JK Rowling:
It is hard to think of a more powerful female figure to have emerged from Scotland in the past decade than JK Rowling. In 2000, Rowling was cementing her position as the world’s most popular children’s author with her fourth Harry Potter book, which broke all literary sales records in both the US and the UK. By 2007, Forbes magazine had ranked her the 48th most powerful celebrity in the world – not just for her enormous impact on child literacy but for her philanthropic work. Her Volant Charitable Trust funds disadvantaged children and MS research. She is a vocal president of One Parent Families, and successfully campaigned for a law change in Romania concerning caged beds for orphans. Whatever she turns her hand to, Rowling has proved she is capable of effecting real change on a global scale.
Amazon.co.uk has put together a list of their 10 best-selling books and authors of the decade and Harry Potter and Jo are included!
Top 10 best-selling books of the decade:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – JK Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – JK Rowling
3. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
6. The Tales of Beedle the Bard – JK Rowling
7. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
8. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
9. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
10. A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Top 10 best-selling authors of the decade:
1. JK Rowling
2. Stephenie Meyer
3. Julia Donaldson
4. Terry Pratchett
5. Jamie Oliver
6. Dan Brown
7. Enid Blyton
8. Bernard Cornwell
9. Alexander McCall Smith
10. William Shakespeare