J. K. Rowling
born July 31, 1965, Chipping
Sodbury, near Bristol, England
British author, creator of the popular and
critically acclaimed Harry Potter
series, about a young sorcerer in training.
After graduating
from the University of Exeter in 1986,
Rowling began working for Amnesty
International in London, where she started
to write the Harry Potter adventures. In the
early 1990s she traveled to Portugal to
teach English as a foreign language, but,
after a brief marriage and the birth of her
daughter, she returned to the United
Kingdom, settling in Edinburgh. Living on
public assistance between stints as a French
teacher, she continued to write.
Rowling’s first
book in the series, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone (1997; also published as
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), was
an immediate success, appealing to both
children (its intended audience) and adults.
Featuring vivid descriptions and an
imaginative story line, it followed the
adventures of the unlikely hero Harry
Potter, a lonely orphan who discovers that
he is actually a wizard and enrolls in the
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The book received numerous awards, including
the British Book Award. Succeeding
volumes—Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire (2000), Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix (2003), and Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)—also
were best sellers, available in more than
200 countries and some 60 languages. The
seventh and final installment in the series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was
released in 2007.
Other works include
the companion books Fantastic Beasts & Where
to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages,
both of which were published in 2001, with
proceeds going to charity. The series
sparked great enthusiasm among children and
was credited with generating a new interest
in reading. A film version of the first
Harry Potter book was released in 2001 and
became one of the top-grossing movies in the
world. Other volumes were also made into
highly successful films. In 2008 Rowling
followed her successful Harry Potter series
with The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a
collection of fairy tales. Rowling was
appointed OBE (Officer of the British
Empire) in March 2001. In 2009 she was named
a chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.
