Professor Christine Geraghty of Glasgow University's theatre, film and television studies department said [...] "...Ms Rowling, was a phenomena and should be looked at as an individual, rather than demonstrative of a wider trend."

7 JK ROWLING

AUTHOR

Joanne Rowling's real power is that she made a generation denounced as TV addicts and computer obsessives turn to books. On the back of this, she has developed formidable commercial powers, with her very name prompting financiers and donors to put their hands in their pockets. Forbes has named her the world's second-richest female entertainer and the 48th most powerful celebrity of 2007. She was runner-up in Time's 2007 Person of the Year.

The creator of Harry Potter is a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and One Parent Families. She can raise huge sums, as when her Tales of Beedle The Bard fetched £1.95 million at auction last year. She went to a state school in Monmouthshire, then Exeter University, and lived in Paris, Portugal and London before making Edinburgh her home.