Denis Johnson won the National Book Award for a 600-page "Tree of Smoke" describing extremes of the Vietnam War and its consequences.

JK Rowling, whose Harry Potter series made her the first billionaire author, says she is surprised at the fuss surrounding her announcement that the boy wizard's head teacher, Albus Dumbledore, was gay.

Harry Potter might have waved his wand and cast a spell, but author JK Rowling sat down and cheerfully signed 1,600 books for schoolkids on Monday as she launched her first US book tour in seven years.

JK Rowling says she was devastated after finishing the seventh volume of her Harry Potter series - and many fans of the epic tale of teenage wizardry are sharing her sense of loss as they realise that an era has also ended for them.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume of J.K. Rowling's all-conquering fantasy series, sold a mountainous 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States, according to Scholastic Inc.

Harry Potter fans desperate to know their hero's fate counted down the minutes and seconds before his seventh and last adventure of the series was released, though a tide of leaks threatened to spoil the surprise.

Top British retailers are waging a last-minute price war over the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, set for release on Saturday.

Despite pleas for silence from author J.K. Rowling and some leading Potter fan sites, publishing's secret of all secrets - whether the wizard lives or dies - is in danger of becoming plain gossip as publication approaches for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

One of the most hyped books in history goes on sale this week with the release of the seventh and final instalment of the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hits shelves on Saturday July 21, and anticipation over how the last chapter will end may ensure it becomes the fastest selling novel of all time.

British novelist Sebastian Faulks has written a new, officially approved James Bond thriller portraying the ageing spy as vulnerable and damaged but as highly sexed as ever.

J.K. Rowling says she wept as she wrote Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the hugely successful Harry Potter series.

Best-selling author JK Rowling says she broke down in tears during the completion of her final book in the Harry Potter series.