The Times is offering subscribers a first peek at The Silkworm, J.K. Rowling’s newest book under the pseudonym Robert Galibrath. You can read the first two chapters of the book if you are a subscriber to the paper. For those of you not in the UK, read over at USA Today.  The Silkworm will be released on June 19. A synopsis of the book is as follows:

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days–as he has done before–and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives–meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before…

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.

As we reported a couple weeks ago, J.K. Rowling guest edited/hosted BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour today.  The BBC Radio site has been updated with the full episode as well as clips from Rowling’s show, here. A description of the hour long episode is below:

Multiple Sclerosis affects roughly 100,000 people in the UK and three times as many women as men will develop the disease. The incidence of MS is higher in Scotland than in any other country in the world. J.K. Rowling’s mum Anne died of an aggressive form of the disease nearly 15 years ago and in her memory she has helped to fund the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, part of the University of Edinburgh, which is pioneering research into neural regeneration and patient care.

Her passion for Scottish Rugby is something that many fans may not know. We look at the current state of Scottish Women’s Rugby, what is being done to make the sport more attractive to women and what needs to be done to help the sport grow more.

The UN estimates that up to eight million children around the world live in institutions. These are often called orphanages or children’s homes, although at least four out of five of those children in institutional care have living parents. What’s inspired J.K. Rowling to get involved with helping children reunite with their families?

Plus shoes. They hurt our feet and our bank balance, and yet to so many of us they are objects of desire. Jo is no exception, she’s often wondered why women are so fond of this particular item of clothing. From high heels to statement brogues, we explore the complex and fascinating world of women and their relationship to their footwear and ask, what is the power and myth of the shoe?

It has been revealed today, by The Wrap, that HBO and BBC will be co-producing the tv series based on J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. We posted way back in December 2012 that the BBC would be producing the series and now have some more details. The episodes will be one hour each with both HBO and BBC airing the three-part mini-series,.

The production, which will air in three one-hour installments, will begin production this summer in South West England, HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo announced Wednesday. The BBC announced plans for an adaptation in 2012, the same year the novel, Rowling’s first post-”Harry Potter” book, was released.

The miniseries is being produced by Bronte Film and Television, the independent production company run by Rowling and Neil Blair, who is executive producing with Paul Trijbits (“Saving Mr. Banks” Golden Globe winner “”Dancing on the Edge”) and Rick Senat.

It is written by Sarah Phelps (“EastEnders,” the BBC’s “Great Expectations” and “The Crimson Field”) produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (“The Tunnel,” “The Hour”) and directed by Jonny Campbell (“In the Flesh,” “Eric & Ernie”).

The story centers on Pagford, a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. But behind the pretty exterior is a town in conflict between rich and poor, teenagers and parents, husbands and wives, and students and teachers.

J.K. Rowling’s Facebook page has been updated to announce she will be one of five guest editors for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour Takeover week from 28th April to 2nd May 2014. Radio Times has noted that this is the first time in 60 years the program has had guest editors, and Rowling is the lucky first.

According to the post: She will guest edit the Woman’s Hour programme on Monday 28th April, followed by Kelly Holmes, Naomi Alderman, Doreen Lawrence, and Lauren Laverne as guest editors on subsequent days. Her programme will look at such topics as the issue of orphanages, and why so many children continue to be cared for in institutions worldwide; the power and myth of the shoe in popular culture; and why Scotland has the highest number of multiple sclerosis sufferers in the world.

In a new report from The New York Times, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara revealed some exciting news about the Fantastic Beasts film(s). There will be three films in the series and according to another report, they are slated to begin production in 2015.

Wherever he learned the skill, his deft touch became clear to Hollywood’s creative community last September. That is when Warner announced that Ms. Rowling had agreed to adapt for the big screen her “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a 2001 book billed as one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbooks. Three megamovies are planned. The main character will be a “magizoologist” named Newt Scamander. The stories, neither prequels or sequels, will start in New York about seven decades before the arrival of Mr. Potter and his pals.

Convincing the famously independent Ms. Rowling to dive back into film was a coup. “When I say he made ‘Fantastic Beasts’ happen, it isn’t P.R.-speak but the literal truth,” Ms. Rowling said in response to emailed questions. “We had one dinner, a follow-up telephone call, and then I got out the rough draft that I’d thought was going to be an interesting bit of memorabilia for my kids and started rewriting!”

In a new press release from this morning, Pottermore reveals that J.K. Rowling wrote the “History of the Quidditch World Cup” and the first part has been released on Pottermore already.  She wrote the information after asking fans to use the hashtag #Wizards4ScotlandRugbyTeam on Twitter.

Rowling’s 2,400-word history of the thrilling game played by witches and wizards on flying broomsticks is featured in the popular Harry Potter series of books. “History of the Quidditch World Cup” is one of Rowling’s longest pieces of original content ever posted on Pottermore, which launched April 2012.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to publish such an imaginative and engaging story from J.K. Rowling about the history of the Wizarding world’s most exciting sport,” said Susan L. Jurevics, Chief Executive Officer, Pottermore. “We’re committed to being the only digital destination where fans can discover new original content about the world of Harry Potter from J.K. Rowling. ‘History of the Quidditch World Cup’ helps us not only fulfill that mission, but it also serves to entertain and delight our community.”

“History of the Quidditch World Cup” will be available in two sections over the next week on Pottermore.com. Part one, which was posted today, provides historical background about the tournament, information about how the tournament works, and examples of controversial tournaments, including the infamous 1877 match played in Kazakhstan’s Ryn Desert now known as the Tournament that Nobody Remembers.

Part two of J.K. Rowling’s “History of the Quidditch World Cup” will be published Friday, March 21. It will feature amusing recaps of some notable recent matches that have been held every four years since 1990.

“History of Quidditch World Cup” is characterized by Rowling’s humor and wry observations about the sport. In one section about Quidditch regulations, she writes: “The rulebook concerning both on- and off-pitch magic is alleged to stretch to nineteen volumes and to include such rules as ‘no dragon is to be introduced into the stadium for any purpose including, but not limited to, team mascot, coach or cup warmer’ and ‘modification of any part of the referee’s body, whether or not he or she has requested such modifications, will lead to a lifetime ban from the tournament and possibly imprisonment.’”