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Thursday 28 May 2015

Pottermore: From Edinburgh cafe to new Harry Potter venture

JK Rowling will launch Pottermore today, her latest creation for Harry Potter. Lauren Kelly-Jones looks at how her career has progressed

Pottermore.
 
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Would-be Pottermore users are being targeted by online criminals, a web security firm has warned. 
Pottermore mania before new Harry Potter site opens
 
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Harry Potter author JK Rowling Photo: REUTERS

1990: Rowling imagines Harry Potter for the first time while delayed on a train between Manchester and King's Cross, London. She later said that the Harry Potter character strode "fully formed" into her mind.

1991: Rowling, 26, writes ten different first chapters for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone while teaching English as a foreign language in Portugal. She uses an airsickness bag to write down the names of the Hogwarts' Houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw.

1994: She writes Harry Potter on notepads in cafes around Edinburgh while her daughter, Jessica, is asleep in her pushchair. "I really wrote it for myself"

1995: Rowling finishes Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and types the manuscript on an old £40 typewriter. She sends hand typed manuscripts to two agents and one publisher.

1996: October: British publisher Bloomsbury Press accepts the book.

1997: Spring: The Scottish Arts Council awards her £8,000, a record grant for a children's author.

1997: Spring: Scholastic Books wins the US rights to the series, giving Rowling a $105,000 advance, an unheard of amount for a children's author.

1997: June: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is published in the UK. There are 500 copies printed. It is published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US by Arthur A. Levine Books/ Scholastic in September 1998.

1998: July: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published in the UK with a print run of over 10,000 copies. It is published in the US in June 1999.

1998: Rowling wins the Booksellers Association Author of the Year, and again in 1999.

1999: July: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published in the UK. It spends four weeks at No.1 in the adult hardback bestseller charts while Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone tops the paperback charts. The New York Times has Harry Potter books in the top three positions on its best-seller list. Warner Bros buys film rights to the first two books, with Rowling demanding that they be live-action and securing her rights to script approval. Mattel Inc. buys the merchandising rights to Harry Potter.

1999: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets wins the Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Awards.

1999: Rowling wins the Author of the Year and Lifetime Achievement award at the British Book Awards.

2000: March: Rowling makes the Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list as the 24th highest celebrity earner in the world, having earned $40 million in 1999. Each book has now held the No. 1 position on The New York Times bestseller list.

2000: July: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is published simultaneously in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US. It has a print run of 1 million copies in the UK and 3.8 million in the US, breaking all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first weekend of publication.

2001: March: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages are published by Bloomsburg Children's Books and Scholastic in aid of Comic relief.

2001: November: The film based on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is released simultaneously in the UK and the US, directed by Chris Columbus and produced by David Heyman. It earns a record breaking $90 million US on its opening weekend and has since become the number two film of all time.

2001: Rowling receives the title Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, from H.R.H. Prince Charles.

2002: November: The film based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is released simultaneously in the UK and the US, again directed by Chris Columbus and produced by David Hayman.

2003: June: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is published simultaneously in Britain, the US, Canada and Australia. It is 766 pages, the longest in the series, and breaks the 'fastest selling book in history' records set by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

2003: Rowling receives the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in Spain.

2004: February: Forbes magazine estimates that Rowling's fortune is over £576 million.

2004: June: The film based on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is released, directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

2004: Rowling wins the W H Smith Fiction award.

2005: July: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is published in English-speaking countries and achieves record sales.

2005: November: The film based on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released, directed by Mike Newell.

2006: Rowling named the second richest female entertainer in the world, behind talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

2007: Rowling finishes the last chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the five-star Balmoral hotel, commemorating the event by writing "JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11th Jan 2007" on the back of a marble bust.

2007: July: The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is published in English-speaking countries and sells more that 250,000 copies in the first 24 hours. Sales are over 400 million books worldwide. The film based on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is released, directed by David Yates. JK Rowling attends the London premiere.

2007: May: Universal Orlando and Warner Bros. announce that they are forming a partnership to produce the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a theme park that will include the village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts castle. JK Rowling says "I don't think fans for the books or films will be disappointed."

2007: October: Rowling reveals that "Dumbledore was gay," when asked by a fan if he ever loved anyone. The crowd hushes, and applauds.

2008: Rowling is named the Morgan Stanley Overall Great Briton of 2007, for having "contributed exceptional achievements to [her] field this year in a distinctly British way" and wins the Great Briton, Arts category. Judges call her books "brilliantly British".

2008: April: A US Judge halts the publication of an unofficial encyclopedic companion to the Harry Potter book series in a copyright case.

2008: The Tales of Beedle the Bard is published by, and in aid of, the Children's High Level Group.

2008: Rowling wins the Edinburgh Award, the Author of the Year and Lifetime Achievement award at the British Book Awards, the James Joyce Award at University College Dublin, the Outstanding Achievement Award at the South Bank Show Awards, receives the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in France and is the commencement speaker at Harvard University, USA.

2009: July: The film based on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released, directed by David Yates.

2010: June: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens in Orlando, Florida, USA. There is Butterbeer.

2010: November: The film based on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part One - is released. Part Two will be released on the 15th of July, 2011.

June 23, 2011: Rowling launches Pottermore, her latest heavily-guarded secret project, which will likely involve an online treasure hunt featuring Harry Potter.

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