About JKR

She's one of Britain's wealthiest women and the creator of star wizard, Harry Potter. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, or JKR to her (legions) of fans has become a bit of a star herself since her debut novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone hit best-seller lists around the world.

Born in Chipping, Sodbury on July 31st 1965, Joanne Kathleen Rowling a single mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland, became an international literary sensation when the first three instalments of her Harry Potter children's book series took over the top three slots of the New York Times best seller list after having achieved similar success in her native United Kingdom. The phenomenal response to Rowling's books culminated in July 2000 when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire became one of the fastest selling books in history!

A graduate of Exeter University, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English. There she met and married a Portuguese journalist. The couple's daughter, Jessica was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling along with her daughter, moved to Edinburgh to live near her younger sister Di. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her while she was travelling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the "Philosopher" was changed to "Sorcerer" for its American publication,) for the equivalent of about $4000.

By the summer of 2000, the first three Harry Potter books: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban had earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 different languages. In July 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire saw a printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million. Rowling, now one of Britain's richest women, plans a total of seven books in the series, each chronicling a year in the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone continues to win major awards in England, winning The National Book Award, The Smarties Prize, The Children's Book Award and was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal.

In mid 2002, Rowling married her boyfriend Dr. Neil Murray in a private ceremony in her adopted home of Soctland. This being her second marriage, in March 2003 she gave birth to her second child, a son, David Gordon Murray Rowling, a younger brother for Rowling's daughter from her first marriage, Jessica.

A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire) was released in November 2001 and the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in November 2002. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is due to bereleased in the Australian winter of 2004 with the fourth film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire beginning principal photography in April 2004. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in the US, UK, Australian and Canada on Saturday 21st June 2003 to then go on and receive critical success including receing the W H Smith Adult Fiction Award in 2004. Rowling is set to release the sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 16th 2005.

Want to write to J.K Rowling? Here is her address: