Witchcraft and wizardry coming soon
- posted: 05 June 2007
- scrollarts@byui.edu
In anticipation of the release of book seven of J.K. Rowling’s series on July 21, Scroll is dedicating a small portion each week to Harry Potter until the big day.
Joanne Rowling, author of the series, received her initial idea for Harry Potter while riding a busy train in England in 1990.
“I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six, but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought for four hours and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn’t know he was a wizard became more and more real to me,” said Rowling.
Rowling’s first book was rejected by eight publishers before it was accepted by Bloomsbury, a publishing company in London, England. Now, most of Bloomsbury’s success as a publishing company is from Rowling’s books, which have sold more than 377 million copies to date.
The author’s pen name, J.K. Rowling, comes from her first name, Joanne, and her grandmother’s name, Kathleen. Publishers encouraged her to choose a non-gender specific name for her books in order to encourage children of both sexes to read her books, which were initially targeted toward boys. The latter books are targeted toward all age groups, and adult readers make up a large portion of Harry Potter fans today. 
