ROWLING, J.K.

born July 31, 1965, Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, England in full Joanne Kathleen Rowling 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; U.S. title 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 volumesHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)also were best-sellers, available in more than 100 countries and some 25 languages. In 2001 the companion books Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages were published, with proceeds going to charity. The series sparked great enthusiasm among children and was credited with generating a new interest in reading. Rowling was appointed OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in March 2001.