It's a big year for Harry Potter, what with a new film – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – and a new play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, both teed up for release later this year.

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But what fans across the world have been calling for is a new Harry Potter novel from JK Rowling. Well, it seems that the author is answering fans' prayers — kind of.

The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a new stage play by Rowling, will be published in print and digital editions the day after the show's world debut on 30th July. The published script will be a "special rehearsal edition" of an earlier version of the script used during previews, and will later be replaced by the final script in a "definitive collector's edition."

The play is the official eighth story in Harry Potter canon and is written by Rowling in collaboration with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. The plot finds Harry Potter 19 years after the end of the original series working as an Auror at the Ministry of Magic, while his three children all attend Hogwarts. Harry's youngest son, Albus, is at the story's centre as he struggles with his family's legacy. The show debuts at the Palace Theatre on 30th July, with Jamie Parker, Paul Thornley and Noma Dumezweni playing Harry, Ron and Hermione respectively

Along with this new script coming out later this year, 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the series' first novel. For the anniversary, four special editions of the book will be released, each one representing a different Hogwarts house.

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The script will be released to the public on 31st July, 2017 — which, as it turns out, will be the 37th birthday of The Boy Who Lived.

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