Joanne "Jo" Rowling, best known as J.K.

Rowling, was born in Yate,

Gloucestershire, England, on July 31, 1965. As a child, Rowling used to write
fantasy stories that she read to her little sister Dianne. When she was a
teenager, she fell in love with Jessica Mitford books when her great-aunt gave
her a copy of Mitford's autobiography.
In 1982, Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was
not accepted. She entered Exeter University, and after graduating with a
degree in French and Classics, she moved to London and worked as a
researcher and bilingual secretary at Amnesty International among other jobs.
Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English as a foreign
language. There, she met and married Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes. Who
she married in 1992 and gave birth to their daughter, Jessica in 1993. That
same year she separated from her husband and returned with her daughter to
the UK, to live in Edinburgh. During this time she was jobless for many years,
and depended on state benefits to feed and clothe herself and her daughter,
and not end up homeless.
Rowling greatest achievement and most known novels are the Harry
Potter series. She started writing them in 1990, and during the next five years,
outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel. The book
was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the
manuscript. But finally, was published by Bloomsbury Childrens Books in June
1997. The seventh and final book was published in 2007.
The series, consisting of seven books, gave Rowling many awards and
records; like being the first person to become a billionaire by writing books. And
one of the most powerful woman in the United Kingdom. Other of her works are
The Casual Vacancy, and the Cormoran Strike series, which she published
under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Rowling is currently writing the screen play, Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them, an original story set in the wizarding world. It marks her
screenwriting debut and the start of a new film series with Warner Bros.
J.K. Rowling is currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband
Niel Murray (married in 2001) their two children David (2003) and Mackenzie
(2005), and her daughter Jessica.