Joanne Rowling, better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist famed for creating the Harry Potter series. This seven-volume fantasy series, published from 1997 to 2007, has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise, including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012), was her first novel for adults. Additionally, she writes the Cormoran Strike crime fiction series under the alias Robert Galbraith.

Rowling's journey began in Yate, Gloucestershire. While working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in 1990, she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series. The following years were marked by personal challenges including the death of her mother, the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. By 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.

The novels center around a boy named Harry Potter who attends Hogwarts, a school for wizards, and battles Lord Voldemort. Themes of death, the divide between good and evil, and influences from various literary genres are prevalent throughout the series. While the series revived fantasy in the children's market and inspired an active fandom, critical reception has been mixed with debates over its portrayal of gender, social division, and religious themes.

Rowling has won numerous accolades for her work, including an OBE and being made a Companion of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy. She has used her wealth and recognition to support philanthropic endeavours and political causes, co-founding the charity Lumos and establishing the Volant Charitable Trust. Despite controversies, particularly regarding her opinions on transgender issues, Rowling remains a significant figure in literature and philanthropy.