Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been awarded damages from a British newspaper following an article about her time as a struggling single mother.

The writer sued bosses at the Daily Mail's parent company Associated Newspapers in January (14) following publication of a story titled, 'How J.K. Rowling's sob story about her past as a single mother has left the churchgoers who cared for her upset and bewildered'.

The feature was in relation to an article she had written for a single parents' website, in which she recounted an incident when she felt stigmatised by a woman at a local church for being an unmarried mother.

Rowling claimed the piece, published last September (13), had damaged her reputation and was "misleading and unfair", and on Wednesday (07May14), the company issued an apology and agreed to pay "substantial damages".

The statement reads, "We accept that Ms Rowling's article did not contain any false claims and apologise for any contrary suggestion and have agreed to pay substantial damages to Ms Rowling, which she is donating to charity, and a contribution to her legal costs."