If you are interested in adding the unseen work to your Harry Potter collection you should plan to dig deep (really deep) to get in on the bidding action.
According to organizers running the “What’s Your Story?” auction, the 800-word Harry Potter prequel written by the boy wizard’s creator J.K. Rowling appears on pieces of paper that are each only slightly larger than a postcard. Auction insiders say the famous author used both sides of the cards to hand-write what some are calling a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga. Rowling’s work is one of 13 shrunken works to be sold at the charity auction in London next month.
Other cards were completed by Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing, novelist Margaret Atwood and playwright Tom Stoppard. In addition, children’s author Michael Rosen, illustrator Axel Scheffler, graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, Lauren Child, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks and Nick Hornby, were also asked to donate their time and talent to create sellable works of art.
Event organizers say Lessing penned a story about the power of reading while Stoppard wrote a short mystery and Atwood planned to fill out her card by using a robotic arm controlled by computer linkup.
All of the cards will go on sale at Waterstone’s flagship store in central London on June 10th with proceeds from the auction going to English PEN, the writers’ association, and the British charity Dyslexia Action. In addition, copies of the cards will also be made into a book, which will be sold at the bookstores and online beginning in August.
Organizers refused to comment on the content of Rowling’s purported Potter prequel leaving some to question whether or not it is something die-hard Hogwarts fans would really be interested in. Still, curiosity has peaked and buzz abounds especially since Rowling previously said she had no plans to write another Potter novel.
Then again, back in December Rowling sold a handwritten, leather-bound book of fairy tales that she said was inspired by the Potter series. It went for nearly $4 million at auction. So the sky’s the limit on how much the rumored prequel could rake in.
How much would you be willing to bid for it?