Rowlingis a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Pottera seven-volume children's fantasy series published from to The series has sold over million copiesbeen translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games.
The Casual Vacancy was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strikean ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith. Born in YateGloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London.
The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stonewas published in Six sequels followed, and byForbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.
The novels follow a boy called Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts a school for wizardsand battles Lord Voldemort. Death and the divide between good and evil are the central themes of the series. Its influences include Bildungsroman the coming-of-age genreschool storiesfairy talesand Christian allegory.
The series revived fantasy as a genre in the children's market, spawned a host of imitators, and inspired an active fandom. Critical reception has been more mixed. Many reviewers see Rowling's writing as conventional; some regard her portrayal of gender and social division as regressive.
There were also religious debates over Harry Potter. Rowling has won many accolades for her work. Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition, which she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She co-founded the charity Lumos and established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother.
Rowling's charitable giving centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. She has publicly expressed her opinions on transgender people and related civil rights continually since These have been criticised as transphobic by LGBT rights organisations and some feministsbut have received support from other feminists and individuals.
Although she writes under the pen name J. Rowling, before her remarriage her name was Joanne Rowling, [2] or Jo. Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July at Cottage Hospital in YateGloucestershire [8] [b] to a middle-class family. Anne was with the Wrens and Pete was with the Royal Navy.
Joanne is two years older than her sister, Dianne.