© Richard Young

J. K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling was born in 1965 and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She left Chepstow to study French at Exeter University, where her course included a year in Paris. As a postgraduate, she moved to London to work at Amnesty International doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa. She started writing Harry Potter after the idea occurred to her on an interminable Manchester to London train journey. Jo then moved to north Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married, got pregnant, and kept writing. By the time her daughter was born, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was one-quarter finished.

The Latin and Welsh translations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were published by Bloomsbury in July 2003, and the Irish Gaelic and Ancient Greek translations in the Summer of 2004. The Scottish Gaelic translation at a date to be confirmed.

Click here to find out more about the translations