I am always amazed by the tremendous worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter stories. The Harry Potter books were written by the British writer J.K. Rowling. She saw the light of day on 31 July 1965. Her full name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the alias J.K. Rowling because initially her publisher considered it was a helpful idea to hide the point that she is female. The publishing company feared it could have a negative effect on the sales numbers if everybody immediately recognizes that the author is female. Thus, instead of using her first name she used two initials. As she has no middle name she took Kathleen as basis for the K. in her pseudonym. Kathleen is the name of her grandmother.
The very first Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone – was released in 1997 in the UK. Very interesting is the point that only one thousand pieces of the first story were publicized 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 novel was published to the US marketplace in 1998, it was named Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
After that J.K. wrote 6 more Harry Potter stories. Now the Harry Potter series is made of a total of seven stories. 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 more than 50 languages and have been published all over the world. Besides the huge success in the USA and Britain, Harry Potter is also noticeably favored in European countries. The Harry Potter books have been published to German readers under those headers:
- Novel 1: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
- Novel 2: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens
- Novel 3: Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
- Novel 4: Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
- Novel 5: Harry Potter und der Orden des Phoenix
- Novel 6: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz
- Novel 7: Harry Potter und die Heiligtuemer des Todes
I must admit that I did not have the time to read all those books. But there are fans who know them all, which is quite remarkable and makes up the huge success.