JK Rowling "The wizard behind the magic" days until Harry Potter and JK Rowling's (next) birthdays! Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1966. As a girl, and throughout the rest of her life, she loved to read and write. She was a very intelligent child, and was making up fantasy stories for as long as she can remember. She started writing seriously when she was about 18 years old, but was to shy to publish any of these short stories and novels. In 1997, she finally published her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Philosopher’s Stone in England). The series became very popular around the world and changed her life around completely. Before she published “Harry”, she was a broke, unworking single mother, writing the books on scraps of paper at a local cafè. She now lives happily with her eight year old daughter, Jessica, and plans on finishing the Harry Potter series with three more books, and then write other novels. Right now she is working on the 6th Book (title unknown), and giving input on the next Harry Potter Movie (Prisoner of Azkaban)(coming out in June of 2004). Write Miss Rowling a letter; get the addresses here. View more pictures of Miss Rowling in our photo gallery. Find the links to Miss Rowling's Chat Transcripts here.