J.K. Rowling Turns 60: Harry Potter author’s magical journey from rags to riches

Not many authors have achieved the status J.K. Rowling has reached by particularly writing books.

In fact, Joanne is one of the very few authors in English Literature history who became a celebrity by writing children’s books.

The author was born as Joanne Rowling on July 31, 1965 in Gloucestershire, England to parents Peter and Anne. However, a huge chunk of her youth was plagued with loss, grief and poverty.

Joanne’s story is a classic rags-to-riches story as she went from living off of government assistance to becoming the first ever billionaire author.

Mother’s death and move to Portugal

Joanne was 25 when her mother, Anne, passed away from multiple sclerosis. The death of her mother took a toll on her and she left England to pursue a life in Portugal. According to the author herself, her mother’s death affected her writing which reflects in the themes of Harry Potter.

Abusive marriage and divorce

While living in Portugal, when Joanne was working as an English teacher, she met journalist Jorge Arantes. Despite their toxic relationship, the two got married and had a daughter named Jessica. Jorge grew more abusive with time and eventually in November 1993, he slapped her and kicked her with their daughter out of the house.

Poverty and suicidal thoughts

A very young Joanne, now a single mother in 1993, returned to UK with her daughter and first three chapters of Harry Potter. At this point in time, she was extremely poor and according to her she was as poor as you can be without being homeless. Feeling like a failure, estranged from her father, broken marriage and extremely poor, Joanne became despondent.

Rejections and eventually publishing Harry Potter

Joanne was signed by Christopher Little Literary Agency but was rejected 12 times from different publishers who refused to publish the first Harry Potter book. Eventually the publishing house Bloomsbury signed her and gave her a £1,500 advance, which was life-changing for the struggling author.

Harry Potter’s success

The wizard boy’s success dragged Joanne out of the trenches and she was no longer a struggling single mother but a rising author who was sought after by American publishers. Scholastic bid $100,000 for the American publishing rights of the books which opened a new world for Harry and Joanne.

Billionaire status

Less than 10 years of publishing the first ever Harry Potter book, Joanne achieved the billionaire status in 2004. She became the first ever person to become a billionaire by writing books.

Currently, Joanne is worth $1.2 billion, according to Forbes after years of philanthropic work and UK taxes.