J K Rowling will host a live webcast.
J K Rowling will host a live webcast. REUTERS/Toby Melville

The author of the Harry Potter series, J K Rowling, has launched a book club online and will also be attending a webcast to chat live with her fans.

The Harry Potter club is reported to be a comprehensive guide to everything related to the magical series: the movies, the books and the world of wizards they chronicle.

Rowling's US publisher, Scholastic, said that the club will provide a meeting place for fans of the wizard, and a point of reference for parents and teachers who want to set up their own book clubs to introduce children to the joys of reading, Reuters reported.

"Scholastic has been in conversation with educators, librarians and other book lovers about ideas for bringing the Harry Potter books to new readers in exciting and different ways. The Harry Potter Reading Club is a direct response to that feedback and provides an entry point through which the thrill of these books can be shared with new generations of Harry Potter fans, both within and beyond the classroom," Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade, said in a statement announcing the club.

Rowling will conduct a live webcast at 6am British time on 11 October, at www.scholastic.com/hpreadingclub. Scholastic described the webcast as a "live virtual author visit to classrooms".

The Harry Potter reading club and the webcast has been received with excitement and appreciation by Potter fans.

"I have run my own Harry Potter Reading Club with my students for two years and seen them grow into better readers while having a great shared reading experience. I am delighted to be an advisor for Scholastic on the new reading club, so that many more children will discover and become deeply engaged in the series in their own clubs all across the country," Donalyn Miller, sixth grade teacher, Trinity Meadows Intermediate School in Fort Worth, Texas, told the Broadway World.