Rowling launches website as Harry puts spell on NY

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has launched a personal website which gives fans unprecedented access to the fiercely private writer’s life and work.

The homepage of www.jkrowling.com features her untidy desk, complete with a spider running across the screen, and has links to pages of news, family snaps and hints about the plot of the sixth Harry Potter book.

The site, which also warns fans against buying copies of her books with forged signatures, had 17 million visitors in its first week.

In the news section she confirms that book six is under way and that the website will contain clues about the plot for those who can work out where to find them.

Other snippets reveal that she recently dropped into a Harry Potter internet chat room under a false name and gave hints about future plot developments – and was ignored.

She has promised to regularly update the site, and said: “I receive so many thousands of letters these days that it is impossible to read, let alone answer, them all.

“This is where I can tell the truth about rumours or news stories, where I can share extra information I have not put in the books, where I can give hints and clues about what is going to happen to Harry Potter.”

Meanwhile, Harry Potter mania erupted once more again as the stars stepped out for the world premiere of the film phenomenon’s latest adventure.

Hundreds of fans burst into screams as the bewildered teenage idols graced the red carpet in New York.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third movie in the hit children’s series penned by author JK Rowling.

Daniel Radcliffe, 14, was stunned by the reaction of the crowd of mostly teenaged girls.

“It’s astonishing. It’s really, really, really scary but it’s brilliant,” he said.

“We have worked on the film for 11 months and it’s really gratifying that everyone came out to support it. It’s amazing.

“And they should support it because it’s a really great film,” he said.

Radcliffe said the boy wizard Harry Potter had grown up in the latest movie, just as he had in real life.

“You have to change the character. If you give the same performance in each film it going to get old very fast. So I think it is very important to change the character,” Radcliffe said.

“I’m the same age as Harry Potter so we kind of grow up together.”

He said some filming had already started for the fourth Potter movie, although the real work gets under way in July.

But before then he has school exams to contend with, he said.

Other stars on the red carpet were Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger, Robbie Coltrane, whose character Rubeus Hagrid becomes a professor in the latest movie, and Alan Rickman, who plays Professor Severus Snape.

Harry Potter has proved a global hit and netted a massive £435m (€649.7m) for JK Rowling, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich list.

Radcliffe is reported to be the second richest teenager in Britain following Prince Harry, after recently overtaking singer Charlotte Church.