J
J. K. Rowling
Born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, near Bristol, England, Joanne Rowling published her first novel under the initials J.K. at her publisher's suggestion — the K borrowed from her grandmother Kathleen to create a gender-neutral pen name. Before her writing career, she worked as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in London and later as an English teacher in Oporto, Portugal. She conceived the idea for Harry Potter on a delayed train journey from Manchester to London in 1990...