When she first began writing children's books, publishers asked Joanne Kathleen Rowling to change her name; they were afraid boys wouldn't read a book written by a woman. With a couple of bestsellers under her belt now, J.K. Rowling, author of the "Harry Potter" books, can safely lay claim to her name and her sex! It didn't used to be so easy... In the past, when women picked up a pen, they often picked up a pen name, too.
