Who wrote the 'Harry Potter' series?

J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series, a seven-volume fantasy saga about a young wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom in 1997. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, followed in 2007. Together, the novels trace Harry’s conflict with the dark wizard Lord Voldemort and became a major global publishing phenomenon.

Rowling’s initials are part of her pen name. Her birth name is Joanne Rowling; the “K” was added by her publisher before the first book’s release, reportedly representing Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name. In the United States, the first book was published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were also influential writers, but they created different works: Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, and Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings.