Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories,

, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 80 detective novelsespecially those featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marpleand her successful West End theatre plays. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling writer of books of all time and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any kind. She has sold roughly four billion copies of her novels.[1] According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her.[2] Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.[3] Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 23,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics. In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.[4] In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules).[5] On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's Ball will be published by The Strand Magazine.[6]

J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE[2] (born 31 July 1965),[3] better known as J. K. Rowling ( /rol/ ROH-ling),[4] is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990.[5] The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies[6] and been the basis for a popular series of films, in which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts[7] as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.[8] Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. As of March 2011, when its latest world billionaires list was published, Forbes estimated Rowling's net worth to be US$1 billion.[9] The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at 560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in Great Britain.[10] Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007,[11] and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom.[12] In October 2010, J. K. Rowling was named 'Most Influential Woman in Britain' by leading magazine editors.[13] She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and Lumos (formerly the Children's High Level Group).