J.K. Rowling

British author — author of the Harry Potter series — the best-selling book series in history — who went from single mother on welfare to the world's first billion-dollar author — and whose public statements on gender identity made her one of the most controversial public figures of the 2020s.

Creates the Harry Potter mythology as global children's literature — Rowling's synthesis of British boarding school tradition, classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and biblical resonance into a seven-volume arc produced the best-selling fiction series in history and a global mythological shared universe at a scale not seen since Tolkien.