J K Rowling denies having writer's block over next Harry Potter book

THE author J K Rowling yesterday denied reports that she had writer's block and was struggling to complete the fifth book in her Harry Potter series.

She also dismissed speculation in tabloid newspapers that she had married her boyfriend during a beach holiday in Mauritius.

Miss Rowling said she was used to seeing the name Harry Potter "in articles containing little news and less truth", but had decided to protest after reading "several columns of total fabrication" in the Scotsman newspaper.

In a letter to the paper she added that neither she, nor her publishers Bloomsbury, had ever stated that the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, would appear in 2001. No deadline had ever been set for the delivery of the manuscript, and this fact had been "on record for over a year" and been grasped by children all over Britain.

She added: "I made it clear last summer that I wanted to take the time to make sure that book five was not dashed off to meet a deadline, but was completed to my full satisfaction as its predecessors have been, as I was committed to producing two additional books for Comic Relief this year.

"And while we are on the subject of non-news, some people seem to need reminding that wearing a swimsuit in the vicinity of a man in shorts does not constitute a marriage ceremony, even in Mauritius."

Miss Rowling, 35, who lives in Edinburgh, was photographed last week on holiday in Mauritius with Dr Neil Murray, 30, an anaesthetist.

Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001