JK Rowling: The Mastermind Behind Our Dream Institute, Hogwarts

Today, let us take a moment to see the life of that lady who has made the idea of wizards so real to the world that often now, we wake up, trying to encounter that Pillar which can take us to Platform 9¾!

1. Rowling chose her initials ‘J’ (for Joanne) and ‘K’ (initial of her grandmother’s name) to express her identity as anonymous and gender-neutral.

2. In keeping her name as JK Rowling, her concern was around the kind of world she was forming in her story, that is, it revolved around magic and wizards.

3. She wrote her first book as a 6-year-old. It was named Rabbit.

4. Rowling was not able to clear her entrance exams for the University of Oxford. Thus, she ended up studying French at the University of Exeter.

5. She wrote her first Harry Potter idea on a napkin while travelling to London on a train.

6. J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter script was rejected by 12 publishing houses before being chosen by Bloomsbury.

7. Robbie Coltrane, (as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies), has shared that Hagrid’s character was based on a Hells Angels Biker she met.

8. Rowling was an enthusiastic reader as a child and based the character of Hermione Granger on her 11-year-old self.

9. Her struggles with depression after her failed marriage in her 20s, inspired her descriptions of the Soul-Stealing Dementors introduced in the 3rd part of the series.

10. For her second marriage, she wore a disguise when she bought her wedding dress.

11. Rowling is a big fan of the block-building game called Minecraft and she usually plays it with her son David.

12. In 2013 she published a crime novel under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Lastly, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books are so alive in the Muggle World that Quidditch has now become an actual sport at many universities. In fact, the Quidditch World Cup Tournament is also held in various countries!