Rowling's tea party for book launch

3:39pm Thursday 4th December 2008

Author JK Rowling is to host a tea party for around 200 schoolchildren to mark the launch of her new book.

The Harry Potter writer will read passages from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, at Edinburgh's Parliament Hall.

The Tales featured in the seventh and final Harry Potter book. It was a volume of wizarding fairytales left to Hermione Granger by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and it played a crucial role in helping Harry to defeat Lord Voldemort.

Millions of copies of the book - the first new book from the author since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - are going on sale on Thursday to raise funds for charity.

It is hoped that worldwide sales of the new book, which has been translated into 28 languages, will raise millions of pounds for the Children's High Level Group (CHLG), a charity co-founded by Rowling to help vulnerable children across Eastern Europe.

Ten local schools have been asked to bring 20 pupils, aged between eight and 11, to the tea party.

The youngsters will get to meet the Edinburgh-based author and they will be given a free copy of the book.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was originally produced in a limited edition of just seven books, each hand-written and illustrated by the author herself.

Rowling gave six of the volumes to people who helped make Harry Potter a success, while the seventh copy was bought for £1.95 million at an auction to raise money for CHLG.

One of the original books - owned by Rowling's first editor, Barry Cunningham - is going on show on Friday at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh as part of a special exhibition to celebrate the launch of the Tales.