Media & Arts

J.K. Rowling

Wrote the first Harry Potter as a single mother on state benefits; twelve publishers rejected it.

Born: 1965 · Yate, England
Roots: English
Family: Middle class; Aircraft-engineer father at Rolls-Royce, science-technician mother.
Education: University of Exeter (French and classics)
Started with: £2,500 advance; Bloomsbury's advance in 1996, while she lived on benefits of roughly £70 a week.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1990 · age 24
The idea on a delayed train
Manchester to London; her mother dies at the end of the same year.
1993 · age 28
Single mother in Edinburgh
On state benefits after a marriage in Portugal ends; writes in cafés while her daughter sleeps.
1996 · age 30
Twelve rejections, then a yes£2,500
Bloomsbury signs the book after the chairman's eight-year-old daughter asks for the rest; she is advised to keep a day job.
1997 · age 31
Philosopher's Stone published$105K
US rights sell at auction for an unusually high sum for a children's debut.
2004 · age 38
Billionaire status$1B
Per Forbes — described as the first author to reach it.
2012 · age 46
Off the billionaire list
Forbes attributes the drop to charitable giving and UK taxes.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.