New children's novel from Rowling 'likely'

26.09.12 | Philip Jones - The Bookseller

Author J K Rowling has said she will "very likely" write a children's story next, and could yet be persuaded to write another Harry Potter novel, though this was unlikely to be a sequel or a prequel.
Rowling was speaking on Radio 4's "Today" show this morning (26th September), ahead of publication of her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, tomorrow.
Rowling said: "All along people would say to me: 'Do you feel you need to write a book for adults?' No I don't, and I think it very likely the next thing I publish will be for children." Speaking to the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz, Rowling said there was no compulsion on her to write new books for commercial reasons. "There's only one reason to write, for me—if I genuinely want to write something and publish it."
When pressed on writing another Harry Potter novel, Rowling did not dismiss the notion. "Where Harry's story is concerned I am done, now if I had a fabulous idea I would do it. I don't want to go mechanically back into that world and pick up loads of odds and ends, then glue them together and say 'Here we go, we can sell this'. It would make a mockery of what those books mean to me." However, Rowling admitted a "side-step" might work, indicating that she was "very averse to the prequel/sequel idea".
Rowling also revealed that there were a "couple of the Potters" that needed more time spent on then, and said she might consider going back and doing a "director's cut".
On The Casual Vacancy, Rowling said the book tackled broad themes which had impacted her life, such as poverty, and hinted at the political nature of the book. "There is a whiff of the early 90s, how these issues are being discussed right now, and it is painfully familiar to me. In hard times the desire to stigmatise and to blame seems to become ever stronger."
A full version of the interview will run on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row" tomorrow night. Rowling will also appear on BBC 2's "The Review Show" on 5th October, and on Sky Arts' "The Book Show" from the Cheltenham Festival.

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