JKR's New Books Options

[McGonagall's Cat]

From The Leaky Cauldron

J.K. Rowling's Next Novel Announced, Written for Adults
Books
Posted by: Melissa
February 23, 2012, 09:28 AM


UPDATE: jkrowling.com is being "refreshed and redesigned" and will be opened again later this spring. An e-mail list has been added to the Web site's interface for readers to subscribe to updates.



J.K. Rowling's agency, the Blair Partnership, announced this morning that the Harry Potter author will be releasing a new novel for adults.

The only other info on the page, besides a graphic, is a note from the author indicating that "While I have loved writing it just as much, my next book will be very different from the Harry Potter series."

A press release further notes:

"Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life"

Details will be announced "later in the year." The as-yet unnamed book has been bought by Little, Brown and Company in the UK and US.

The book will be the first of J.K. Rowling's work to be available immediately in print and electronic versions. There was no auction for the rights to the book.

As always through all these years, stay very close to Leaky for news and developments on J.K. Rowling's writing: we will be covering it as closely as we do Harry Potter.

Go to http://www.jkrowling.com to sign up for the updates.



http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2012/2/2...dults-announced




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[McGonagall's Cat]

September 27th, 2012

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/t..._n_1420374.html

The Casual Vacancy,' JK Rowling's New Book: Release Date Announced

Posted: 04/12/2012 9:39 am Updated: 04/12/2012 10:15 am

Today, Little Brown announced the title of JK Rowling's upcoming adult novel: "The Casual Vacancy." They also announced the release date, September 27, 2012, and the subject matter of the new book.

In the novel, the unexpected death of Barry Fairweather leaves Pagford, the small town he lived in, in shock. Pagford appears to be a peaceful, serene town, but underneath that, it is a town at war. Fairweather's death leaves an empty seat on the parish council, and this causes the biggest fight Pagford has ever seen.

JK Rowling announced that she was writing a new novel for adults in late February.

At the time, she stated, "The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me," and it seems even more true with her subject matter. Her new book topic appears a far cry from the wizardry and sorcery of Harry Potter and Hogwarts.

Today is a busy day for Rowling. She also launched her new website, jkrowling.com.

[McGonagall's Cat]

New rumour ~

... confirmation she is finishing another wizard world series of books (3 or 4)...

Hopefully, it is legit.


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[McGonagall's Cat]

It could be this:

The Magical Spellbook Is The First Wonderbook Title, Combining The Latest AR Technology With PlayStation®Move

TOKYO, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. today announced Wonderbook™: Book of Spells from SCE London Studios in collaboration with J.K. Rowling. Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the first title to be published which uses the innovative new PlayStation®3 peripheral, Wonderbook, and will transform the world around you with the next step in reading and augmented reality gaming. It is also the first product to result from Sony's partnership with Pottermore, J.K. Rowling's unique and free-to-use website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of her hugely successful Harry Potter™ books.

Featuring exclusive new and original writing from J.K. Rowling, Wonderbook: Book of Spells comes to life as you read, allowing you to cast spells with your PlayStation®Move Motion Controller which becomes your own magic wand. Go on a fantastic journey to read and learn the secrets of wizardry and the art of spell-casting, just like a student at Hogwarts™, when it is released in November 2012 in Europe and December 2012 in North America. Wonderbook: Book of Spells will also be coming to other countries and regions following this window.

J.K. Rowling said, "Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the closest a Muggle can come to a real spellbook. I've loved working with Sony's creative team to bring my spells, and some of the history behind them, to life. This is an extraordinary device that offers a reading experience like no other."

Andrew House, President and Group CEO of SCE said, "The partnership between J.K. Rowling and Sony, and in particular Sony Computer Entertainment, is one I am personally very excited about. We have brought together one of the world's greatest entertainment brands and the most successful children's book series in history."

He continued, "We believe that Wonderbook: Book of Spells represents the next revolution in story-telling and are excited that PlayStation technologies are able to bring even more of the world of Harry Potter to life in exciting new ways."

Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the first title for Wonderbook, the latest addition to the PlayStation experience. Wonderbook will bring to life a thousand stories in one physical book with a brand new series of adventures and experiences to explore. A powerful storytelling vehicle and tool for the imagination, Wonderbook will bring exclusive content to PlayStation 3 owners in immersive new ways by putting you at the heart of the action, and using augmented reality technology via PlayStation®Eye to transform the world around you. Bringing mystery and discovery to your living room, the titles will draw you into new worlds, and give you the chance to live in the stories you love.

Book of Spells is presented as being written by Miranda Goshawk over two hundred years ago, and can be found in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. It is an advanced textbook for students, which will assist them on their journey to becoming an accomplished witch or wizard.

Released in November 2012, Wonderbook: Book of Spells provides students with a safe environment in which to read, discover, learn and practise spells they already know and love, such as Incendio, Wingardium Leviosa and Expelliarmus, as well as discover mischievous notes and spells scribbled into the margins by previous Hogwarts students. In addition to humorous anecdotal facts relating to the spells, J.K. Rowling has written a conundrum that leads you through the experience, providing insight into what makes a successful witch or wizard, and inviting fans to journey through the book and unlock new tales at the end of each chapter rewarding students for their successful spell-casting.

From: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wo...-157118505.html

[McGonagall's Cat]

http://www.hypable.com/2013/03/08/harry-po...-rowling-quote/


Check out @MuggleCast for the latest Harry Potter news on Twitter!
Harry Potter
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J.K. Rowling: A ‘Harry Potter’ prequel about the Marauders will not happen

Harry Potter and The Casual Vacancy author J.K. Rowling spoke this evening at the Bath Literature Festival and made clear that if she ever returns to Harry Potter, she won’t write a prequel.

















J.K. Rowling: A ‘Harry Potter’ prequel about the Marauders will not happen

By Andrew Sims at 4:33 pm, March 8, 2013 - @Sims
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Harry Potter and The Casual Vacancy author J.K. Rowling spoke this evening at the Bath Literature Festival and made clear that if she ever returns to Harry Potter, she won’t write a prequel.


Rowling was asked about if she would return to the Harry Potter series like so many fans have hoped since 2007 to write about, as an example, the Marauders. She responded by saying that although she has no current plans to return to the series, if she did it would not be about the Marauders. The reason? She doesn’t find prequels to be any good. This would mean no stories about James, Lily, Sirius, Pettigrew, etc.



Elsewhere during the evening she said…
- Grindelwald never loved Dumbledore and used him.
- Her own first kiss came when she was 12 years old.
- Her next book will be aimed at 8-year-olds, but she’s still busy writing it.
- Her proudest moment was when she outed Dumbledore (as gay), and following the revelation in New York City a fan came up to her straight afterwords and revealed that he or she too is homosexual.


Hypable co-founder Richard Reid attended tonight’s event and reported back on the comments Rowling made. This is the author’s only planned public engagement in 2013.


The news of no Maurader prequels may come as a disappointment to fans who had hoped or thought that would be the perfect part of the Potter world to head into with a new book. Fans could also see her writing about Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s children – and luckily she hasn’t ruled that idea out (yet). Regardless, it’s nice to hear her still considering the idea of returning to the Wizarding World.






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http://www.hypable.com/2013/03/08/new-harr...date-pre-order/


Potter’ book covers nab August 27 release date, Amazon opens pre-orders

By Andrew Sims at 1:30 pm, March 8, 2013 - @Sims


Though Scholastic had initially said the books would debut in September (and we were hoping they’d plan for September 1 to time with a new term at Hogwarts), the new Harry Potter book covers in the U.S. will now premiere in August.


Amazon is listing the books with an August 27 launch date, and Hypable has confirmed with Scholastic that this date is legitimate.


In addition, the books are now available for pre-order on Amazon. They are available at the following prices after discount. You can use the links to pre-order each one, including the box set which has special artwork of its own:

- Sorcerer’s Stone: $8.98
- Chamber of Secrets: $8.98
- Prisoner of Azkaban: $7.21
- Goblet of Fire: $10.19
- Order of the Phoenix: $10.19
- Half-Blood Prince: $10.19
- Deathly Hallows: $10.98


Each product listing credits Mary GrandPre, which suggests the chapter art seen in the original books will be included with these new covers.


In case you missed it: Scholastic announced last month that they were re-releasing all seven Harry Potter books in paperback with new covers illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi. Each of the books will include “bonus material” at the end. We reached out to the publisher to learn what this material is, but as of a few weeks ago it has not yet been determined.


We’re as eager as you probably are to see the covers for the rest of the books. Only the new Sorcerer’s Stone cover has been released so far.





http://www.hypable.com/2013/02/13/new-harr...orcerers-stone/



Scholastic to re-release all 7 ‘Harry Potter’ books with new covers, ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’ unveiled today

By Andrew Sims at 9:19 am, February 13, 2013 - @Sims
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The United States publisher of the Harry Potter books announced today that the paperback editions of J.K. Rowling’s series will have new covers in September 2013.

These new covers are designed by Kazu Kibuishi, and you can see the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone cover below. The publisher says these new covers are in honor of the series’ fifteenth anniversary.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone new cover

EDIT: Want the extremely high-res version? We’ve uploaded it here. It was 10 MB in size, we scaled it down to 2.5 MB. Still huge. We’re so afraid of its bandwidth that we didn’t even upload it to Hypable’s server.

Says Kibuishi about taking on this prestigious honor, “When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn’t want to see them reinterpreted! However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn’t, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction. As an author myself, I tried to answer the question, ‘If I were the author of the books – and they were like my own children – how would I want them to be seen years from now?’ When illustrating the covers, I tried to think of classic perennial paperback editions of famous novels and how those illustrations tend to feel. In a way, the project became a tribute to both Harry Potter and the literary classics.”

According to a press release, “the seven new covers will depict a distinctive and memorable moment from the respective book. The collection, which will also be released in September as a boxed set, will offer new readers just reaching the age to begin the series a glimpse of J.K. Rowling’s magical world and the epic story they are about to enter.”

The hardback and digital versions of the books will still use original illustrator Mary GrandPre’s art.

Scholastic also confirmed today that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through The Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be released as a Hogwarts Library Box Set for the first time in the U.S. this November.



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[McGonagall's Cat]

How Linguistic Analysis Helped Unmask Robert Galbraith as J.K. Rowling

How Linguistic Analysis Helped Unmask Robert Galbraith as J.K. Rowling
By Maia Brown-Jackson ( ) Comments

Screen Shot 2013-07-16 at 3.52.24 PM

Over the weekend, we learned that novelist Robert Galbraith, who made a splash with his critically acclaimed debut novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, was not actually making his debut as an author. Nor was he a him. Robert Galbraith was in fact megasuperfamous J.K. Rowling, attempting to do what she loves (write) without the wildly high expectations placed on her as the billionaire-author of Harry Potter. An anonymous tweet from an already-discontinued account first made the claim, and after it was supported with an analytic linguistic program, Rowling confirmed the story.

Computer science professor Patrick Juola helped analyze the text and explained to Time how the Java Graphical Authorship Attribution Program was used to determine authorship. A student of forensic linguistics, Juola uses the program, among others, to determine if authorship between works is consistent based on word usage, a technique generally applied in legal matters. While it might seem obvious to change word usage or sentence length it you’re a writer trying to disguise your identity, certain shorter words, such as prepositions and articles, tend to be more ingrained in an author’s subconscious, so that they would never think to change their usage.

Juola was asked by the Sunday Times to compare The Cuckoo’s Calling against Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, Ruth Rendell’s The St. Zita Society, P.D. James’ The Private Patient, and Val McDermid’s The Wire in the Blood. Juola said that, counterintuitively, the limited choices made it harder to determine for certain — not that this type of work is ever 100% conclusive — but the evidence he produced was apparently enough for the Times to approach the publisher, Mullholland Books, for confirmation that Galbraith and Rowling were one and the same.

So if you’re a wildly famous author trying to get some unbiased reviews, and have thus far escaped notice despite using the same agent, publisher, and editor as your other wildly famous works, you might still be shit out of luck. That said, when everyone realizes what happened your book sales might go up by, oh, more than 500,000%, so some would call it a draw.

As to who set up the Twitter account that put the Sunday Times on the trail in the first place? Well, like we said, the account is deleted, so we may never know. But if you were working at a publishing house that had a critically lauded detective novel by J.K. Rowling languishing on shelves… well, we can imagine that would be a little frustrating. Not that we would accuse anyone of anything. Just making an observation, is all.

The guardian's Review

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith – review

JK Rowling's authorship revelation has transformed the fortunes of this enjoyable crime novel – but her formidable storytelling talents were on display all along


Mark Lawson
The Guardian, Thursday 18 July 2013 07.42 EDT


The clues were there … writing as Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling continues her exploration of the extr
The clues were there … writing as Galbraith, Rowling continues her exploration of journalism and celebrity. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

Published in April as the debut novel by Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling was revealed last weekend to be the ninth full-length work of fiction by JK Rowling – after the seven Harry Potter books and last year's adult novel The Casual Vacancy – and so immediately changed status from a first edition at risk of remaindering to a No 1 and rapidly reprinting bestseller.

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike)
by Robert Galbraith

Tell us what you think: Star-rate and review this book

As a result, reading the book now is rather like watching a Derren Brown trick on freeze-frame replay, wondering if there are clues to how the wool was being pulled. The easy familiarity that "Galbraith" shows with film sets, for example, is now explained by the fact that eight major movies were made from "his" first seven novels. Rowling also chose to hide herself behind a surname shared with a literary and public figure who had the same initials as her: the economist JK Galbraith.

Whether or not that was deliberate, it's also notable that this is, in effect, the second time the author has used a concealing identity intended to disguise gender: her "JK" was famously calculated to hoodwink boy readers thought to be drawn to authors with male first names.

To their great credit, some of those who reviewed the book blind spotted that "Robert Galbraith" was unusually attuned to female fashion. To the undeceived reader, there are other hints of fictional cross-dressing. The first character we meet, Robin, sent as a temp to work for London private eye Corcoran Strike, is intensely aware of both the sensitivity of her breasts and the tendency for men to stare at them. While a male writer might also have had these insights, it seems odder that Strike, when he goes into the gents in a pub, is struck by the stink of piss, a fact that soon becomes unremarkable to urinal users.

But the strongest retrospective evidence that the book was written not just by a woman masquerading as a man but by Joanne Rowling specifically is its sharp concern with journalism and celebrity. Although belonging to very different genres, the Potter books, The Casual Vacancy and now The Cuckoo's Calling all feature tabloid hacks and paparazzi.

The "Galbraith" novel even begins with a pack of snappers outside the house where a supermodel has plunged to her death in an apparent drug-fuelled suicide. Lula Landry – another hidden wink, perhaps, as Rowling's Potter books are full of alliterative names – is "one of the most photographed women in the world" and may, Diana-like, have been hounded to death by the pressure of celebrity and attention.

How fascinating to read these scenes now, knowing that they were written by a witness at the Leveson inquiry. Rowling's animus against the press, which began with the hateful hack Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet in the Potter stories, vividly continues, while Landry, who was an adopted mixed-race child, carries on the sympathy for the troubled or excluded that has been one of Rowling's most attractive qualities as a writer.

The central character also bears the mark of Rowling's predilection for physical distinctiveness. The Casual Vacancy included a number of massively fat men – Hagridian, as Potter readers might have thought of them – and private eye Cormoran Strike, a former military policeman, is another very big chap, with the added distinction of a prosthetic leg.

The brutal question is what merit the book would have if it were not by JK Rowling. And here, again, compliments are due to the unknowing early critics who commented on the unusual confidence and professionalism of what was presented as a debut. Rowling is a formidable storyteller – as shown by the sheer imaginative detail and narrative organisation of the world of Harry Potter – and, as Strike and Robin set out to prove that Lula Landry's death was not a suicide, the plot is tightly moulded and told, with the reader's interest ignited by tantalising references to the detective's lost leg or a file of death threats that he has received.

And, while never a firecracker stylist, Rowling almost always writes clean, clear prose, although her marked liking for adjectives and adverbs may have been one of the things that gave her away. Few actions or items are left unqualified: the newly engaged Robin wonders, thinking of those less fortunate than herself, "if desperate pity could describe the exquisite pleasure she actually felt at the thought of her own comparative paradise". Typically, each key noun and verb in that sentence has brought a modifying friend along.

Rowling's books have always had a high body-count. The Potter novels dispatched major characters at a rate remarkable in children's fiction and The Casual Vacancy, though structurally a social comedy about a parish council, began with a shocking death and included several more. It was partly this deep concern with death that led Ian Rankin to predict that Rowling might make a crime writer, and he is proved correct in a book that extends her reflections on mortality in a literary context where the pileup of bodies is less conspicuous.

There will now be considerable pressure for the Strike series to become at least as long as Potter, but even a writer as skilful as Rowling will struggle to overcome the reason that the private detective genre has struggled to flourish in modern English crime fiction, with the majority of series now based around cops. The era of Poirot and Marple is long past; nowadays, once a murder or other very serious crime is suspected, the police take over the investigation and close it down to outsiders. So the gumshoe is left – as in The Cuckoo's Calling – with the re-investigation of deaths ruled suicides or, otherwise, with non-suspicious missing-person cases.

Still more ominously for the prospect of a long Strike series, the adoption of the pseudonym was presumably motivated psychologically – an escape from celebrity, expectation and JK-baiters on the books pages – and so you wonder, with the mask ripped off, what further use it will have for her. Any subsequent Galbraith books (and another is promised next year) will effectively be published as Rowlings, with all the mania that entails.

Her solution might be to assume new noms de plume. For the next few years, the book business could become something like the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition during the years when the press believed that the Prince of Wales was exhibiting under alibis. Just as clumps of reporters would gather around innocuous watercolours that turned out genuinely to be the work of Wiltshire vicars, so there will be sudden runs on debut books that an online buzz attributes to the creator of Harry Potter.

For the moment, we are left with an enjoyable, highly professional crime novel that has escaped from the aim its author had for it but taken on a massive new significance for readers. Many pseudonymous novels are intended to make a point: Doris Lessing, in 1984, submitted a manuscript under the name Jane Somers, its rejection by her regular publishers proving to her that the literary business defers to famous names.

While Rowling does not seem to have tested her publishers by sending in a book under cover – now there would be a tense and interesting experiment – her experience with The Cuckoo's Calling does seem to show that unknown first-time novelists are likely to get nice reviews but zero publicity and low sales: the novel was pottering along selling mere hundreds of copies until it started Pottering along.

Already one of the most fascinating figures in the history of popular fiction, JK Rowling has become even more intriguing with this brief but neat vanishing trick. Lucky, though, are those few who read it in the purity of obscurity rather than the distracting glare of hindsight.

[McGonagall's Cat]

These guys had it first!!!

Thanks to Hypable who came out with it yesterday!!!

(And what's with a mini series of The Casual Vacancy??? Really? Why???)

WB announces ‘Harry Potter’ spin off movie series penned by J.K. Rowling in ‘Fantastic Beasts’ world

By Andrew Sims (@sims) at 9:17 am, September 12, 2013



Warner Bros. has announced a new Harry Potter-related film series based in the world of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie will be an “original story and will mark Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is planned as the first picture in a new film series.”

What’s more, the series will focus on the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander. According to Rowling, the first film will be set 70 years before the first Harry Potter book in New York.

Here is J.K. Rowling’s full statement about today’s announcement:

“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.

It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.

As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.

I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

“We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses,” said Kevin Tsujihara, Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. Entertainment. “She is an extraordinary writer, who ignited a reading revolution around the world, which then became an unprecedented film phenomenon. We know that audiences will be as excited as we are to see what her brilliant and boundless imagination conjures up for us.”

In addition to today’s movie series announcement, Warner Bros. and Rowling have also agreed on distribution deals related to The Casual Vacancy television miniseries as well as a continued theme park partnership.

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Thanks to Entertainment Weekly-> Fantastic Beasts <-click here

All ended well for Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling’s books, but it turns out the author isn’t finished with her magical world. Rowling and Warner Bros. have announced that she will adapt her Hogwarts textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, into an cinematic adventure about that book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander. Rowling’s first-ever screenplay is expected to be the first of a series of new films about the wizarding world that fans know well from the Potter books and movies.

“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,” said Rowling, in a statement. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway.”

Scamander has long been part of the Potter universe, ever since he got a brief mention in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. One of Hogwarts’ esteemed former headmasters, his image occasionally popped up in the wizarding school’s living portraits. Scamander had been an expert Magizoologist — a student of magical creatures — ever since a childhood fascination with hippogriffs and he went on to work for the Ministry of Magic. Beginning in 1918, he spent nearly a decade researching and writing Fantastic Beasts, traveling to every corner of the globe in his spare time to research the wizarding world’s most fascination creatures.


“It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood. As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros. Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway. I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

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