JK Rowling

JK (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling "has written fiction since she was a child and always aspired to be an author. She studied at Exeter University, where she earned a French and Classics degree which 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. It was in London that she started writing the Harry Potter series, and during the next five years she outlined the plots for each book and began writing the novels. After moving to north Portugal to teach English as a foreign language and having her daughter Jessica, she returned to Edinburgh after her marriage ended. Here she continued to write in cafes and Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone was eventually completed. The Scottish Arts Council gave her a substantial grant – the largest literary award offered by the organisation to a children's author. Several publishers rejected the novel, but her agent Christopher Little held faith and in 1996 she received an offer of publication.

"JK Rowling was voted author of the year at the 1999 British Book Awards (Nibbies) and won the Booksellers Association Author of the Year award in 1998 and 1999 and the WH Smith's Children's Book of the Year for 2000. She was awarded an OBE for services to children's literature in June 2000.

"She has honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire USA, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews and Napier University, Edinburgh. "

• Trustee, Comic Relief