I am deeply fascinated by the grand international popularity of the Harry Potter stories. The Harry Potter stories were written by the British author J.K. Rowling. She saw the light of day on 31 July 1965. Her complete name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the pseudonym J.K. Rowling because primarily her publishing company thought it was a helpful idea not to reveal the matter that she is a woman. The publishing company thought it might have a negative effect on the sales figures if everybody instantly sees that the writer is a woman. So, instead of revealing her first name she used two letters. As she has no middle name she took Kathleen as basis for the K. in her pen name. Kathleen is the name of her grandma.
The initial Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone – was publicized in June 1997 in the UK. Quite remarkable is the fact that only thousand units of the first story were printed at that time. The original title of the book was not Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, but Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. But when the book was released to the US marketplace on 1 September 1998, it was released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
After that J.K. Rowling wrote some more Harry Potter stories. Today the Harry Potter series is made 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 novels have been translated into at least fifty-five languages and have been released in a lot of countries. Besides the huge success in the USA and the United Kingdom, Harry Potter is also noticeably popular in Germany. The Harry Potter stories (German online store: Harry Potter Buecher Shop) have been published to the German audience under the following headers:
- Teil 1: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
- Teil 2: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens
- Teil 3: Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
- Teil 4: Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
- Teil 5: Harry Potter und der Orden des Phoenix
- Teil 6: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz
- Teil 7: Harry Potter und die Heiligtuemer des Todes
I must admit that I did not have the time to read all the books. But there are people who know them all, which is very fascinating and is part of the big success.