education was that all kinds of people gained a familiarity with one's favourite books. It gave one a curious feeling; like seeing a drunken stranger wrapped in one's dressing gown.'" The "Harry Potter" series is known for its twist endings, and Rowling has stated that, "I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in "Emma"."
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "Emma"
In May 2008, bookseller Waterstones asked Rowling and 12 other writers (Lisa Appignanesi, Margaret Atwood, Lauren Child, Sebastian Faulks, Richard Ford, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Doris Lessing, Michael Rosen, Axel Scheffler, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh) to compose a short piece of their own choosing on a single A5 card, which would then be sold at auction in aid of the charities Dyslexia Action and English PEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-word "Harry Potter" prequel that concerns Harry's father, James Potter, and godfather, Sirius Black, and takes place three years before Harry was born. The cards were collated and sold for charity in book form in August 2008.
J. K. Rowling | Other philanthropic work
Rowling has never openly credited any single author with inspiration, saying, "I haven't got the faintest idea where my ideas come from, or how my imagination works. I'm just grateful that it does, because it gives me more entertainment than it gives anyone else." However, she has mentioned a number of favourite authors as probable influences in her creation of "Harry Potter". The works are listed roughly in order of publication.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Acknowledged influences
India Knight, a novelist and columnist for "The Sunday Times", tweeted on 9 July 2013 that she had been reading "The Cuckoo's Calling" and thought it was good for a début novel. In response, a tweeter called Jude Callegari said that the author was Rowling. Knight queried this but got no further reply. Knight notified Richard Brooks, arts editor of "The Sunday Times", who began his own investigation. After discovering that Rowling and Galbraith had the same agent and editor, he sent the books for linguistic analysis which found similarities, and subsequently contacted Rowling's agent who confirmed it was Rowling's pseudonym.
J. K. Rowling | "Cormoran Strike"
In October 2010, she was named the "Most Influential Woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors. Rowling has supported multiple charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, as well as launching her own charity, Lumos.
J. K. Rowling | Introduction
In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" which was typed on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evens, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agency agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later, she was finally given the green light (and a £1,500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a publishing house in London. The decision to publish Rowling's book owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next.
J. K. Rowling | "Harry Potter"
Although she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage, her name was Joanne Rowling. Her publishers asked that she use two initials rather than her full name, anticipating the possibility of the target audience of young boys not wanting to read a book written by a woman. As she had no middle name, she chose "K" (for Kathleen) as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother. She calls herself Jo. Following her remarriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry, she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling and her entry in "Who's Who" lists her name also as Joanne Kathleen Rowling.
J. K. Rowling | Name
The village was the childhood home, from the age of nine in 1974, of the author J. K. Rowling. She attended Tutshill Church of England Primary School before moving on at the age of eleven to the nearby Wyedean School in Sedbury. Her childhood home, Church Cottage, a mid-19th century Gothic-style Grade II listed building designed by the architect Henry Woodyer, was put up for sale in 2011. The character Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" books was partly based on Sylvia Morgan, a teacher at her primary school, and on one of her teachers at Wyedean School, John Nettleship.
Tutshill | J. K. Rowling
Her imagination helps her create vivid fantasy novels. Cary's determination to understand "things that haunt [her] and keep [her] awake at night," also influenced her writing. She began writing Stealing Death when her mother was dying and she addresses the question "Why do we have to die" throughout the novel.
Janet Lee Carey | Influences
As a resident of Scotland, Rowling was eligible to vote in the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, and intended to vote "No". She donated £1 million (US$1,694,000) to the Better Together anti-independence campaign, led by former neighbour and friend Alistair Darling, and used the "Death Eaters" characters from her "Harry Potter" series—who reject wizards unless they have pure blood—as a reference in her blog-post explanation of her donation; Rowling's words are: "However, when people try to make this debate about the purity of your lineage, things start getting a little Death Eaterish for my taste." In Rowling's post-donation blog post in mid-June 2014, she explained that she is "friendly" with members of both campaigns and stated a belief that "there are intelligent, thoughtful people on both sides of this question".
Politics of J. K. Rowling | Scottish independence campaign
"Deathly Hallows" begins with a pair of epigraphs, one from Quaker leader William Penn's "More Fruits of Solitude" and one from Aeschylus' "The Libation Bearers". "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition", Rowling said. "I'd known it was going to be those two passages since 'Chamber' was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do."
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Aeschylus and William Penn
Rijneveld grew up in a Reformed family on a farm in North Brabant in the Netherlands. Rijneveld has said that their debut novel, translated into English as "The Discomfort of Evening", is inspired partly by the death of their brother when the author was three. It took Marieke Lucas six years to complete the novel. Rijneveld is said to have developed an interest in writing in primary school after reading J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which they borrowed from the local library. Because in Reformed circles references to magic are considered taboo, Rijneveld copied out the whole book on their computer so they could re-read it upon returning the novel.
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld | Life
"I adored [Lewis' books] when I was a child," she told "The Sydney Morning Herald" in 2001, "I got so caught up I didn't think C. S. Lewis was especially preachy. Reading them now I find that his subliminal message isn't very subliminal." In an interview with Lev Grossman in 2005, she said, "There comes a point [in Lewis' "The Last Battle"] where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex. I have a big problem with that."
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Rowling and the Inklings
Commenting on the similarity, Le Guin said that she did not feel that J. K. Rowling "ripped her off", but that Rowling's books received too much praise for supposed originality, and that Rowling "could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt."
A Wizard of Earthsea | Influence
He is thought to have inspired Mary with the keen delight in incongruities, the lively sympathy, self-willed vigorous individuality, and tolerance which inspire so many of her sketches of character. She cared for her mother and father until their deaths and supported them and herself by proceeds from her writing. From age 10 to 15 she attended a school in Hans Place, Knightsbridge, London, the successor to Reading Abbey Girls' School, which Austen had attended a few years earlier. Her father engaged Frances Arabella Rowden, formerly governess to the family of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, to give her extra tuition.
Mary Russell Mitford | Life and relationship with her parents
Fantasy writer Michael Moorcock enjoyed White's "The Once and Future King", and was especially influenced by the underpinnings of realism in his work. Moorcock eventually engaged in a "wonderful correspondence" with White, and later recalled that White gave him "some very good advice on how to write". J. K. Rowling has said that White's writing strongly influenced the "Harry Potter" books; several critics have compared Rowling's character Albus Dumbledore to White's absent-minded Merlyn, and Rowling herself has described White's Wart as "Harry's spiritual ancestor." Author Neil Gaiman was asked about the similarities between Harry Potter and Gaiman's character Timothy Hunter, and he stated that he did not think Rowling had based her character on Hunter.
T. H. White | Influence
Above all, believers are called to love, even at the highest cost." In a 1999 interview with Rowling, "The Guardian Unlimited"s Joanna Carey said, "JK Rowling is every bit as witty and subversive as you'd expect. Rowling described her admiration of Jessica Mitford since age 14, her time at Exeter University "not quite the chance to be the 'radical' I planned", and said the later books dealing with Harry's hormones, and deaths would be unlike other children's series like the Famous Five. Carey suggested a parallel between Harry Potter and Prince Harry which Rowling laughs off saying a friend said never let the press make you discuss the royal family." James Morone, a political science professor at Brown University, wrote in the liberal "American Prospect" in 2001, "Magical headmaster Albus Dumbledore practically awards bonus points for breaking rules.
Politics of Harry Potter | Subversive and anarchistic message
She wrote in many cafés, especially Nicolson's Café (owned by her brother-in-law), and the Elephant House, wherever she could get Jessica to fall asleep. In a 2001 BBC interview, Rowling denied the rumour that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, pointing out that it had heating. Rowling stated that she wrote in cafés because coffee was available without her breaking the flow of writing, and that taking her baby out for a walk helped her to fall asleep.
J. K. Rowling | Marriage, divorce, and single parenthood
He noted that he wrote the idea on an American Airlines cocktail napkin when he woke up so he could make sure to remember it, writing: "She speaks earnestly but never quite makes eye contact. A big woman and solid all through; she is an absence of hiatus. 'I wasn't trying to be funny in a mean way when I named my pig Misery, no sir. Please don't think that. No, I named her in the spirit of fan love, which is the purest love there is. You should be flattered.'" King and his wife, Tabitha King, stayed in London's Brown's Hotel, and wrote "sixteen pages of a steno notebook", on a desk the concierge offered him that was the same desk Rudyard Kipling owned, and died of a stroke at while writing.
Misery (novel) | Background
In the final book of the series "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", Rowling makes the book's Christian imagery more explicit, quoting both and (King James Version) when Harry visits his parents' graves. Hermione Granger teaches Harry Potter that the meaning of these verses from the Christian Bible are "living beyond death. Living after death", which Rowling states is "one of the central foundations of resurrection theology" and that these bible verses "epitomize the whole series". Rowling also exhibits Christian values in developing Albus Dumbledore as a God-like character, the divine, trusted leader of the series, guiding the long-suffering hero along his quest.
Harry Potter | Themes
Tomlinson told an English Association interview that her favourite childhood books were "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by "C. S. Lewis" and Francis Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" In adulthood she became attracted to the work of Alan Garner and Jane Gardam.
Theresa Tomlinson | Influences
After her exposure as the true author of "The Cuckoo's Calling" led to a massive increase in sales, Rowling announced she would donate all her royalties to the Army Benevolent Fund, claiming she had always intended to but never expected the book to be a best-seller. Rowling is a member of both English PEN and Scottish PEN. She was one of 50 authors to contribute to First Editions, Second Thoughts, a charity auction for English PEN. Each author hand annotated a first-edition copy of one of their books, in Rowling's case, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The book was the highest-selling lot of the event and fetched £150,000 ($228,600).
J. K. Rowling | Other philanthropic work
In 1999, while Rowling was on a tour of the United States, a bookseller handed her a copy of "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, saying she would love it. The book became one of her all time favourites. Rowling says that, "it is the voice of the narrator, in this case 17-year- old Cassandra Mortmain, which makes a masterpiece out of an old plot." Also in 1999, Rowling said in interview that she was a great fan of "Grimble" by Clement Freud, saying: "Grimble is one of funniest books I've ever read, and Grimble himself, who is a small boy, is a fabulous character.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Other favourites
Writer J. K. Rowling cites several writers as influences in her creation of her bestselling "Harry Potter" series. Writers, journalists and critics have noted that the books also have a number of analogues; a wide range of literature, both classical and modern, which Rowling has not openly cited as influences. This article is divided into three sections. The first section lists those authors and books which Rowling has suggested as possible influences on "Harry Potter". The second section deals with those books which Rowling has cited as favourites without mentioning possible influences. The third section deals with those analogues which Rowling has not cited either as influences or as favourites but which others have claimed bear comparison with "Harry Potter".
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Introduction
When an interviewer suggested her books portrayed a conservative world, Rowling replied, "So I'm told repeatedly. The two groups of people who are constantly thanking me are Wiccans and boarding schools. And really, don't thank me. I'm not with either of them. New ageism leaves me completely cold, and [my daughter] would never go to boarding school. I went to a comprehensive." Rowling says she gets frustrated with the "conservative world thing". She made Hogwarts a boarding school so that action could happen in the middle of the night and to create a sense of community among the characters. Harry also reflects the modern world, she argues, in that he is mixed race — his father being pure-blood, his mother being Muggle-born." She also says her feminist conscience is saved by Hermione, "who's the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character".
Politics of Harry Potter | Accusations of conservative and sexist themes
Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British writer and philanthropist. She is best known for writing the "Harry Potter" fantasy series, which has won multiple awards and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history. The books are the basis of a popular film series, over which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and was a producer on the final films. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the "Harry Potter" series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990.
J. K. Rowling | Introduction
I'd love to see a "Grimble" film. As far as I know, these last two fine pieces of literature are out of print, so if any publishers ever read this, could you please dust them off and put them back in print so other people can read them?" On a number of occasions, Rowling has cited her admiration for French novelist Colette.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | Other favourites
S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". There is no doubt that Aslan's sacrifice was modeled by Lewis on Jesus Christ going to Golgotha. It is logical to assume that, directly or indirectly, that was also the model for Harry Potter's sacrifice." "Deathly Hallows" begins with a pair of epigraphs, one by Quaker leader William Penn and one from Aeschylus' "The Libation Bearers". "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition", Rowling said. "I'd known it was going to be those two passages since 'Chamber' was published.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Christian allegories in "Deathly Hallows"
Phelps began writing "The Gates Ajar" in the final year of the American Civil War, inspired in part by the death of her mother, stepmother, and her fiancé who was killed at the Battle of Antietam. Phelps later claimed the book came from divine inspiration: "The angel said unto me 'Write!' and I wrote." She spent two years revising the book in her father's attic. Frustrated by the insignificant role women played during the War, she wrote the book specifically with a female audience in mind. In an autobiography, she reflected, "Into that great world of woe my little book stole forth, trembling...
The Gates Ajar | Composition and publication
In Keeffe Bargate found a second partner who also persuaded her to embark on writing of her own; from this point her life underwent a powerful and subsequently fatal acceleration. Until now she had played the public role of a hopeful supporter of others, which had masked her spells of ill health and her private sense of oncoming calamity. She was convinced that, like her mother, she would die at the age of forty, and it was of great significance to her that her birthday fell on the same date as that of the bombing of Hiroshima. The dark side of her nature now found expression in her writing.
Verity Bargate | Biography
Her biographer Mary Lago suggests Christiana Herringham may have been the inspiration for Mrs Moore in E. M. Forster's 1924 novel "A Passage to India".
Christiana Herringham | In literature
A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in J. K. Rowling's final "Harry Potter" novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". In an August 2007 issue of "Newsweek", Lisa Miller commented that Harry dies and then comes back to life to save humankind, like Christ. She points out the title of the chapter in which this occurs—"King's Cross"—a possible allusion to Christ's cross. Also, she outlines the scene in which Harry is temporarily dead, pointing out that it places Harry in a very heaven-like setting where he talks to a father figure "whose supernatural powers are accompanied by a profound message of love." Jeffrey Weiss adds, in the "Dallas Morning News", that the biblical quotation "And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (), featured on the tombstones of Harry's parents, refers to Christ's resurrection.
Harry Potter influences and analogues | The Bible
In 2007, during the Edinburgh Book Festival, author Ian Rankin claimed that his wife spotted Rowling "scribbling away" at a detective novel in a café. Rankin later retracted the story, claiming it was a joke, but the rumour persisted, with a report in 2012 in "The Guardian" speculating that Rowling's next book would be a crime novel. In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling had claimed that she would much prefer to write any subsequent books under a pseudonym, but had previously conceded to Jeremy Paxman in 2003 that if she did, the press would probably "find out in seconds".
J. K. Rowling | "Cormoran Strike"
Several Christian writers have compared Rowling to the Inklings, a group that included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams, who explored Christian themes and morality in a fantasy context. Dave Kopel, citing John Granger's book, draws comparisons between Rowling's and Lewis's common usage of Christian symbols, such as lions, unicorns and stags. He compares the work to Lewis's Christian allegory: "In the climax of "Chamber of Secrets", Harry descends to a deep underworld, is confronted by two satanic minions (Voldemort and a giant serpent), is saved from certain death by his faith in Dumbledore (the bearded God the Father/Ancient of Days), rescues the virgin (Virginia Weasley), and ascends in triumph.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Rowling and the Inklings
Larkwood calls The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin her favorite novel. In this novel, a young woman escapes from the cult of a strange god with the help of a kind and considerate wizard. Her character of Belthandros Sethennai was inspired by imagining a wizard who was the opposite in terms of personality. Larkwood began the novel by developing her magic system, believing that tying it to religion made it feel less artificial. She was inspired by Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed with regards to magic and divine power. Larkwood had previously worked on stories in a "vaguely Medieval European" setting and was concerned with anachronism.
The Unspoken Name | Background
John Pilger, who had interviewed Mitford in 1983 for his series "Outsiders", said she "combined a finely honed social conscience and a wonderful gallows humour. She inverted stereotypes. I liked her enormously". The author Christopher Hitchens expressed his admiration for Jessica Mitford and praised "Hons and Rebels". J. K. Rowling, author of the "Harry Potter" series, stated in 2002: Rowling reviewed Mitford's book of letters, "Decca", in the "Sunday Telegraph" in 2006.
Jessica Mitford | Legacy and influence
Her teaching has been praised by Harry Potter commentator John Granger on his Hogwarts Professor website. Tumminio Hansen stands in opposition to those in Christian circles who call the "Harry Potter" series heretical based upon the characters' use of witchcraft. She has said that in order to consider whether they truly are heretical, Christians must analyze whether the writings of J. K. Rowling violate a number of core theological doctrines, including sin, evil, sacrifice, and grace. In 2008, she offered an innovative seminar at Yale seminar in order to offer students an opportunity for sustained discussion about the status of the series.
Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio | Beliefs about Christianity and Harry Potter
In 1991, the author Jane Yolen released a book called "Wizard's Hall", to which the Harry Potter series bears a resemblance. The main protagonist, Henry (also called Thornmallow), is a young boy who joins a magical school for young wizards. At the school "he must fulfill an ancient prophecy and help overthrow a powerful, evil wizard." However, Yolen has stated that "I'm pretty sure she never read my book," attributing similarities to commonly-used fantasy tropes. In an interview with the magazine "Newsweek", Yolen said, "I always tell people that if Ms. Rowling would like to cut me a very large check, I would cash it." Yolen stopped reading "Harry Potter" after the third book, and has expressed dislike for the writing style of "Harry Potter", calling it "fantasy fast food".
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "Wizard's Hall"
Wells has said that she was an only child, as opposed to Nora who was the middle child of a big family. She has even gone so far as to say that she doesn't put real experiences into her books. "I am convinced that books are written in heaven long before the authors are born, and we are simply given them to write down".
Noisy Nora | Inspiration for the character
While she points out "as her critics say, Rowling is no Dickens", she says that Rowling "has willed into a fictional being, in every book, legions of new characters, places, spells, rules and scores of unimagined twists and subplots".
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Critical response
The "Harry Potter" series has been criticised for supposedly supporting witchcraft and the occult. Before publication of "Deathly Hallows", Rowling refused to speak out about her religion, stating, "If I talk too freely, every reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books". However, many have commented on Christian allegories that appear in "Deathly Hallows". For example, Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. The location where this occurs is King's Cross. Harry also urges Voldemort to show remorse, to restore his shattered soul. Rowling also stated that "my belief and my struggling with religious belief ...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Christian allegories
Many characters in the trilogy are inspired by Herbst's family including Victoria, the main character, which is based on Herbst herself, and Joe, inspired by her father. A majority of the political events and themes represented in the novel and its sequels are based on experiences stemming from Herbst's prior work as a Leftist journalist, which was published in "The New Masses" and "The Nation". As for the novel's themes and the related title, Herbst wrote of her characters: "pity cannot save them. . . . The old standbys . . . religion, respectability, are so many straw bridges."
Pity Is Not Enough | Origins and inspiration
In a 2006 interview, J. K. Rowling said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death, which was influenced by her mother's death in 1990, from multiple sclerosis. Lev Grossman of "Time" stated that the main theme of the series was the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Death
Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books. Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published "Philosopher's Stone" with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year and, later, the Children's Book Award.
J. K. Rowling | "Harry Potter"
She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the series. Rowling also revealed she originally wrote the last words to be "something like: 'Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar. Rowling changed this because she did not want people to think Voldemort would rise again and to say that Harry's mission was over.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Rowling on finishing the book
Lauren Oliver says that the inspiration for "Delirium" came to her one day at the gym. She had recently read a Gabriel Garcia Márquez essay that stated all books were about either love or death. Since her first book, "Before I Fall", was about death, she wanted to write a book about love. At the gym, she was watching a news report about a pandemic, and the two ideas combined in her head to form the central concept of the Delirium books.
Delirium (Oliver novel) | Inspiration
In an interview in "The Scotsman" in 2002, Rowling described Elizabeth Goudge's "The Little White Horse" as having, "perhaps more than any other book . . . a direct influence on the "Harry Potter" books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts." Rowling said in "O" that "Goudge was the only [author] whose influence I was conscious of. She always described exactly what the children were eating, and I really liked knowing what they had in their sandwiches."
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "The Little White Horse"
Far from promoting a particular religion, some argue, the "Harry Potter" novels go out of their way to avoid discussing religion at all. However, the author of the series, J. K. Rowling, describes herself as a practising Christian, and many have noted the Christian references which she includes in the final novel "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". In America, calls for the books to be banned from schools have led to legal challenges often on the grounds that witchcraft is a government-recognised religion and that to allow the books to be held in public schools violates the separation of church and state.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Introduction
that she was able to see human existence as a whole, as a novelist needs to do". In an interview with John Tusa on BBC Radio 4, she said of her conversion and its effect on her writing that she "was just a little worried, tentative. Would it be right, would it not be right? Can I write a novel about that – would it be foolish, wouldn't it be? And somehow with my religion – whether one has anything to do with the other, I don't know – but it does seem so, that I just gained confidence." Graham Greene, Gabriel Fielding and Evelyn Waugh supported her in her decision.
Muriel Spark | Literary career
In the postscript to the 2010 paperback edition of the novel Mantel writes 'In a way I feel, more than with any other book, that I have absolutely no responsibility for what I put on the page'. She explains that she had initially planned to write 'a big, realistic historical novel about John Hunter, the great surgeon, collector and experimentalist', but as she began to write she had a sudden revelation that she herself was Irish, 'Somehow the giant's story became part of this awakening and the feeling grew in me that in order to find myself I had to go back and capture that voice, that Irishness.
The Giant, O'Brien | Inspiration
Madonna's Kabbalah teacher had asked her to share the wisdom she had gained through her studies of Jewish mysticism in the form of stories meant for children. The singer felt this was a "cool challenge", although it was an "out-left-field" idea completely different from her musical endeavors. While reading stories to her children at bedtime, Madonna found the books lacked spiritual messages. She also felt that the stories' fairy-tale characters, like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, appeared passive and were moved around according to the princes' wishes. Madonna, who was inspired by stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Flannery O'Connor, was galvanized to write something new by herself.
The English Roses | Background and writing
In response to a question asking if the magic presented in the "Harry Potter" series should be considered in the same light as some New Age practices warned against in the document, Fleetwood stated, "If I have understood well the intentions of Harry Potter's author, they help children to see the difference between good and evil. And she is very clear on this." He added that Rowling is "Christian by conviction, is Christian in her mode of living, even in her way of writing." This comment was seized on by the media as an endorsement of the novels from the Catholic Church, and by extension, the Pope at that time, John Paul II, though there is no evidence that the Pope officially approved of the novels.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Catholicism
In fact, the last three poems were only found among her papers and it is still being debated about whether or not they were actually written by her. Inside the book is also a self painted portrait of Anne and the Ode by family friend and poet John Dryden.
Anne Killigrew | Early life and inspiration
In her early thirties, Walker went to visit her brother who is a Buddhist monk in Thailand. The seed of the story came from her quest to find out what happened to her uncle, who left her £5000, which she used to make the trip. In similar vein, the opening line of "Benedict's Brother" reads: "Today, my great uncle left me one hundred and thirty-nine thousand pounds. I've no idea what to do with it". In hindsight, Walker realised the journey to Thailand was her own way of coping with the death of a close childhood friend at the time.
Tricia Walker | Inspiration behind the book
It appears that Gallagher borrowed sentiments from Khalil Gibran's book "The Prophet". "When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you." John Lennon also borrowed from the same author for his song "Julia".
She Is Love | Inspiration
Lee was inspired by writers and playwrights, including Graham Greene, Rebecca West, Elizabeth Bowen, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Theodore Sturgeon, Angela Carter, Jane Gaskell, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, William Blake, Anton Chekov, Harold Pinter, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Ibsen, August Strindberg, Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Bunin, James, Rosemary Sutcliff, Mary Renault, Jean Rhys, John Fowles, John le Carré, Brontë family, E.M. Forster, W. Somerset Maugham, Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Rendell, Lawrence Durrell, Elroy Flecker, and Ted Hughes. Lee considered Virginia Woolf and C.S. Lewis to be very influential on her from a young age.
Tanith Lee | Authors
Love says she was inspired to write the book when she met her partner's older brother, who had recently transitioned, a couple years before beginning to write the book. According to Love, due to pushback from his family when younger, he was only able to transition after he was fifty years old, and talking to him inspired her to research the subject, including the literature available about it. The 1990 documentary "Paris Is Burning", which tells the story of drag queens that were rejected by their families and found acceptance in a different place, was another inspiration. Love said in an interview with the "Guardian" that she wanted to write a story "about what their lives would have been like if they’d received the kind of support from their birth families".
Julián is a Mermaid | Influences
In 1982, Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter. Martin Sorrell, a French professor at Exeter, remembers "a quietly competent student, with a denim jacket and dark hair, who, in academic terms, gave the appearance of doing what was necessary". Rowling recalls doing little work, preferring to read Dickens and Tolkien. After a year of study in Paris, Rowling graduated from Exeter in 1986. In 1988, Rowling wrote a short essay about her time studying Classics titled "What was the Name of that Nymph Again? or Greek and Roman Studies Recalled"; it was published by the University of Exeter's journal "Pegasus".
J. K. Rowling | Education
Le Guin has claimed that she doesn't feel Rowling "ripped her off", but that she felt that Rowling's books were overpraised for supposed originality, and that Rowling "could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt."
Harry Potter influences and analogues | "A Wizard of Earthsea"
Another response to the claim that the books promote the religion of witchcraft, which has been raised as much by Christians critical of the books as those who support them, is that, far from promoting religion, the books do not promote religion in any way. Apart from celebrating Christmas and Easter and a non-denominational clergyman presiding at both Dumbledore's funeral and the Weasleys' wedding, religious practices are largely absent from the books. In her critical editorial on the books, Focus on the Family's Lindy Beam comments, "The spiritual fault of "Harry Potter" is not so much that Rowling is playing to dark supernatural powers, but that she doesn't acknowledge any supernatural powers at all.
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series | Secularism
"Entertainment Weekly" noted that the post-9/11 generation's "ideas about war, about leadership, about the dangers of consolidation of power and of dictatorship, about the importance of dissent, and about heroism and sacrifice, have been shaped at least in part by Rowling," and that their concept of freedom of speech has been influenced by Rowling's weathering of her books' routine challenges. Bill O'Reilly joined in the political fray over Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore's outing by asking if it was part of a "gay agenda" to indoctrinate children. He called J. K. Rowling a provocateur for telling fans about Dumbledore's sexuality after the books were written.
Politics of Harry Potter | Education versus indoctrination
Echoing Heilbrun's personal views, she has little sentimental attachment to children, enjoys smoking, drinking, and fatty food, and in later books such as "Sweet Death, Kind Death", meditates on the nature of middle age and on the liberating nature of death. Books in the series
Kate Fansler | Introduction
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990 Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write "Philosopher's Stone" that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product." Then Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Development
The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden." The Presidential Medal of Freedom was allegedly refused to be awarded to Rowling under George W. Bush, because her writing "encouraged witchcraft". This was claimed by Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for Bush, who went on to write a memoir about his time in the administration, although then First Lady Laura Bush had declared a fondness for the books.
Politics of J. K. Rowling | US politics
The inspiration for the plot of the book came to Jeffrey Eugenides when his nephew's teenage babysitter told him that she and her sisters had planned to commit suicide. When Eugenides asked why, the babysitter only replied, "we were under a lot of pressure." Eugenides talks about this inspiration in his YouTube interview with The Paris Review.
The Virgin Suicides | Background