The sixth Harry Potter book will hit the shops on 16 July next year, it has been announced. ... Author JK Rowling revealed on Tuesday she had completed the novel after originally saying she would announce details on Christmas Day. ... In a statement, Nigel Newton, chief executive of Bloomsbury in the UK and Barbara Marcus, president of Scholastic Children's Books in the US, said: "JK Rowling has written a brilliant story that will dazzle her fans in a marvellous book that takes the series to yet greater heights.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince delivers all the excitement and wonder of her bestselling Harry Potter novels."

The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in June 2003.

The series has been a publishing phenomenon, with five million copies of the last book sold in the first 24 hours of publication.

Fans had to wait three years between publication of the fourth and fifth books.

--BBC