J K Rowling, who wrote the record-selling Harry Potter series, was named today as the greatest living British author, beating weighty talents such as Salman Rushdie and playwright Harold Pinter.
A poll by The Book Magazine collected three times as many votes for Rowling than the second-placed name on the list, fantasy writer Terry Pratchett.
Booker Prize winners Ian McEwan, Rushdie - who penned the 1988 book The Satanic Verses - and Kazuo Ishiguro came next. They were followed by children's author Philip Pullman and Pinter, who won the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature.
Christine Kidney, editor of The Book Magazine, said: "Our survey provides a fascinating insight into what the British public thinks makes a 'great' writer.
"It shows how a writer can connect with us, as if we were the only reader in the world, and it's why books prove to be such enduringly popular objects."
Joanne Kathleen Rowling, 40, shot to literary fame and worldwide acclaim with her stories about the adventures of Potter and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Other entries on the list of top authors were Nick Hornby, who wrote About A Boy, and Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters' Club alongside literary giant AS Byatt and spy writer John Le Carre.
{{/usCountry}}Other entries on the list of top authors were Nick Hornby, who wrote About A Boy, and Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters' Club alongside literary giant AS Byatt and spy writer John Le Carre.
{{/usCountry}}The top 20 British authors were: 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. A.S. Byatt 10. Jonathan Coe and John Le Carre 12. Doris Lessing 13. Alan Bennett 14. Iain Banks 15. Muriel Spark 16. David Mitchell 17.