At Grazia, we love JK Rowling. Rowling raised her daughter as a single mother, has battled depression, and wrote one of the most successful book and film franchises of all time. She is also an excellent tweeter, and is our go-to woman for inspiring quotes. AND she keeps Harry Potter fans happy with her tweets continuing the story (scroll down for more).
She's basically a genuine badass. So we've rounded up her most badass moments.
1. All the times she kept the Harry Potter saga going.
Not one to snub the books that made her famous, JK Rowling constantly keeps fans happy with more snippets of info about the Harry Potter world.
Case in point, when she relaunched the Pottermore website, and revealed loads of cool facts about the Potter family tree, tracing their history all the way back to the Middle Ages. We learned the name “Potter” actually comes from “Potterer,” the nickname of an ancient wizard relative who was so good at gardening and magical healing that many of his remedies “evolved into potions still used to this day, including Skele-gro and Pepperup Potion.”
Also, on the 24th anniversary of Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts, JK tweeted how his son James was doing - wishing him good luck at school, and revealing which house he was sorted into.** **
"Could somebody at King's Cross wish James S. Potter good luck for me?" she tweeted.
"He's starting at Hogwarts today."
She then added:
"Have just heard that James S Potter has been Sorted (to nobody's surprise) into Gryffindor. Teddy Lupin (Head Boy, Hufflepuff) disappointed."
2. JK Rowling's tweets about gay rights.
JK frequently speaks out about marriage equality and LBGT rights, from celebrating gay marriage to fighting the Westboro Baptist Church.
3. When Jk Rowling stuck up for Serena Williams.
Someone tweeted JK Rowling this about tennis champ Serena Williams: "The main reason for her success is that she is built like a man."
Her response? To tweet a photo of Serena looking gorgeous and responding: "Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You're an idiot."
3. When JK Rowling responded to a misogynist.
4. When everyone laughed at Madonna falling over the Brits, she tweeted:
"Are you the sort of person who gloats when they see a woman fall, or the kind that celebrates a magnificent recovery? #TeamMadonna."
5. When she sent this letter to a fan who had been bullied in school:
"What you say about Harry helping you at what was clearly a dreadful time in your life means more to me than I can easily express...I freely confess that I loathe bullying and the way it is still so often 'handled' in schools. Your experience is shocking and disturbing and that you have turned out to be a compassionate, moral, highly motivated person is high testimony to your courage. Gryffindor for you, my lad... "
6. Her excellent response to how hot Matthew Lewis is these days.
** 7. Defending her charity work.**
** 8. Her blog post about body image:**
“Is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? Not to me.
"I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny—a thousand things, before 'thin.' And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do.”
9. JK Rowling's 2008 commencement speech at Harvard University.
This speech was so influential, it has been turned into a book, sales of which are donated to Lumos, a charity for disadvantaged children founded by Rowling, and the financial aid programme at Harvard. Here are just some of the amazing quotes:
"There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you"
“Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”
"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better"
"As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters"
10. When she responded to this comment about the refugee crisis
Jk Rowling tweeted: "If you can't imagine yourself in one of these boats, you have something missing. They are dying for a life worth living. #refugeeswelcome".
A follower responded with this: "said the millionaire on her gold iphone in her mansion."
And she replied: "I'd type a longer retort, but these diamond buttons really hurt my fingers."
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