"J K (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling was born in the summer of 1965 at Yate General Hospital in England and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent where she went to Wyedean Comprehensive. Jo left Chepstow for Exeter University, where she earned 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. Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to her daughter Jessica in 1993. When her marriage ended, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where ""Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone"" was eventually completed and in 1996 she received an offer of publication. The following summer the world was introduced to Harry Potter.""Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"" was published by Bloomsbury Children's Books in June 1997 and was published as ""Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"" in America by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic in September 1998.The second title in the series, ""Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"", was published in July 1998 (June 2, 1999 in America) and was No. 1 in the adult hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication. ""Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"" was published on 8th July 1999 (September 8, 1999 in America) to worldwide acclaim and massive press attention. The book spent four weeks at No.1 in the adult hardback bestseller charts, while ""Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Ston...