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She was born in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire.
As her publisher, Bloomsbury, wanted to use initials on the cover of the Harry Potter books (suggesting that if they put an obviously female name on the cover, the target group of young boys might be reluctant to buy them), Rowling chose to adopt her grandmother's middle name, Kathleen.
Rowling wrote two novels for adults (neither of which she tried to publish) before she had the idea for Harry Potter during a four-hour train trip. According to her, by the time she reached her destination she had the characters and a good part of the plot for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in her head. She started writing during her lunch hours, and continued working on the manuscript throughout a stint in Oporto teaching English as a second language in the Encounter English School. After a first unsuccessful marriage, she returned to the United Kingdom with her infant daughter and completed the book in EdinburghArthur's Seat. See also for a panoramic view from Holyrood Park towards Ocean Terminal. Edinburgh (pronounced ED-in-burra ( SAMPA: ["Ed@n%b@r@])), Dun Eideann in Scottish Gaelic, is a major and historic city on the east coast of Scotland on the south shor, ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p. At that time, she was unemployed, living on public assitance. The book was a huge success, and she has so far had four sequels published. The sales made her a multi-millionaire, and in 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap she used the proceeds to buy a luxurious 19th centuryAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended mansion on the banks of the River TayThe River Tay in terms of flow (193 km or 120 miles),, is the largest river in Scotland, and drains much of the southern Highlands. The source of the Tay is high on the slopes of Ben Lui, only 20 or so miles from the west coast town of Oban, but the water in PerthshirePerthshire is an traditional county in central Scotland, which extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south. Perthshire is known as the "big county" and has a, Scotland, where she married her second husband, Dr. Neil Murray, on December 26th, 2001.
Soon after the fourth book was published, she published two booklets for Comic Relief, supposedly Harry Potter's school-books, whose royalties go to charity. She has contributed an uncountable amount of money and support to many charitable causes over the world, especially research and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death above all has affected the book, according to Rowling.
The Harry Potter series is expected to run to seven volumes, one for each year Harry spends in school. Five of these have already been published. The fifth book, titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was delayed by an unsuccessful plagiarism suit directed towards her by rival author Nancy Stouffer (see below). Rowling took some time off writing at this point because, while in the process of writing the fourth book, she felt her workload was too heavy. She said that at one point she had considered breaking her arm to get out of writing, because the pressure on her was too much. After forcing her publishers to drop her deadline, she enjoyed three years of quiet writing and has commented she had some work done on something else she might return to when she is finished with the series. The fifth book was released on June 21, 2003.
In late 2003 she was approached by the television producer Russell T. Davies to contribute an episode to the famous British television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Although she was "amused by the suggestion", she turned the offer down as she is busy working on the next novel in the Potter series.
Rowling has also made a guest appearance as herself on American cartoon The Simpsons. She was in a special British episode entitled The Regina Monologues