J.K. Rowling

Born: July 31, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, UK

Married to: Neil Murray (26 December 2001 – present) (2 children)
Jorge Arantes (16 October 1992 – 30 November 1993) (divorced) (1 child)

When the first “Harry Potter” novel was published, the publisher asked her to use initials rather than her first name, because boys would be biased against a book written by a woman. Since she only had one given name, they then asked her to make up another initial; she took “K.” from her favorite grandmother, Kathleen.

QUOTES:

[Asked by an interviewer about the next “Harry Potter” book]: Well, it will be a papery object with pages inside.

[Discussing her daughter, Jessica]: Kids at her school will sidle up to me and say, “Does Jessica know what happens in book 4? Does Jessica know the title of book 4?” And I keep saying, “No! There is no point kidnapping her, taking her around back of the bike shed, and torturing her for information.”

Bigotry is probably the thing I detest most.

I had an American journalist say to me, “Is it true you wrote the whole of the first novel on napkins?” I was tempted to say, “On teabags, I used to save them.”

I gave my hero a talent I’d love to have. Who wouldn’t want to fly?