J. K. Rowling
Joanne, J. K. Rowling is the bestselling author of the Harry Potter books.
The Harry Potter story is set in a fantasy world. Harry is a young wizard with a scar shaped as a lightning bolt. He is famous in the wizard world for surviving an attack from the dark lord. He attends Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and fights dark powers throughout the series. The books have sold over 325 copies worldwide.
Joanne, or Jo as she prefers to be called, was born 31 July 1965. Her real name is Joanne Rowling; the K was added when the publisher, Bloomsbury, thought a female author wouldn’t appeal to the intended audience of young boys and thought it better to use a two letter pseudonym. Supposedly Joanne chose to add a K for Kathleen, as a tribute to her grandmother.
She wrote down her first story as a five or six yearold. But it wasn’t until 1990, when she on a four-hour-delayed traintrip from Manchester to London, that she first thought of Harry Potter. The basic idea was a young man attending a school of wizardry. It took a few years for her to complete the novel. Unemployed Joanne completed it in 1995.
The seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has just been published 21 July 2007. Joanne states that an eight book is very unlikely, but that she “never says never”.