J.K. Rowling’s official website – in addition to announcing the release date for her first standalone book ‘The Casual Vacancy’ has updated her FAQ and Rumours section,with information about the future of the Harry Potter encyclopaedia, and if she would ever write another Harry Potter book.

“Will there ever be another Harry Potter novel?
J.K. Rowling: I have always refused to say ‘never’ to this question, because I think it would be foolish to rule out something I might want to do in a few years’ time. However, I have no immediate plans to write another Harry Potter novel, and I do think that I have rounded off Harry’s story in the seven published books.

What about the Harry Potter Encyclopaedia?
J.K. Rowling: For a long time I have been promising an encyclopaedia of Harry’s world, and I have started work on this now – some of it forms the new content in Pottermore. It is likely to be a time-consuming job, but when finished I shall donate all royalties to charity.” (jkrowling.com)

This is great news! Fans of Potter have always thought that the next book Rowling would publish would be the encyclopaedia that she had promised. Then we got Pottermore (fraught with problems) and we wondered – was this the encyclopaedia but in this new interactive form? But no, there will be a Harry Potter Encyclopaedia published! I can see it being published next year, once hype for  ’The Casual Vacancy’ has died down.

Are you excited for the Harry Potter Encyclopaedia?