J.K. Rowling

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol and grew up in Gloucestershire and Chepstow, Wales; her father worked as an aircraft engineer and her mother was a science technician at the school Rowling attended. She was an avid reader and wrote stories from an early age, and later read French and Classics at the University of Exeter, graduating in 1986. After university, Rowling worked in London—including at Amnesty International—and in 1990 she moved to Portugal to teach English, where the idea of Harry Potter first came to her on a delayed train. After a brief marriage in Portugal and the birth of her daughter Jessica, Rowling returned to the U.K., lived in Edinburgh for a period, and wrote while facing financial hardship before the first book was accepted for publication. Bloomsbury published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in June 1997 and the seven‑book series was completed in 2007; the books have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide, have been translated into numerous languages, and spawned blockbuster film adaptations, a West End/Broadway play (and its film adaptations), theme‑park attractions, and other licensed works and media tied to the Wizarding World. The success made Rowling one of the most commercially successful authors in history and enabled significant philanthropic activities and new writing projects. In 2012 Rowling published her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, and under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym she published the Cormoran Strike crime series, which has been adapted for television. She remains involved in the development and production of works set in the Wizarding World and has been active in charity and commentary on public issues, while also attracting public attention and debate for her statements on social issues.