HARRY POTTER - ROWLING NAMED GREATEST LIVING BRITISH AUTHOR

HARRY POTTER creator JK ROWLING has been named the greatest living British author, beating heavyweight novelists including SALMAN RUSHDIE and IAN MCEWAN to the honour. Rowling received three times as many votes as second place fantasy writer TERRY PRATCHETT in the poll carried out by British publication The Book Magazine. MCEWAN came in third, while Rushdie, who sparked Islamic outrage with his 1988 book THE SATANIC VERSES, ranked fourth. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY author KAZUO ISHIGURO rounded out the top five. The top ten is as follows: 1. JK ROWLING 2. TERRY PRATCHETT 3. IAN MCEWAN 4. SALMAN RUSHDIE 5. KAZUO ISHIGURO 6. PHILIP PULLMAN 7. HAROLD PINTER 8. NICK HORNBY 9. AS BYATT 10. JONATHAN COE and JOHN LE CARE.