J.K. Rowling has
written an 800-word prequel to the
Harry Potter series which will be auctioned off as part of the
English PEN (a foundation that promotes literature and writing) and
Dyslexia Action (which aids those who have problems reading as a result of dyslexia) storycard event, which we first told you about at the
beginning of the month.
Quote:
The handwritten short story, featuring the fictional wizard's father James and his friend Sirius Black in their younger years, fills both sides of a piece of A5 card and is signed by the author.
Jo states that she does not intend to write an entire story around the prequel, and is quoted at the end of her short story: "[from] the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!"
The plot of the story is being kept secret, but one of the people who has read it, Philip Errington (who will be conducting the auction on June 10th), children's books specialist at Sotheby's, says that Harry himself is not mentioned in the story, but that a policeman is.
UPDATE: A copy of the story will be
available for everyone to read online the day after the auction takes place, June 11th, at Waterstone's bookstores and on their
official site. The storycard will be available to buy, in book form, with the other entries, in the late summer.
UPDATE #2: According to
The Daily Record, the story could go for as much as £5 million.
Quote:
A Sotheby's specialist said: "Given the enormous interest we have seen in recent times for autographed work by JK Rowling, the prospects for her storycard are good to say the least.
"There is just no telling how high the bidding might go. It could be anything up to £5million."
UPDATE #3: CBBC Newsround has acquired
a photo of the card on which the prequel is written, more notably the aforementioned note Jo wrote after the story, along with her dated signature, which can be seen
in our galleries:
NOTE: We now have a larger, hi-res version of this
here in our galleries, courtesy of Waterstone's.
UPDATE #4: Thanks to
Blog Hogwarts for letting us know that J.K. Rowling has updated the news section of her
official site regarding this project.
Quote:
Waterstones Charity Auction
A few months ago a number of authors were invited to handwrite cards for auction by Waterstones, on June 10, all proceeds to go to English PEN, the writers' association, and the Dyslexia Society.
After playing around with a number of different ideas I decided to write a short (for me!) excerpt from a prequel to the Potter series. It is about 800 words long and the action takes place around 3 years before Harry is born.
Although I did feel a bit like a relapsing addict as I sat down to write - the words poured from my pen with frightening ease - I am NOT working on a prequel. Indeed, I've written that clearly at the bottom of the card itself. I just thought that this was the best way to make money for two extremely worthwhile charities.
The good news for Potter fans who will not be able to bid at the auction is that you will be able to read the short story (along with amazing contributions from Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Tom Stoppard, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks, Axel Scheffler, Lauren Child, Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, and Michael Rosen) by purchasing a book of facsimiles, which will be available in August. The proceeds from this book, too, will go to the charities.