Harry Potter fans all over the world will have Sunday 31st July 2016 marked down in their calendars, as this is when the next story in the Harry Potter saga is due to be published.

The script book of the new stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II will be published in print and digital editions simultaneously after the world premiere of the play this summer in London.

The print edition will be published by Little, Brown while Pottermore will be responsible for the ebook edition. Pottermore is the online home for all things Harry Potter and features regular updates from JK Rowling herself. Although Little, Brown has published Rowling’s novel A Casual Vacancy and her Robert Galbraith thrillers, this is the first time it has released a Harry Potter title.

JK Rowling’s literary agent at the Blair Partnership has said,

“2016 is a big year for the millions of Harry Potter fans around the world, with the release of the much anticipated play and film. We are working closely with our key publishing partners and with Pottermore to deliver titles that complement these exciting new projects, whilst bringing new energy and excitement to JK Rowling’s Wizarding World publishing for new readers and existing fans alike.”

Next year is the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with Bloomsbury and Scholastic in the US planning an exciting schedule of new releases to mark the event. These include a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and four special editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with each edition in the colours of the four Hogwarts houses.

Most Harry Potter fans expected the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, to be the last they would see of the bespectacled wizard but many have been delighted with the ongoing expansion of this world through the studio tour, the online community of Pottermore and the Hogwarts Library books. With an eighth Harry Potter story due this year it looks like there is no stopping the growth of this magical world.