JK Rowling: ‘My next book will be for young children’

HARRY Potter author JK Rowling has revealed she will return to writing children’s books following the publication of The Casual Vacancy, her first novel for adults.

Rowling, 47, has previously been coy on her future projects since finishing the Harry Potter series, but in an interview at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday she said her next book would be for young children.

“As the writer of Harry Potter, I’m always nervous of committing myself to another children’s book, but yes, the next thing I write will be for children,” she said.

“I have a lot of things on my laptop currently, including a couple of things for children - for a slightly younger age group than Harry Potter was aimed at - which are nearly done and will, I think, be the next thing I publish. I have run them by my children and they seem to like them which is always a good sign.

“I also have some ideas for another book for adults but it isn’t too far on [in development].”

Rowling, who wrote much of the Harry Potter series in Edinburgh, also spoke about her battle with depression.

She said: “I do have a tendency to walk on the dark side sometimes. I have suffered from depression, I know how that feels, I have an innate inclination that way. Writing does help with that [depression].”