J. K. Rowling's mother got a job.
Joanne Rowling , ( [ ˈrəʊlɪŋ ] born 31 July 1965 ) , pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith , is a British novelist , screenwriter and film producer best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series . Born in Yate , Gloucestershire , England , Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990 . The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother , birth of her first child , divorce from her first husband and relative poverty until she finished the first novel in the series , Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone , in 1997 .