New Writing From J.K. Rowling!

‘The Magical Congress of the United States of America,’ the third and final installment in a collection of new original writing by J.K. Rowling entitled Magic in North America, was published on pottermore.com today. This latest writing explores the roots of America’s secret wizarding governing body, the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). It is available exclusively on pottermore.com. 

‘The Magical Congress of the United States of America,’ together with the short video (seen below), offers insightful background details for the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures feature film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film, which marks J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting debut, is set in New York in 1926, and will be released worldwide on November 18.

The new writing reveals how MACUSA was formed and tracks the odyssey of its various headquarters as it moved from an enchanted edifice in the Appalachian Mountains to Williamsburg, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and, finally, to New York City, where it was magically modified to be hidden from No-Majs (the American term for Muggles). 

‘The Magical Congress of the United States of America’ also examines MACUSA’s place in American history, including the infamous ‘Country or Kind’ debate during the Revolutionary War, when members of the U.S. magical community questioned to whom they owed their allegiance. Another facet of the story looks at how the Statute of Secrecy—the law preventing wizards and witches from revealing the magical world to No-Majs—evolved.

Pottermore published two previous installments of Magic in North America earlier this year, including ‘History of Magic in North America’ in March. This first piece of writing in the series revealed the history of North American witches and wizards, and in June, Pottermore unveiled the second installment about Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic founded in the 17th century.