JK Rowling releases new free online book

JK Rowling announced she will publish a new children’s book, a fairy tale about truth and the abuse of power. The Harry Potter author said she kept the book in her attic for years and will make it available online for free for children in lockdown.

Set in an imaginary land unrelated to Rowling’s other works, The Ickabog will be released in 34 daily, free installments before it is published as a book, ebook and audiobook in November. The royalties from the book will be distributed among projects fighting the pandemic.

The novelist said she wrote The Ickabog “in fits and starts” in between the Potter books "well over a decade ago", and initially planned to publish it right after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, she kept the book on hold deciding to step away from children's books and  wrote adult novels instead, including The Casual Vacancy, and The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

The first installment of the free online version of The Ickabog will be released on May 26.