The Ickabog was the J.K. Rowling children’s novel published online in 2020 after being written for her children.
Rowling began writing The Ickabog years earlier, around the time she was working on Harry Potter, but set the manuscript aside. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she revised the story and released it free in instalments on an official website between May and July 2020.
The finished book is a political fairy tale about the kingdom of Cornucopia and the frightening creature called the Ickabog. It was published in print later in 2020, with illustrations selected through a children’s competition.
The Ickabog is distinct from Rowling’s Harry Potter supplementary works. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is presented as a collection of wizarding fairy tales, while The Ickabog is an independent fantasy story with its own setting and characters.