J. K. Rowling, 2000 News

34, writer, thrilled fans around the world with the July release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth volume in her best-selling series about a boy wizard. Even before its release Goblet was the biggest phenomenon in the history of publishing, with record pre-publication sales and the largest first printing of all time. The Scottish author is now Great Britain's wealthiest female wage-earner. The film version of Rowling's first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is due out on Thanksgiving 2001. Eleven-year-old British actor Daniel Radcliffe has been cast in the lead.

See also J. K. Rowling biography.