Harry Potter

The Harry Potter series is a seven-book fantasy saga that follows the life of a young orphan, Harry Potter, who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard. He is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he is sorted into Gryffindor house and befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The main story arc chronicles Harry's gradual discovery of his past and his destiny, which is inextricably linked to Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard of all time. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents when Harry was a baby but failed to kill Harry, leaving him with a lightning-bolt scar. Over the course of the seven years at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione face a series of escalating challenges, uncover hidden secrets about the school and the wizarding world, and ultimately prepare for the final confrontation with Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. The series concludes with a climactic battle for the fate of the wizarding world.

The series was written by British author J. K. Rowling. The idea for Harry Potter reportedly came to her during a train journey from Manchester to London in 1990. Rowling wrote much of the first book in various cafes in Edinburgh, Scotland, while living on welfare. Her publishers suggested she use the initials "J. K." instead of her full name, Joanne Rowling, believing the book would appeal more to boys if the author's gender was ambiguous. The "K" stands for Kathleen, her grandmother's name.

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury Publishing, the books have found immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, available in dozens of languages. The last four books all set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.[edit]