T
here’s nothing like
being married to
a doctor during
a global pandemic
to give a writer
a healthy dose of
humility. As the
severity of the crisis
became clear, I felt
a sense of impotence and inadequacy as
I watched medics and other key workers
shoulder immense burdens on behalf
of all of us.
When the UK went into strict lockdown,
I thought of all the families facing the hourly
challenge of entertaining and educating
younger children, who’d been abruptly
deprived of school and playtimes with
their friends, and it struck me that there
might be something meaningful I could do
to help — not life-saving, unfortunately,
but hopefully lockdown-improving.
I had the idea for The Ickabog more than
a decade ago, while I was still writing the
Harry Potter series. Having written a lot of
the story, I read it to my two younger
children at bedtime. They knew how the
tale ended, because I told them the part
I hadn’t yet written.
However, I decided against publishing
a children’s book next, so The Ickabog
went up into the attic, still unfinished. Myyoungest daughter said to me more than
once, “I wish you’d finish it properly, that
was my favourite story,” but for me the
moment had passed. I came to think of
The Ickabog as something that belonged
only to our family. Yet over the ensuing
years the family sometimes talked about
the story, especially the various towns of
Cornucopia. I’d feel a tug back towards
the box in the attic, but I was busy
with other projects, so I resisted.
One night in early lockdown
I tentatively raised the idea
of finishing the book,
putting it online for free
and asking children to
illustrate it. My now
teenagers were
wholeheartedly in favour
of the idea, so I got to work.
As I neared writing the end of
the book, I started reading
chapters to the family again,
which was one of the most extraordinary
experiences of my writing life. I was
amazed how much detail my children
remembered from when they were
very small, and I reinstated a couple of
bits I’d cut because they liked them.
The reaction as the chapters went
online, and especially to the illustration
competition, was beyond my wildestimaginings. We received more than
18,000 entries from the UK, Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand and India, and
more in concurrent competitions run in
the US and Canada. The talent,
inventiveness and sheer delight in paint
and story were astounding. As readers
predicted how the story would end and
speculated on the true nature of the
Ickabog, I felt the pure joy in
storytelling that’s unique to
writing for children.
I’ll be donating my
royalties from the
physically published book
to help medical and
frontline charities support
vulnerable groups who
have been particularly
impacted by Covid-19, in
the UK and internationally.
The 34 winning illustrations
will be included in the book. I’m so
grateful to the winners, and to everyone
who submitted pictures, for lending their
talent to this project. It couldn’t have
happened without them n© JK Rowling October 2020. All
illustrations are from The Ickabog by
JK Rowling, published on Tuesday (Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers £20)JK Rowling explains
how a story that lay
unfinished in her attic
finally came to be
published — with
a little help from young
artists around the world THE BOARDED UP TAVERN
Divyanshi, 8
Cornucopia’s citizens are impoverished by an “Ickabog tax”, to
fund their protection from the beast. When Daisy’s friend Bert
turns up at his cousin Harold’s tavern, he finds it closed downONLINE
EXTRA
Listen to an exclusive
extract from The Ickabog
performed by Stephen
Fry at thesunday
times.co.uk30 • The Sunday Times Magazine