JK Rowling named world's wealthiest author

Forbes has named Harry Potter author JK Rowling as the world's wealthiest author this year.

Rowling, who wrote her first novel in an Edinburgh cafe, has knocked American thriller writer James Patterson off the top spot after nearly a decade.

The business magazine estimates Rowling’s earnings as £72 million in the year to June.

Forbes said Miss Rowling’s ‘phenomenal’ year was due to the global Harry Potter franchise of films, theme parks, merchandise and the hit stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Her new surge of success comes exactly 20 years after the publication of her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone.