J K Rowling

The Gruffalo has taken a bite out of Harry Potter as Julia Donaldson surges past JK Rowling to become Britain's bestselling author since accurate records began - in terms of units sold.

A Harry Potter first edition found in a Highland bookshop's bargain bucket could be worth £60,000, according to auctioneers selling it.

The hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book in JK Rowling's stories about a boy wizard - was published in 1997.  Read more

In the late spring and summer of 1999, it did not take a wizard to see that something unprecedented was afoot in the rarified precincts of American publishing bestsellerdom.  Read more

Christopher Little, who as a struggling literary agent took a chance on a scrappy submission about tween-age wizards - even though he once disdained children's fiction as a money-loser - and built it into the most successful literary empire in history on the strength of its lead character, Harry Potter, died on Jan. 7 at his home in London. He was 79.

The literati is splitting into two rival camps in an incendiary argument over trans rights - and JK Rowling is at the centre. Katie Law reports from the increasingly toxic front line