J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling was born July 31st, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England and raised in Winterbourne. She has been described as a bookish and shy child, and studied French and classics at the University of Exeter.

After graduating, the famous writer moved to London and worked a series of temp jobs, including at Amnesty International. Rowling moved to Manchester, then to Porto, Portugal, where she met her first husband, Jorge Arantes. The couple married on October 16th, 1992 and had a daughter named Jessica in July of 1993. The two separated in November of that year. The Gloucestershire native went on to marry a doctor, Neil Murray, in 2001. They have two children, David and Mackenzie.

Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in June of 1997. The book and its sequels have sold of 600 million copies, becoming some of the most fastest-selling and most popular works of fiction in history. Rowling also writes adult novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. In recent years, her views on transgender issues have courted significant controversy.