J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling has written fiction since she was a child. Born in 1965, she grew up in Chepstow and wrote her first 'book' at the age of six. The idea for Harry Potter occurred to her on a train from Manchester to London, where she says Harry Potter 'just strolled into my head fully formed', and by the time she had arrived at King's Cross, many of the characters had taken shape. During the next five years she outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published by Bloomsbury in 1997.
(Photo credit: JP Masclet)
