Young author publishes first complete biography of rags-to-riches author J.K. Rowling

A young author this week released the first complete biography of billionaire “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who is considered “canceled” by some due to her stark opposition to transgender rights.

The 22-year-old author, YouTuber and historian, Solomon Schmidt, traces Joanne “Jo” Rowling’s life in “A Pen to Change the World: The Life of J.K. Rowling,” through her pastoral England childhood, violent marriage and eventual separation, single motherhood, poverty, her mother’s death, difficult relationship with her father and fame.

“Harry Potter,” which spans seven books, is the best-selling book series of all time with more than 600 million copies sold worldwide. The first book was released in 1997, with the seventh published 10 years later in 2007.

Schmidt said in an interview on the Just the News, No Noise television show that a large reason why he wanted to write the biography was because of his love for the eponymously titled books. 

“It's this incredible story of adventure and courage and death and tyranny, and all the great themes that make a good story,” Schmidt said. 

When he began researching Rowling’s life after reading the series, Schmidt could only find out-of-date resources. And he was astonished by her: She was, at the time, a single mother living on welfare and battling depression, domestic abuse, sexual assault, miscarriage and more.

Schmidt spent several years studying Rowling’s life and books, speaking to her ex-husband in Portugal and relatives who shared memories and unseen photographs of Rowling and her family. While Schmidt conducted interviews and research in the UK, however, Rowling attempted to intervene and directed her legal team to send him a threatening message, according to Schmidt’s website.

“I would be foolish to try and say I could put my finger on the pulse of her mind,” Schmidt told Just the News. “It’d be like saying, how did Einstein come up with E = mc^2.”

However, he thinks that part of Rowling’s narrative ability to write complex life themes into a story like “Harry Potter” originates from her troubled past – much like authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

The author endured a “life of drudgery for a long time,” but her “escape” from the day job she hated was to make up stories and spells she thought no one would ever care about, Schmidt said. He spoke on the contrast of Rowling’s life before and after “Harry Potter”:

"One day, she’s walking through Edinburgh, Scotland, as a single mother, pushing her baby in the stroller … no one’s paying her any heed. No one knows who she is. No one cares who she is.

“Then, 10 years later, she’s walking through that same city, being mobbed like a biblical figure, people grabbing for parts of her clothing, people screaming and crying when they see her.”

The biography includes Rowling's involvement in the ongoing debate about sex, gender and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Around the start of her explosive fame, she was beloved and praised as a hero on the left when she announced in 2007 that the wise Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore — who also serves as a father figure for titular character Harry Potter — is gay.

“That was in a lot of people’s minds — a big moment for cultural acceptance of the LGBTQ community,” Schmidt said.

However, Rowling is now seen as an enemy of the movement after she switched from supporting trans rights in 2016 to denouncing the movement in 2020 with a 3,400-word explanation essay posted on her website. She has since fought with politicians, media figures and fans over the controversy.

“The cancellation has been vicious,” Schmidt continued.

Forbes estimates Rowling earns more than $80 million each year from book royalties, entertainment licensing fees and profit percentages from the series’ Warner Bros. movies, the upcoming HBO television series and the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” stage plays, theme park revenues, and merchandising and gaming payouts. Her current net worth is estimated at about $1.2 billion.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.