By Sky News SkyNews - 1 hour 55 minutes agoIt's the news all Harry Potter fans will have been hoping for - a new work about the boy wizard by JK Rowling. The author has penned a prequel to the bestselling seven-book series describing what happened to Harry before he went to Hogwarts. The fact that the new work - written for a charity auction - is just 800 words long is unlikely to dampen fans' enthusiasm for finding out what is in it. The new piece is one of 13 story outlines written by famous writers for a charity auction to be held by Waterstones on June 10. Others taking part include new James Bond writer Sebastian Faulks and Nobel laureate Doris Lessing. The money raised by the What's Your Story event will go to charities English Pen and Dyslexia Action. The writers could submit anything from a doodle and collage to a fresh story. So organisers were amazed when Rowling handed over a prequel to the Potter series, which has sold more than 375 million books worldwide. Rowling, who has earned a £560m fortune from the stories, is determined the latest instalment will not be developed further. She says at the end of the story, written on both sides of an A5 storycard: "From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!" The author has said that if she did write another Potter tale, it would not be for another 10 years. Philip Errington, a specialist at Sotheby's, which will run the auction, said the 13 storycards would be sold without reserve prices. He said: "Given the enormous interest we have seen in recent times for autograph 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." Waterstone's chief executive Gerry Johnson said: "What's Your Story just gets more and more exciting - all these brilliant works by amazing writers and illustrators, every one a small masterpiece. "We never dreamed that JK Rowling would donate something so precious, and we're incredibly grateful." Other authors who have donated outline works are Lisa Appignanesi, Margaret Atwood, Lauren Child, Richard Ford, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Michael Rosen, Axel Scheffler, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh.
it is amazing and truly wonderful how these authors are doing something like this to help those in need. It truly is remarkable!
That's so awesome! I didn't realize that a "written charity auction" even existed...How cool! And man, I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that, even if it was only 800 words!
Very cool stuff! Mrs. Rowling is certainly an incredible story in herself. Nice that she's making some donations. Of course... with as much money as she has... well never mind.
with her works up for sale she has contributed much more than an 800 word story. She has contributed to the advertising of this auction. Many did not know it existed but now it is out there in the public mind. Anything that contributes to literacy and aids dyslexia work is a wonderful thing. I personally do not want to know about Harry's life before Hogwart. It is hell when it started and he had support what would it be like without anyone to champion him. nope leave it to the imagination that is bad enough.
Sounds like the whole thing is 800 words. Before Hogwarts... so the prequel takes place while he's with the Dursleys?
