New Harry Potter Book "Maybe" Says Author J.K Rowling

For years, J.K. Rowling, author of the children's book series featuring the boy wizard Harry Potter, insisted that book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was the last Harry Potter book she would write. On her official website, she says that beyond an encyclopedia book for charity, she "never planned to carry [Harry's] story beyond the end of book seven," and that a new Harry Potter novel is "highly unlikely."

But as early as a 2007 interview for Time Magazine's Person of the Year, for which she was runner-up, Rowling began to relent. In that interview, she shows a fierce ownership of her literary creation at mention of authors who may want to pick up the Harry Potter story where Rowling left off.

"He's still mine," she says. "Many people may feel that they own him. But he's a very real character to me, and no one's thought about him more than I have."

Rowling admits in the Time interview that she has weak moments when considering an eighth Harry Potter book, but that she doubts a new novel in the series will feature Harry as a central character, as she feels she has already told his complete story.

However, she's in no hurry. "Let's give it ten years, and see how we feel then," she says.

That was almost three years ago, and apparently the ten-year time frame still stands. On Easter Sunday 2010, at the White House Easter Egg Hunt, Rowling read to a group of children from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and afterward answered of few of the children's questions.

According to Harry Potter fansite, MuggleNet.com, Rowling told the group of children that in ten years' time, she may want to write more about Harry and she doesn't want to rule out the possibility altogether.

Perhaps she merely wants to appease fans who hold out hope for more of Harry's adventures, but the possibility also exists that Rowling misses writing about the characters with whom she spent nearly two decades. At the White House reading, answering a question about her favorite characters, she mentions that, beyond the three main characters Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she loves and misses Dumbledore the most, who was a character from the "back of her brain" who spoke to her and told her things she needed to know.

For now, Rowling is focused on her children and her charity work, but she is still writing. Rowling announced to the children at the White House reading that she has been writing other material, nothing to do with Harry Potter, and is "quite certain" that she will soon come out with a new book.

See a video of J.K. Rowling's reading at WhiteHouse.gov.

J.K. Rowling Official Website, FAQ's
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=24

Gibbs, Nancy. "J.K. Rowling Runner-Up, 2007 Person of the Year" Time.com
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html#ixzz0kQ2xO5zl

"Photos, video, and notes from JK Rowling's appearance at the White House." Muggle Net.com http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/3409

"J.K. Rowling Reads from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/jk-rowling-reads-harry-potter-and-sorcerers-stone