Her real name is Joanne Rowling.

She started using JK as a codename fearing that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman Her mother s name was Kathleen Was born in 31 July 1965 - Yate, Gloucestershire, England

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee.

In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. She told The Boston Globe that "I really don't know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.

While JK was writing Harry Potter, her mother died, after her ten-year battle with multiple sclerosis. "I was writing Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about it. She moved to Porto (Portugal), married Jorge Arantes, had a daughter (Jessica), in 1993. The marriage didn t work, and in the same year, JK moved to Scotland.

During this period Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression, and contemplated suicide. It was the feeling of her illness which brought her the idea of Dementors, soul-sucking creatures introduced in the third book I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher s Stone 1998: Chamber os Secrets 1999: Prisoner of Azkaban 2000: The Goblet of Fire 2003: Order of the Phoenix 2005: Half-Blood Price 2007: Deathly Hallows

1997: Nestl Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 1998: Nestl Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1998: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 1999: Nestl Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 1999: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1999: Whitbread Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2000: British Book Awards, Author of the Year. 2000: Order of the British Empire, Officer. 2003: Premio Prncipe de Asturias, Concord. 2003: Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, winner Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 2006: British Book of the Year, winner for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 2007: Blue Peter Badge, Gold. 2008: British Book Awards, Outstanding Achievement. 2009: Lgion d'honneur, presented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 2010: Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, inaugural award winner. 2011: British Academy Film Awards, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema for the Harry Potter film series, shared with David Heyman, cast and crew. Honorary degrees: St Andrews University, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, University of Exeter, Harvard University

Harry Potter series Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Other books Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001) Quidditch Through the Ages (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001) The Tales of Beedle the Bard (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2008)