J.K. Rowling's new children's story will be online for free

J.K. Rowling will finally publish The Ickabog, a "stand-alone fairy tale" and her first children's story since Harry Potter — online, for free.

New chapters will go live on the Ickabog website at 3 p.m. GMT daily between now and July, starting with the first two on Tuesday. A full print and e-book version will be available for purchase in November, with royalties going to help those who have been affected by COVID-19.

Additionally, Rowling tweeted a call for illustrations: The Ickabog will be published with artwork, for which Rowling prompted children and parents at home to see what they can come up with. Each online chapter will provide illustration prompts to get started. While officially entries for the final edition will be judged by the publisher, Rowling encouraged those participating to share their work with the hashtag #theickabog online so she can at least see and engage with it.

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Rowling has teased The Ickabog since 2007, when the last Harry Potter book was released and the world waited with bated breath for her next project. Instead, Rowling's new releases were adult fiction, starting with 2012's The Casual Vacancy and four Cormoran Strike mysteries published under a pseudonym. Her next Strike novel is scheduled for Sept. 15.