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LONDON, Jun 8, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling has been named the greatest living British writer in a poll conducted by The Book Magazine.
Rowling bested Salmon Rushdie, Alan Bennett and Harold Pinter, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature, Sky News reported Thursday.
Rowling received almost three times more votes than the second-place author, fantasy writer Terry Pratchett.
Filling out the Top 5 were three Booker Prize winners -- Ian McEwan, Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro.
"Our survey provides a fascinating insight into what the British public thinks makes a 'great' writer," The Book Magazine editor Christine Kidney said.
"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," she said.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
