J. K. Rowling was born in 1965, and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She studied at Exeter University, where she gained a French and Classics degree, and where her course included one year in Paris. As a postgraduate she moved to London to work at Amnesty International, doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa.

She started writing the Harry Potter series during a Manchester to London King's Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.

This first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), was an unprecedented success. The novels in the series which have succeeded it have topped bestseller lists, won numerous awards, and been translated into over sixty languages. Worldwide, the Harry Potter books have exceeded sales of 300 million copies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as a film in 2001, adapted by Steve Kloves, and an adaptation of the second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), was released in November 2002. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (directed by Alfonso Cuaron) followed in 2004, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed by Mike Newell, was released in November 2005 in the UK and US. The subsequent film adaptations - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the two-parter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - were directed by David Yates and released between 2007 and 2011.

J. K. Rowling's initial aim was to write seven books in the Harry Potter series. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in 2003, and the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in 2005. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in 2007. She has also written two small volumes which appear as the titles of Harry's school books within the novels - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages, which were published in 2001 in aid of Comic Relief.

J. K. Rowling has honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, US, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews, Napier University, Edinburgh, and University of Edinburgh. She was awarded an OBE for her services to children's literature in 2001, and became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002. In 2010 she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 2012, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of novels, published between 1997 and 2007, have become the biggest sellers in the history of children’s writing. She founded the children’s charity ‘Lumos’, which aims to end the institutionalisation of children in orphanages worldwide. In November 2013, The Independent newspaper reported that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) topped a poll to find Britain’s favourite children’s book.

Her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, was published in 2012; she also published the crime novels The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015) and Lethal White (2018) under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. In 2016 she collaborated with the playwright Jack Thorne and theatre director John Tiffany; together they created the story for the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the script of which was written by Thorne.