Rowling pens Harry Potter prequel

JK ROWLING has written a prequel to Harry Potter.

The story was penned in the past month and is just 800 words long. Her Potter prequel comes almost a year after the last book in the boy-wizard series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hit the shelves.

The latest tale will not be published but sold at a charity auction next month instead.

Organisers asked 13 authors, including Margaret Atwood, Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby and Doris Lessing, to create a story for the sale. The celebrated writers could submit anything from a doodle and collage to a fresh story.

So organisers were amazed when JK Rowling handed over a prequel to the Potter series.

Philip Errington, a specialist at Sotheby's, which will run the auction, said the 13 storycards will be sold without reserve prices.

Money raised from the sale will go to English PEN, which promotes understanding through literature, and Dyslexia Action.