It's possible that you too have been living in a cupboard under the stairs if you haven't heard of the Harry Potter series. The woman behind it, J.K. Rowling, is just as inspirational as the story that has touched millions of people around the world.
It's impossible to speak of Rowling without mentioning the magic of Harry Potter, but the story of how she came to success is equally intriguing. The British novelist is not alien to hardship; her initial difficulty with getting Potter published as well as the circumstances she faced during writing only amplify the importance of the series in today's society.
The message of Harry Potter is one of goodness and love overcoming all. Elements of Rowling's own life inevitably appear disguised in the story: Hermione Granger is a caricature of Rowling as an adolescent, Professor Dumbledore is said to be based on her own headmaster, the Dementors representing her own struggles with depression.
Writing a series as successful as Harry Potter is a mean feat for any aspiring novelist, let alone an unemployed woman with a small child who described herself, seven years out of university, as “the biggest failure I knew”.
Despite this, Rowling found the strength to continue. Left devastated by the death of her mother, Rowling immersed herself in her mind and finished writing the first of seven books in 1995. What was to be Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was rejected by twelve publishing houses before the manuscript was accepted for publication by Bloomsbury. If Rowling had given up, perhaps six rejections in, it's impossible to imagine what fiction and film might be today – we'd probably have to face more love stories about vampires.
What is even more admirable about Rowling is how she is not motivated by money, donating enormous sums to charity. After a confidentiality breach revealed her to be writing under a pseudonym as crime writer Robert Galbraith in July 2013, the offending law firm compensated Rowling by making a “substantial donation to charity”. Rowling has also donated to Comic Relief in the past, with the proceeds from encyclopaedias Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages raising £17 million. What's more, Rowling continues to release insider Harry Potter information via the free website Pottermore.
Rowling is a person who did not find success fresh from nappies, school or higher education. She pressed on with hard work and faith, ultimately finding the reward, not only in her incredible imagination, but in the millions of fans who worship her as warmly as they do Harry Potter himself.
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