J.K. Rowling

Born: 1965

J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book in Edinburgh cafes while living on benefits as a single mother. The book was rejected by twelve publishers before Bloomsbury picked it up in 1997. Seven books and eight films later, the series has sold over 600 million copies and made Rowling the first author to become a billionaire from writing. Born Joanne Rowling in 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, she studied French and Classics at the University of Exeter. She came up with the idea for Harry Potter on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990. The next seven years involved writing the first book while teaching English in Portugal, getting married, having a daughter, getting divorced, and moving to Edinburgh. After Harry Potter ended, Rowling published The Casual Vacancy in 2012, her first adult novel. In 2013, she released The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, wanting to publish without the pressure of her famous name. A Twitter investigation outed her three months later, but she continues using the pen name for the Cormoran Strike detective series, which now spans eight novels. The series has been adapted into a BBC television show. Rowling has given over $160 million to charity. She founded Lumos, an organization working to end the institutionalization of children worldwide.