J.K. Rowling Is Working On A New Children’s Book, Says She’ll ‘Definitely’ Write More
On Tuesday, author J.K. Rowling revealed that she’s writing another children’s book and that even more are in the works, MSN is reporting.
Rowling recently sat down for a radio interview with BBC’s Radio 2 Book Club host Simon Mayo to talk about her ongoing and upcoming projects.
“I have an idea for a children’s book. Actually, I have written part of a children’s book that I really love, so I’m definitely going to finish that, so there will be another children’s book… I’m not going to give you an absolute date because things are busy enough… I have ideas for other adult books… I sometimes worry I’ll die before I’ve written them all out. That’s my mid-life crisis.”
The Harry Potter author has kept busy since the beloved boy wizard franchise ended in 2007, with both Harry Potter-related content and other projects. Rowling’s first major post-Potter project, the adult novel The Casual Vacancy, was released in 2012.
“Once you get your [characters] straight and events begin to unfurl, it becomes a positively propulsive read. The Casual Vacancy may not be George Eliot, but it’s J.K. Rowling; and that’s pretty good.”
J.K. Rowling has embarked on a second career, of sorts, by writing a series of novels (the Cormoran Strike series) under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly book writer Christian Holub, Rowling describes how ditching the name associated with the Harry Potter franchise freed her to explore darker themes in the Cormoran Strike franchise.
“There was a phenomenal amount of pressure that went with being the writer of Harry Potter, and that aspect of publishing those books I do not particularly miss. So you can probably understand the appeal of going away and creating something very different, and just letting it stand or fall on its own merits.”
Unlike the tepid reviews of The Casual Vacancy, Cormoran Strike has been an unqualified hit. Once it was revealed that J.K. Rowling herself was the person behind the Galbraith pen name, sales of the first book in the series, The Cuckoo’s Calling, skyrocketed, and the books have received rave reviews.
“It’s a taut, well-written mystery that does a wonderful job of reviving an all-but-dead genre, the gumshoe detective style,” wrots Huffington Post’s David Kudler.
The BBC plans to adapt the novels — the third book in the series, Career of Evil, came out in October — into a TV series, according to EW. Rowling plans to write a total of seven books in the series.
To win one of these signed #CareerOfEvil copies from @jk_rowling @RGalbraith RT before Friday! pic.twitter.com/uqvJKHgDZo
— audible.co.uk (@audibleuk) November 3, 2015
J.K Rowling isn’t quite done with Harry Potter, either. She routinely gives out snippets about the lives of the characters on the popular website Pottermore, and she’s also working on a stage adaptation of the series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which Rowling confirms will be the “eighth chapter” in the Harry Potter franchise, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Last but not least, Rowling is helping out with the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, slated for release in 2016. Although Harry Potter himself won’t appear in the film (it takes place decades before Harry was born), it is set in the Harry Potter universe. It is considered it a spinoff of the franchise.
Needless to say, J.K. Rowling is a busy woman these days. She has not revealed a release date for her new children’s book.
[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
