Joanne Rowling (OBE) was born on 31st July 1965 and is the force behind the famous boy-wizard, Harry Potter. Her books have won many awards and it is estimated that she has sold over 300 million copies worldwide. In February 2004, Forbes magazine, estimated her fortune at �576 million, making her the first person to become a US billionaire by writing books.
It was back in 1995 that Rowling completed her manuscript,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Having given it to Bryony Evans, a literary agent's reader, who has been asked to write a review about it, the agency agreed to represent her and put it out to 12 publishing houses - all of which rejected it.
A year later, Barry Cunningham, an editor from a small publisher called Bloomsbury decided to take Rowling on, but warned her not to give up her day job because she had little chance of making money in children's books.
Soon after, Rowling received an £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council, to help her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the US for the rights to publish her book and Scholastic Inc, paid Rowling more than $100,000.
As of 2006, six of the seven Harry Potter books have been published. Rowling is currently writing the seventh and final book in the series.
In June 2006, the British public named Rowling as the greatest living British writer in a poll by The Book Magazine.
