I am deeply amazed by the high global popularity of the Harry Potter stories. The Harry Potter novels were written by the British author J.K. Rowling. She was given birth to on 31 July 1965. Her complete name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the abbreviation J.K. Rowling because initially her publishing company considered it was a helpful move not to reveal the aspect that she is a woman. The publishing house feared it could have a negative effect on the sales numbers if everybody immediately sees that the author was a woman. Consequently, instead of showing her first name she used two letters. As she has no middle name she picked Kathleen as basis for the K. in her pseudonym. Kathleen is the name of her grandma.
The first Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone – was released in the year 1997 in in Great Britain. Quite funny is the point that only 1,000 pieces of the first book were released at that time. The original title of the story was not Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, but Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. But when the story was published to the US market place in the year 1998, it was released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
After that J.K. invented six more Harry Potter books. Finally the Harry Potter series consists of a total of 7 novels. These are:
- Vol. 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
- Vol. 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Vol. 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Vol. 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Vol. 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Vol. 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Vol. 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Harry Potter stories have been translated into at least sixty languages and have been released in many countries. Besides the big success in the United States and the UK, Harry Potter is also very renowned in Germany. The Harry Potter stories have been publicized to German readers under those titles:
- Book 1: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
- Book 2: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens
- Book 3: Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
- Book 4: Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
- Book 5: Harry Potter und der Orden des Phoenix
- Book 6: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz
- Book 7: Harry Potter und die Heiligtuemer des Todes
I must admit that I did not have the opportunity to read all those stories. But there are fans who know them all, which is very fascinating and contributes to the huge success.