J.K. Rowling’s 2020 children’s novel first released online for free was The Ickabog.
Rowling wrote The Ickabog as a fairy tale and published it in installments on a free website in 2020. The online release gave children and families reading material during the COVID-19 pandemic. Readers were also invited to create illustrations for the story, and selected artwork appeared in the later print editions.
The book is set in the fictional kingdom of Cornucopia, where a frightening creature called the Ickabog becomes entangled with political manipulation and injustice. It is separate from the Harry Potter universe and does not continue Harry’s story. The novel was subsequently published in print, with proceeds directed to charitable causes connected to the pandemic.
The Ickabog is sometimes confused with The Christmas Pig, another Rowling children’s novel, but that book was published in 2021. The online serialization made The Ickabog unusual among Rowling’s books and gave it a distinctive publication history.