JK Rowling shares first chapters of her new children’s book online

By MiNDFOOD

British writer JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books, poses during the launch of new online website. Suzanne Plunkett
British writer JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books, poses during the launch of new online website. Suzanne Plunkett
Read the first chapters of JK Rowling's new children's books, The Ickabog.

Famed author JK Rowling has released the first chapters of a new children’s book, her first children’s story not linked to Harry Potter. 

The Ickabog, she says, was written over a decade ago, originally intended for her family. Dusting off the handwritten manuscript from her attic, Rowling has been releasing the chapters daily on The Ickabog website.

“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,” shared Rowling.

“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,” she continues.

“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).”

The Ickabog was written to be read aloud, she explains, but is also suitable to be read alone by children between seven and nine.

“Once upon a time, there was a tiny country called Cornucopia, which had been ruled for centuries by a long line of fair-haired kings. The king at the time of which I write was called King Fred the Fearless,” begins the first chapter.

The book will be published in November, with profits going to support groups who had been impacted by the pandemic.

Rowling has also launched an illustration competition, encouraging young readers to share their illustrations, with the best pictures picked to be in the published book.

“I want to see imaginations run wild!” she said. “Creativity, inventiveness and effort are the most important things: we aren’t necessarily looking for the most technical skill!”

Click here to read the first chapters of The Ickabog.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Print Recipe

You may also like

BECOME A MiNDFOOD SUBSCRIBER TODAY

Let us keep you up to date with our weekly MiNDFOOD e-newsletters which include the weekly menu plan, health and news updates or tempt your taste buds with the MiNDFOOD Daily Recipe. 

Member Login