j.k. rowling

JK Rowling Donates Millions To Found Research Clinic

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has made a big donation for research on degenerative neurological conditions and diseases. The Guardian reports that the author has donated £10 million (approximately $15.4 million) to create a clinic in honor of her mother who died at 45 and had multiple sclerosis. Rowling herself recently turned 45. The Anne Rowling regenerative neurology clinic will be based at the University of Edinburgh and will research a variety of diseases including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

The Guardian article reports that Rowling gave a large donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland towards setting up the university's centre for multiple sclerosis research back in 2006 but that this is the largest direct donation that Rowling has ever made to a charitable cause. It is also the biggest single gift the university had ever received.

The clinic will work directly with MS sufferers and other patients to develop and test new treatments. The clinic will be part of the the BioQuarter medical research campus, in south-east Edinburgh. The project is a massive life science real estate development that will include a large state-of-the-art teaching hospital, the University of Edinburgh's world-renowned medical school and biomedical research and development facilities all on one site. The $1.2 billion public/private investment project will attract the best scientists, clinicians and researchers from around the world. Check out a video of the the project after the jump.

Tags: bioquarter, j.k. rowling, Multiple Sclerosis, neurological, neurological conditions multiple sclerosis, University of Edinburgh

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'Twilight' Author Makes $40 Million Without Writing a Single Book

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Books, Wealth

Despite not having written a single book in the past year, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer raked in an eye-popping $40 million from her sexy vampire tales, Forbes reports. Meyer landed the second place spot on the magazine's new ranking of the world's highest paid authors, easily eclipsing Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. About $7 million of Meyer's 2009 windfall came from movies adapted from the Twilight series, with most of the balance attributable to previously published works. In June the third Twilight adaptation made $175 million in its first six days. Meyer still has a long way to go to catch up with the world's highest paid author, James Patterson, who snagged the #1 spot with a whopping $70 million paycheck. Unlike Meyer however, Patterson has to keep churning out thrillers; he's contracted to produce another 17 books by the end of 2012. Stephen King placed third on the list with $34 million, while Rowling languishes in last place with a measly $10 million. Of course she's already a billionaire.

Tags: authors, books, Forbes, J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, Stephen King, Twilight, vampires, wealth

L'Or�al Heiress is the World's Richest Woman

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Liliane Bettencourt (right), daughter of the man who founded cosmetics giant L'Oréal, tops Forbes' just-released list of the richest women in Europe with a fortune of $22.9 billion. That astounding figure also makes her the world's richest woman, the magazine notes. Bettencourt, whose father's reputation has occasionally come under fire, uses her money to fund a charitable foundation which supports medical research, cultural projects and humanitarian relief.

At the No. 2 spot on the Euro list is Swedish citizen Birgit Rausing, a packaging heiress with an estimated fortune of $14 billion, while No. 3 is BMW and pharmaceuticals heiress Susanne Klatten, with $13.2 billion. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling meanwhile is in last place at No. 22, barely making the list with a measly $1 billion. It's worth noting that Germany has the most female billionaires of any European nation, with nine of them living within its borders. You can see a gallery of the loaded ladies here.

Tags: Billionaires, BMW, Forbes, Germany, Harry Potter, HarryPotter, Heiress, j.k. rowling, J.k.Rowling, Liliane Bettencourt, LilianeBettencourt, LOreal, Worlds Richest woman, WorldsRichestWoman

Rowling Book Sells For Nearly $4 Million

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Charity

J.K. Rowling's latest book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, just went up for auction and ended up making nowhere near the amount expected. The last of 7 handwritten editions of the book (which will not be published) was expected to go for around $100,000, so I'm sure there were some pleasantly surprised faces when bidding closed just shy of $4 million dollars.

The money will be donated to The Children's Voice, a charity that campaigns for the rights of children in Europe and was co-founded by Rowling and Baroness Nicholson back in 2005. In response to the auction's end Rowling was "ecstatic" and was quoted as saying "It means Christmas has come early to me this year."

Source

Tags: book, J.K. Rowling, J.k.Rowling, JK Rowling, JkRowling, literature, Rowling, Tales of Beedle the Bard, TalesOfBeedleTheBard

J.K. Rowling's Book of Fairy Tales Finished: But Only Told to the Rich

by Sarah Gilbert (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity

We have all been waiting eagerly to see what projects J.K. Rowling will embark upon in the post-Harry Potter days. News that she has not only chosen a project, but completed it -- a volume of fairy tales entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard -- is thrilling indeed. Except when you read further. Only seven copies will be ~~printed~~ handwritten. The seventh one (the other six were gifts) will be sold at auction, with a starting price of $62,000. Given that a first-edition Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone sold for $40,000, it seems that this volume will sell for far more.

While the proceeds are headed to charity (surely a laudable goal), something in this news makes me queasy. When J.K. Rowling burst to the scene with her first Harry Potter books, much was made of her struggling, lower-class background: the welfare mom made good. And many pundits have lauded her tales for making reading exciting again for children everywhere. She made literature relevant to even those who were, like she was once, just squeaking by.

So the concept of exclusive literature leaves me cold. If you're interested in the etymology, however, it's more than appropriate: a bard was a poet employed by the wealthy to tell tales of their great deeds. I always thought of J.K. Rowling as something far more free-spirited; but it this bard's tales will only be told to a few.

Update: A commenter pointed out that I was incorrect that these would be printed -- the books are handwritten. However, the commenter says these copies will be available to the public; that is not true according to this source.

Tags: beedle, fairy tales, FairyTales, first edition, FirstEdition, harry potter, HarryPotter, j.k. rowling, J.k.Rowling, jkrowling, limited edition, LimitedEdition, rowling, tales-of-beedle-the-bard, talesofbeedlethebard