J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is one of the most popular writers of all time and was named by the British public "the greatest living British writer" in June 2006. Rowling first thought of Harry while riding a train back in 1990. She said "Harry just strolled into my head fully formed." She worked on the book for several years, finding quiet moments at a café when her daughter napped. She published the first Harry Potter book in 1997 and the seventh and last in the series, titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is due out sometime in 2007.
Joanne Rowling also revealed in 2006 that she had completed
a few short stories and another children's book and might
publish an "encyclopedia" of the Harry Potter world from
her unpublished material and notes.
She is sometimes known as Joanne Kathleen but she says
she never had a middle name and just used her grandmother's
name for the second initial. The publisher had feared
before her first volume was released that the target group
of young boys might be reluctant to buy books from a female
author, and requested she use two initials rather than
her first name. The series are increasingly popular, receive
rave reviews, and the sixth book sold more copies in 24
hours than The Da Vinci Code sold in 1 year.
Rowling married for the second time (her first marriage ended in divorce) in 2001 and currently lives with her husband and two children in Kinross, Scotland. She is a very wealthy woman and also owns a house in Edinburgh and London. She has been a featured guest on "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," and "Larry King Live." Rowling has also been named an Officer of the British Empire and has won the Hugo Award, as well as many other honors. She contributes much money and time to many charitable organizations especially research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling.
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