J.K. Rowling's Blog, page 5

After 49 weeks of closure, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has reopened its doors at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. The show had been suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions, but now with new safety measures in place it’s time to turn the theatre lights back on and let the magic begin again.

To celebrate the first production returning, the Melbourne company arranged a special surprise for the audience… Each audience member was gifted a wand as they arrived at their seats.  As the curtain call completed, the cast invited the audience members, to join them in raising their wands up in the air to mark the show’s return.

Watch the full wand raising moment here.

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Teachers can continue to post videos of themselves reading aloud from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, as well as her original fairy tale The Ickabog, to their students currently prevented from attending school again following the latest lockdown restrictions across the United Kingdom. This follows J.K. Rowling and her agents The Blair Partnership relaxing the usual copyright permissions required.

Teachers anywhere in the world who are having to teach remotely are permitted to post videos of themselves reading from Harry Potter books 1-7 and The Ickabog onto schools’ secure networks or closed educational platforms from today until 19th February 2021, at which point it will be reviewed.  A full set of Guidelines for Teachers are downloadable here for The Ickabog and Harry Potter books 1-7.

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J.K. Rowling’s fairy tale The Ickabog is published today as a hardback, e-book and audiobook.  The beautiful new gift hardback edition is brought to life with full-colour illustrations by the young winners of The Ickabog illustration competitions around the world, which will also be available to purchasers of the audiobook as a full-colour PDF.  The audiobook is performed by Stephen Fry and published by Audible.  The book is now available in English, Italian, German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, with more translations to follow.

J.K. Rowling is donating her net royalties from The Ickabog (on UK site only: expected to be equivalent to a minimum of £2 for each copy of The Ickabog sold in the UK), to help support vulnerable groups who’ve been particularly impacted by Covid-19, in the UK and internationally. She is making an initial donation to her charitable Trust, The Volant Charitable Trust, to help medical and frontline charities make a meaningful impact in the short term.

For more information about The Ickabog go to www.theickabog.com.

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The Hogwarts Library book Quidditch Through The Ages, written by J.K. Rowling as esteemed fictional Quidditch expert Kennilworthy Whisp, has been reimagined by award-winning illustrator Emily Gravett., This colourful new edition is published today in Hardback and Deluxe editions by Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the US.

The book, arguably the most famous sports guide in the wizarding world, contains all you need to know about the history, the teams, the rules – and the breaking of the rules – of the noble sport of Quidditch.

Tasked with illustrating the fictional history of this magical sport, Emily Gravett’s wildly creative imagination conjured up a cornucopia of sporting memorabilia to surprise and delight. With items and events lovingly created in a dazzling range of media, and infused with the illustrator’s trademark visual wit, these charming and funny artworks are the perfect pairing for J.K. Rowling’s insights into the magical, airborne sport.

Proceeds from the sale of this new edition will go to J.K. Rowling’s own international children’s charity Lumos, which helps some of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people to have a better life and Comic Relief.

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J.K. Rowling’s The Ickabog, an original fairy tale, is to be published as a hardback, ebook and audio book in the English language in November, with international editions to follow soon after.

First serialised for free online this summer on The Ickabog.com, the author wanted to share the personal family favourite, which she wrote over ten years ago as a bedtime story for her younger children, to help entertain children, parents and carers confined at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keen for children to be involved as the story unfolded, J.K. Rowling invited them to send in their own illustrations of her story and its colourful characters as it appeared online.  After an incredible response, the winners of each artwork competition will see their illustration in the published book.

J.K. Rowling will be donating her royalties from The Ickabog to The Volant Charitable Trust to assist those who have been particularly impacted by coronavirus.

For more details including the donation of royalties to The Volant Trust visit https://www.theickabog.com/the-story/

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J.K. Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, has been awarded the 30from30 award at The British Book Awards, also known as The Nibbies.  The 30from30 award is a one-off prize honouring the best and most influential book from the past 30 years, and is chosen from past winners of the Awards

The Nibbie was awarded at a virtual event on Monday 29th June.  In her acceptance video, J.K. Rowling said, ‘It’s particularly meaningful because the first award Harry ever won was a Nibbie.’ She added, ‘Since childhood, books have been my greatest refuge, and nothing makes me prouder than to think that my books have been that for other people.  So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.’

The Bookseller, the book trade magazine and organiser of the Awards commented; ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the book that lived. It changed everything for everyone, and is the rightful winner of this one-off award.’

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About The Ickabog

The idea for The Ickabog came to me while I was still writing Harry Potter. I wrote most of a first draft in fits and starts between Potter books, intending to publish it after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

However, after the last Potter book I wanted to take a break from publishing, which ended up lasting five years. In that time I wrote The Casual Vacancy and Robert Galbraith wrote The Cuckoo’s Calling. After some dithering (and also after my long-suffering agent had trademarked The Ickabog – sorry, Neil) I decided I wanted to step away from children’s books for a while. At that point, the first draft of The Ickabog went up into the attic, where it’s remained for nearly a decade. Over time I came to think of it as a story that belonged to my two younger children, because I’d read it to them in the evenings when they were little, which has always been a happy family memory.

A few weeks ago at dinner, I tentatively mooted the idea of getting The Ickabog down from the attic and publishing it for free, for children in lockdown. My now teenagers were touchingly enthusiastic, so downstairs came the very dusty box, and for the last few weeks I’ve been immersed in a fictional world I thought I’d never enter again. As I worked to finish the book, I started reading chapters nightly to the family again. This was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my writing life, as The Ickabog’s first two readers told me what they remember from when they were tiny, and demanded the reinstatement of bits they’d particularly liked (I obeyed).

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.

I’ll be posting a chapter (or two, or three) every weekday between 26th May and 10th 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.

The Illustration Competition

Having decided to publish, I thought how wonderful it would be if children in lockdown, or otherwise needing distraction during the strange and difficult time we’re passing through, illustrated the story for me. There will be suggestions about the illustrations we might need for each chapter on The Ickabog website, but nobody should feel constrained by these ideas. I want to see imaginations run wild! Creativity, inventiveness and effort are the most important things: we aren’t necessarily looking for the most technical skill!

In November 2020, The Ickabog will be published in English in print, eBook and audiobook formats, shortly followed by other languages. The best drawings in each territory will be included in the finished books. As publishers in each territory will need to decide which pictures work best for their own editions, I won’t be personally judging the entries. However, if parents and guardians post their children’s drawing on Twitter using the hashtag #TheIckabog, I’ll be able to share and comment!  To find out more about the Illustration Competition, go to The Ickabog website when it launches.

Covid-19 Donation

I’m pledging all author royalties from The Ickabog, when published, to help groups who’ve been particularly impacted by the pandemic. Further details will be available later in the year.

Huge thanks are due…

… to my dear friend and editor Arthur Levine; to the phenomenal James McKnight of the Blair Partnership, who’s worked tirelessly to make this project a reality in a very short space of time; to Ruth Alltimes at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, whose help has been invaluable; to my peerless management team, Rebecca Salt, Nicky Stonehill and Mark Hutchinson and to my wonderful agent Neil Blair. I promise all of you not to have any more bright ideas for a few months at least.

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Well-known faces from the Wizarding World and beyond have lent their voices and passion for the stories they love by filming themselves reading from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone in the US) for families to enjoy while they are confined at home. 

Daniel Radcliffe, Stephen Fry, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni, and Eddie Redmayne are amongst the cast of narrators, with more surprises and special appearances to come. Each will be reading different sections of the book, with its themes of family, friendship, courage and overcoming adversity, to families around the world. 

First-up is Daniel Radcliffe, a face instantly synonymous with Harry Potter, reading Chapter One, ‘The Boy Who Lived’. 

Starting today (5th May), all seventeen chapters of the book will be released between now and the middle of summer.  Videos will be posted weekly on Harry Potter At Home, the online resource of free initiatives designed to help bring the magic of Harry Potter to children, parents and carers in lockdown

An audio-only version will be streamed for free on Spotify and Spotify Kids for children.

To enjoy the latest readings click here.

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J.K. Rowling and her Wizarding World partners have launched Harry Potter At Home today to help children, parents, carers and teachers confined at home during the Covid-19 outbreak.

WizardingWorld.com is hosting Harry Potter At Home, a hub of information and activities for parents, children and carers to discover the magic of Harry Potter, by reading or listening on their own or together with loved ones, whilst staying at home. Explore the hub for a wealth of creative and craft activities, quizzes, puzzles and more. There will also be a weekly email newsletter bringing fresh ideas into inboxes each Friday. 

Read here for more details on the Harry Potter At Home initiative.

In addition, partnerships with Audible and library book supplier OverDrive are bringing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone free to homes during April. The audiobook can be streamed for free via the Audible Stories platform, whilst the eBook and audiobook can be borrowed in over 20 different languages worldwide via the OverDrive library services.

More #HarryPotterAtHome
ideas are currently in development, and will be announced soon – keep an eye on
www.harrypotterathome.com for more
details.

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Stars from the Wizarding World including Jude Law, Warwick Davis, Noma
Dumezweni, Jason Isaacs, Evanna Lynch, Sally Mortemore and Bonnie Wright have joined
forces to record individual stories from J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts Library
book The Tales of Beedle the Bard: the first time the book has been brought to life in audio, which is
also supporting J.K. Rowling’s international children’s charity Lumos.

The Tales of Beedle
the Bard was first referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows as the fictional fairy tales all wizarding children
grew up with.  Within this collection of
fables was the origin story of the Deathly Hallows, ‘The Tale of the Three
Brothers’, which taught Harry about the three most powerful objects in the
wizarding world.

These funny and captivating tales are accompanied by
explanatory notes from Professor Albus Dumbledore (narrated by Jude Law). His
illuminating thoughts reveal the stories to be much more than simple moral
tales

The
Tales of Beedle the Bard was originally handwritten and
illustrated by J.K. Rowling as a limited edition of only seven copies, one
of which was sold at auction in 2007 in aid of charity. Published the following
year, the book has helped raised money for her international children’s
charity Lumos ever since.

For more information about The Tales of Beedle The Bard audio edition go to wizardingworld.com.

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