Joanne Kathleen Rowling, author of the books, was born on 31 July, the same date Harry Potter was born in the books (Note: Ms Rowling was born in 1965, while Harry was born in 1980).
According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2002 Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling’s net worth increased from Stg65 million in 2001 to Stg226 million in 2002. The increase was largely as a result of royalties from the hit film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, but book sales and merchandising also contributed. Rowling’s fortune now makes her Britain’s wealthiest woman in showbiz and she sits 11 places above Queen Elizabeth II.
J K Rowling wrote her first book when she was six and 20 years later wrote the first wizard-filled Harry Potter book in a café during her young daughter’s naps. She sold her first manuscript for a pretty small sum after being rejected by a few publishers. Aren’t they sorry now!
The fourth Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – sold a magical 5.1 million copies in two days. Bloomsbury, the publishers of the book, launched a special website which was overwhelmed by millions of fans. This book also holds the record for the largest first-run print with 4.8 million copies of which 3.8 million were printed in the USA (40 times as many as an average best-seller).
Harry Potter has been translated in 55 languages.
More than 16,000 children in the UK and US auditioned for the role of Harry Potter.
J. K. Rowling named the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus after her grandfathers, Ernie and Stanley.
In the first 24 hours, the last book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sold 6.9 million copies in the United States alone, or 287,500 books per hour, making it the fastest selling book in history. It generated over $100 million in sales out of the gate, outpacing even the combined take of the top movies at the box office. Bookseller Barnes and Noble reported sales averaging 105 copies per second in the first hour of sales.
Remember the man who was arrested for stealing pre-release copies of the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Today, Aaron Lamber, who stole two copies of the book was sentenced to four-and-a-half years jail. Lambert had been working as a security guard for TNT distribution, which was involved in the distribution of 10 million HBP copies before its release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Harry_Potter/Did_you_know
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince.jpg
Put in a box shaded + book cover
Competition
We have a copy of the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to give to our readers. All you have to do is answer the following question and send it to the address below:
Question: In the first 24 hours how many copies of the book were sold in the United States alone?
Send your answer to: The Malta Independent, Harry Potter Competition, Standard House, Birkirkara Hill, St Julian’s STJ 09
Photos: Courtesy of KRS Film Distributors