London: JK Rowling has announced her "Harry Potter" stage play will open in London's West End next year.
Called "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", it will tell the "untold part" of the boy wizard's story, including the story of the lives of his murdered parents.
However, the author said the play was "not a prequel".
It will run at the Palace Theatre in the summer of 2016, with tickets on sale this autumn.
Rowling said she chose to make the announcement today because it is "a very special day" - the 18th anniversary of when her debut book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was first published in the UK.
But she was tight-lipped about the plot of the play, saying she did not "want to say too much more, because I don't want to spoil what I know will be a real treat for fans".
"To answer one inevitable (and reasonable!) question - why isn't Cursed Child a new novel? I am confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it was the only proper medium for the story," she added.
The play was first announced in December 2013, after the author said she had "received countless approaches" over the years "about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production".
