J.K. Rowling Writes Potter Prequel

Unlike her usual lengthy tomes, this story clocks in at just 800 words

Photo: Mark Stewart/Camera Press/Retna

Within the past month, J.K. Rowling has written a prequel to Harry Potter.

And the succinct, 800-word story, written in the author’s own hand, will be auctioned off for charity in London on June 10. (The tale is so shrouded in secrecy, it s not even clear if the boy wizard makes an appearance.)

Proceeds will go to the writers’ association English PEN and to Dyslexia Action.

Fans – who have gone almost a whole year since Rowling’s last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – will be able to read the prequel for themselves when it’s published by Waterstone’s in August.

In her sign-off to the story (written on a piece of paper not much bigger than a postcard), Rowling said, “That was fun!”