Teen bullying torment of JK Rowling

Published on Sunday 17 July 2011 21:08

HARRY Potter creator JK Rowling has revealed how she was bullied at school, being branded "Rowling Pin" by classmates.

The Edinburgh-based writer made the revelation in a letter to an American fan who wrote to tell her that the Harry Potter books had helped her cope with a troubled childhood.

The normally private author told Sacia Flowers being a teenager was "completely horrible".

In her letter, Sacia told Rowling, 45, that she felt like the wizard as both her parents, who were drug addicts, were murdered in separate incidents, leaving her an orphan at 13. She also told how she had suffered at the hands of schoolmates.

Just two weeks later Rowling replied: "I know what it's like to be picked on, as it happened to me too, throughout my adolescence. Being a teenager can be completely horrible. I cannot tell you how moved I was by by what you wrote, nor how sorry I am to hear of your parents'."

The author signed the note "with lots of love, JK Rowling - Jo to you".

Ms Rowling has previously said of her teenage years: "I wouldn't go back if you paid me."