The political fairytale for children that J.K. Rowling has mentioned in years past is now sitting in a drawer, and may never be published.
Fans who’ve followed Rowling know that the author has spoken about the existence of a children’s book with a “political fairytale” vibe for about a decade. The oldest reference we can find is from December 2007 in an interview with TIME Magazine. Back then, the author said it was one of two projects she was working on (the other book may’ve been The Casual Vacancy, which was released in 2011).
The political fairytale book was of interest to Harry Potter fans because it looked like it was going to be Rowling’s first children’s novel after Deathly Hallows. But over these nine post-Potter years we’ve watched Rowling release several books for adults, and nothing new for children. (To be fair, she’s released a bunch of content on Pottermore, wrote the Fantastic Beasts screenplay, and helped write this summer’s Cursed Child stage play.)
This morning, Rowling addressed the long-awaited political fairytale again. When a fan asked her about it, she revealed she’s not in love with how it turned out, so it’s sitting in storage:
@jk_rowling whatever happened to the children's political fairytale you were writing? Will we ever get to read it? X
— ☆ shannon ☆ (@msshannonperry) March 19, 2016
I didn't like it enough to publish it. It's in a drawer! https://t.co/b6pX2xYvW4
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 19, 2016
Maybe one day Rowling will feel inspired to revisit the book and polish it off, but that day probably isn’t today. It sounds like she’s focused on Fantastic Beasts right now:
I'm about to see a first cut of the movie. I'm VERY excited. https://t.co/qICnORet9Z
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 18, 2016
While the political fairytale may not be coming anytime soon, Rowling did say as recently as November that she has ideas in mind for a new children’s book. GIMME!
Rowling has published four new books in the years following Harry Potter: The Casual Vacancy, The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm, and Career of Evil. Those last three were written under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym. She has said on numerous occasions that she will publish several more books following Cormoran Strike.
Currently there are no release dates set for any new J.K. Rowling books. One book in the Cormoran Strike series has been published every year since 2012, so it’s possible a fourth installment will arrive later this year.