“This is not a Harry Potter spin-off.”
JK Rowling has said she will be publishing a children’s book called The Ickabog, to raise money for charity.
The Harry Potter author shared the news on her website on Tuesday and said she wanted help from young fans to illustrate the tale.
Rowling said the book would be available for free for children to read during the lockdown on The Ickabog website.
It is to be serialised online, starting on Tuesday at 3pm, with chapters being released until 10 July.
The Ickabog will then be published and sold as a book, ebook and audiobook from November this year and the proceeds will go towards projects helping those who have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rowling said she had intended to publish the book after the release of the last Harry Potter book, but it had been pushed to the side after she published two novels for adults.
“Over time I came to think of The Ickabog as just for my family,” Rowling said.
“The manuscript went up into the attic, where it remained until a few weeks ago.
“Over the last few weeks I’ve done a bit of rewriting and I’ve decided to publish The Ickabog for free online, so children on lockdown, or even those back at school during these strange, unsettling times, can read it or have it read to them.”
I have a small announcement, but before I get started, I
want to head off one possible source of confusion.
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THIS IS NOT A HARRY POTTER SPIN-OFF
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1/13— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020
Rowling said she had initially read it to her own children ten years ago and that while the story is about truth and the abuse of power, it was not written in response to anything happening in the world right now.
“I think The Ickabog lends itself well to serialisation because it was written as a read-aloud book (unconsciously shaped, I think, by the way I read it to my own children), but it’s suitable for 7-9 year olds to read to themselves,” Rowling wrote.
“I’ll be posting a chapter (or two, or three) every weekday between 26 May and 10 July on The Ickabog website. We plan to publish some translations soon and will post further details on that website when they’re available.
“The Ickabog is a story about truth and the abuse of power. To forestall one obvious question: the idea came to me well over a decade ago, so it isn’t intended to be read as a response to anything that’s happening in the world right now.
“The themes are timeless and could apply to any era or any country.”
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