Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling announced that she will be releasing chapters of her unpublished novel, The Ickabog, online for free. Rowling revealed the reason she is publishing The Ickabog for free is to offer children on lockdown due to coronavirus (COVID-19) something to distract them.

The prolific author released a statement on her website detailing the history and story behind The Ickabog. "The idea for The Ickabog came to me while I was still writing Harry Potter," she said. "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."

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Rowling recently ran the idea of releasing The Ickabog for free by her two daughters, who she originally wrote the story for when they were children. She read chapters to her now teenage daughters nightly while she fleshed out its story. The author calls The Ickabog a piece of work that "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."

A description of The Ickabog reads, "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."

J.K. Rowling will post chapters of The Ickabog every weekday between May 26 and July 10 on The Ickabog website. The novel will be published in English in print, eBook and audiobook formats in November.

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