New Harry Potter book to be released in July

A new Harry Potter book will be released nine years after JK Rowling's final story, The Deathly Hallows.

Rowling's website Pottermore confirmed the script of the new stage play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be released as a book on July 31, the day after the play's world premiere and, fans will note, Harry's birthday.

The Cursed Child is officially the eighth book in the Harry Potter canon and will be released in two versions: a Special Rehearsal Edition using the script performed in the play's previews, before being replaced later by a Definitive Collector's Edition.

The news will be a relief for fans worldwide who are desperate to join in the new chapter of Harry, Ron and Hermione's wizarding adventure, but unable to get tickets to the play, which at the moment has only been confirmed to show in London.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ended 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, as Harry waved his two eldest children off to the wizarding school.

The Cursed Child will pick up from that moment, focusing on Harry as a frazzled Ministry of Magic civil servant and his middle child Albus Severus, who is struggling under the weight of the family's legacy.

This will be the first tale in the Harry Potter canon not to be penned by Rowling. The two-part play has been written by Jack Thorne, although it has been based on an original idea by Rowling, Thorne and the stage play's director John Tiffany.

The History Boys' Jamie Parker will play Harry Potter in the new play, alongside Olivier Award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni as Hermione and Les Miserables actor Paul Thornley as Ron.

The stage play will run into 2017, which marks the 20th anniversary of the UK publication of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

Before then, fans will be able to indulge themselves once more in Rowling's magical world in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who accidentally unleashes a menagerie of magical animals on New York.

The film is set for release in November 2016.

- PAA