Yate in the context of "Gloucestershire"

Joanne Rowling (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/ ROH-ling; born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is the British novelist who wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume series about a young wizard. Published from 1997 to 2007, the fantasy novels are the best-selling book series in history, with over 600 million copies sold. They have been translated into 84 languages and have spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International in 1990 when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, the birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. Six sequels followed, concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). By 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.

South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern part of its area falls within the Greater Bristol urban area surrounding the city of Bristol.

South Gloucestershire was created in 1996 to replace the Northavon district and Borough of Kingswood of the abolished county of Avon. It is separate from Gloucestershire County Council, but is part of the ceremonial county and shares Gloucestershire's Lord Lieutenant (the Sovereign's representative to the county). Because of its history as part of the county of Avon, South Gloucestershire works closely with the other unitary authorities that took over when that county was abolished, including shared services such as Avon Fire and Rescue Service and Avon and Somerset Police, together with co-operation in planning strategy for transport, roads and housing.

South Gloucestershire Council is the local authority of South Gloucestershire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, covering an area to the north of the city of Bristol. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is independent from Gloucestershire County Council. Since 2017 the council has been a member of the West of England Combined Authority.

The council has been under no overall control since 2023, being run by a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition. It meets at the Civic Centre in Kingswood and also has offices in Yate.

Chipping Sodbury is a market town in the unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated 13 miles (21 km) north-east of Bristol and directly east of Yate. The town was founded in the 12th century by William le Gros. It is the main settlement in the civil parish of Sodbury, which also includes the village of Old Sodbury.

At the 2011 census the population of Chipping Sodbury was 5,045, but the town has since become part of a larger built-up area due to the rapid expansion of nearby neighbouring town, Yate. The two towns are contiguous with one another.