Which organization employed J.K. Rowling as a researcher and bilingual secretary after university?

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Amnesty International employed J.K. Rowling as a researcher and bilingual secretary after university.

After graduating from the University of Exeter, Rowling worked in London for Amnesty International. Her job involved researching human-rights issues and communicating in French, drawing on the language she had studied at university.

She later moved to Manchester and worked for the Chamber of Commerce. During a train journey from Manchester to London in 1990, she conceived the idea of a boy attending a school for wizards, an idea that developed into Harry Potter.

Amnesty International is a global human-rights organization founded in London in 1961. Rowling’s office work there was separate from her later charitable activities, so it should not be confused with the organizations she founded or supported after becoming a successful author.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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