Did you know JK Rowling wrote her first story at the age of 6? And more interesting facts

J.K. Rowling is now a household name. The humble author of Harry Potter rose to international fame when her book sales broke records. She is now known to be the first millionaire author and has a huge fan following. Here are some facts about her you might not have heard yet.
Photo: jkrowling.com

The 'k' of J.K. Rowling was not always a part of her name. Joanne Rowling was encouraged to hide her gender when her books were being published and so she added initials. She didn't have a middle name so she took her grandmother's name, Kathleen.
Photo: Bloomsbury

She moved to Portugal where she taught English. In Portugal, she got married to Jorge Arantes, a journalism student. They had a daughter together who they named Jessica. Rowling moved back to England with her daughter after her marriage broke.
Photo:Wikipedia

According to her website she always wanted to be a writer and she wrote her first story at the tender age of 6. It was a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’.
Photo: Canva

After seeing a picture of a caged child in the newspaper, she started an organisation called Lumos, after an illuminating spell, which aims to put an end to the institutionalisation of children worldwide.
Photo: Canva

Born on 31st July 1965 the internationally bestselling author shares a birthday with Munshi Premchand, the world-famous Hindi author. Both of them have had their work translated into other languages and published internationally. Rowling also gave her character Harry Potter the same birthday.
Photo:Wikipedia

Rowling was honoured with the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in the year 2000. It is a recognition of contributions in the field of arts, sciences, charity and public service.
Photo: Wikipedia

She was a researcher for Amnesty International after college where she said she would, "read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them.” She said later,

“My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.”
Photo: Canva