Rowling parts with magical world of Harry Potter

LONDON (Reuters) - It is a classic rags-to-riches tale. In the mid-1990s, author J.K. Rowling was a single mother claiming state benefits and writing in Edinburgh cafes while her daughter napped.

She had no agent or publisher and planned to return to teaching to make ends meet.

Just 10 years later, in February 2004, the creator of the Harry Potter stories was declared the first dollar-billionaire writer by Forbes magazine, and her personal fortune has swelled since as more books and films appeared.

Joanne Rowling, 41, has questioned estimates of her wealth in the past.

But there is no doubt that she is one of the world's most famous authors, and probably its most successful, having sold 325 million copies of the first six books in her seven-book Harry Potter series.

The seventh and final instalment, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", is expected to break publishing records when it hits the shelves on July 21, ending months of media hype and frenzied anticipation among millions of Potter fans worldwide.

It comes just days after the release of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", the fifth Hollywood adaptation. The first four films earned around $3.5 billion (1.7 billion pounds) at the box office.

Rowling has talked of the downside to her fame and fortune, but the Potter success did give her a sense of self respect she did not have as an unemployed, single mother.

"Yes. I don't feel like quite such a waste of space any more," she said in a 2003 interview, when asked whether success had changed her. "I totally felt a waste of space. I was lousy."