Happy Birthday J.K. Rowling!

Happy Birthday J.K. Rowling! She changed the Muggle World with the publication of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in 1997.  The series followed young Harry Potter from age 11 to 17, growing up learning magic at Hogwarts with the dark destiny of having to ultimately face Voldemort.  The series concluded with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.  The film series began with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and ended with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011).  The only authorized biography was published in 2000, Conversations with J.K. Rowling.  In 2001, Rowling wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, to benefit Comic Relief.  In 2010, J.K. Rowling founded Lumos, her charity organization to help children.  Also that year, at the Islands of Adventure park in Orlando, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened, and walking into a fantastic world will never be the same with theme parks. Rowling launched the Pottermore website in 2011 filling in more of the Wizarding World and also news.  

She wrote an adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, in 2012.  In 2012, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London opened with The Making of Harry Potter at the Leavesden studio.  Rowling wrote under the pen name Robert Galbraith the crime novels featuring Cormoran Strike that began with the Cuckoo’s Calling (2013).  In 2016, Rowling co-wrote the stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.  It was a sensation on the London stage winning nine awards and also on Broadway, taking the Tony Award for Best Play in 2018.  Also, released in 2016, was the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which was produced and featured a screenplay by J.K. Rowling.  It was the first in a series of five films with the next film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, released on November 16th.  Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the mobile game, was released on June 20th, J.K. Rowling is not directly involved, but the Niantic game does continue the Harry Potter story.  Her series C.B. Strike was turned into a crime series from 2017 to 2019.   It is based on her book series under the pen name Robert Galbraith.  Happy Birthday J.K. Rowling!

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