What was J.K. Rowling’s pen name for the Cormoran Strike series?

J.K. Rowling’s pen name for the Cormoran Strike series is Robert Galbraith.

Rowling adopted the name when publishing The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first novel about private detective Cormoran Strike. Using a separate author identity allowed her to begin a crime series without relying on the enormous public profile created by Harry Potter.

The pseudonym was not kept secret indefinitely. In 2013, a newspaper investigation identified Rowling as the author, and she confirmed the report. Later books in the series continued to carry the Robert Galbraith byline, including The Silkworm, Career of Evil, Lethal White, Troubled Blood, and The Ink Black Heart.

Robert Galbraith is sometimes described as a completely independent author, but that was the public identity Rowling used for this body of work. It is also different from Rowling’s own initials-based name, which remains attached to her Harry Potter and other non-Strike publications.