News

JK Rowling is releasing a brand new book online for free

Big news!

Published

5 years ago

May 26, 2020

Alex Watson

JK Rowling has surprised fans by announcing a brand new book, The Ickabog, to be released online for free.

The book was originally intended to be released after the first Harry Potter book many years ago, but the author instead released two novels for adults.

JK announced the news over on her Twitter. The old manuscripts for the fairytale had been sitting in her attic, and until recently only her two children knew the books even existed.

I always meant to publish it, but after the last Potter
was released I wrote two novels for adults and, after some dithering, decided to put those out next.

Until very recently, the only people who’d heard the story of
The Ickabog were my two younger children.

3/13
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

Two-three chapters will be released every weekday starting at 3pm on July 10th.

The author has also called out to her fans to illustrate the book, saying: “I’ll be suggesting ideas for pictures as we go. But nobody should feel constrained by my ideas. Let your imaginations run wild.”

The best illustrations will be included in the published version, which is scheduled to be released this November.

JK has also announced that all royalties from the published books will go to projects and organisations most impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

A new website is launching this afternoon on which The Ickabog will be released, with JK assuring fans they will not have to register to access the story.