'Rare sighting' as author JK Rowling visits West Cork town
Harry Potter author JK Rowling travelled to West Cork to visit her oldest and dearest friend.
Author JK Rowling has made a surprise appearance in a West Cork town with strong links to her Harry Potter series.
The Harry Potter author travelled to West Cork to visit her oldest and dearest friend, who, she said, had taken her to Bandon, the birthplace of the fictional Bandon Banshee.
Taking to X, she posted a photo of herself posing in front of a sign for Bandon and made a subtle reference to her popular book series with the caption 'rare sighting of a Bandon banshee’ - a nod to the fictional Bandon Banshee mentioned by Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Bandon has long celebrated its ties to the Harry Potter book series. In 2018, the town celebrated its link to the series with a Harry Potter-themed children’s scavenger hunt.
Rare sighting of a Bandon banshee 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/pu5V1POBsE
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 15, 2025
In October 2019, the town broke the record for amassing the most Harry Potters in one place at the one time, with almost 1,100 Harry Potters flocking to Bandon to take part in the record-breaking event.
Rowling, who achieved international acclaim for her Harry Potter book series, has drawn controversy in recent years for her views on gender identity.
The author is currently working on the upcoming eighth instalment of her series of crime fiction novels Cormoran Strike, written under her pen name Robert Galbraith, with fans questioning if research for the next instalment of the series was the reason behind her visit to Ireland.
Rowling said, however, that she was in Ireland visiting one of her “oldest and dearest friends” who took her to visit Bandon.
Her visit to Cork is one of many celebrity visits to the Rebel County in recent weeks.
English actor and presenter Richard E Grant spent the Christmas break at Ballymaloe House in East Cork with his friend and celebrity chef, Clodagh McKenna.
While touring around the coast of Cork, he took to social media to share the delights that the county has to offer, saying he was “falling in love with Cork & the countryside beyond”.
Gladiator II and Normal People actor Paul Mescal also spent time in Cork over the festive period with singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams.
The pair were spotted in Scally's Supervalu in Skibbereen on a weekend afternoon when Mescal approached one staff member to ask where the eggs were.
And it looks like Rowling is already planning a return to Ireland, telling award-winning restaurateur Paul Treyvaud that she would be back to visit his restaurant in Killarney.
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