J.K. Rowling
Author of the Harry Potter novels.
SpeechesThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
Why J.K. Rowling matters
Author of the Harry Potter novels, one of the best-selling book series in history, and a major donor to children's charities. Her story of writing the first book while a single parent on benefits has made her an emblem of persistence.
The journey
Rowling was born in 1965 in Gloucestershire. Her mother died of multiple sclerosis in December 1990, when she was 25. She moved to Portugal in 1991 to teach English, married in 1992, had a daughter in 1993, and separated that November.
She moved to Edinburgh as a single parent and lived on state benefits. By her own later account, seven years after graduating she had no job, a young child and a failed marriage, and by any ordinary measure had failed. She wrote much of the first novel in cafes, and twelve publishers turned it down before Bloomsbury accepted it. Bloomsbury published Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1997 with a first print run of 5,650 copies.
The series went on to sell hundreds of millions of copies. She has funded and co-founded charities, including Lumos for children in institutions.
- 1965Born in Yate, Gloucestershire.
- 1990Her mother dies of multiple sclerosis.
- 1993Becomes a single parent and moves to Edinburgh.
- 1997Bloomsbury publishes Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
- 2005Co-founds the charity now called Lumos.
- 2008Gives the Harvard commencement address on the benefits of failure.
Sources for this profile
- J. K. Rowling · Wikipedia
- Text of J.K. Rowling's speech · Harvard Gazette
- J.K. Rowling · Biography.com
Written in our own words from the sources above. This profile is a draft and has not yet been reviewed by a person. How we source
Quotes
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 11:41 · Harvard Gazette
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And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 12:24 · Harvard Gazette
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It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 12:37 · Harvard Gazette
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Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 12:51 · Harvard Gazette
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So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 13:40 · Harvard Gazette
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As delivered So, given a time-turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.
Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 14:00 · Harvard Gazette
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Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 14:32 · Harvard Gazette
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As delivered Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
Verified sourceThe Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination · Watch at 22:10 · Harvard Gazette
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As delivered We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.