Bloomsbury has announced that book six in the Harry Potter series; 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' will be published on 16 July next.
JK Rowling, the author of the series, delivered her completed manuscript to the publishers last night.
Rowling had previously said that she would not be announcing details of the book's completion date until Christmas Day but later made the announcement in a posting on her own website.
The author explained that the manuscript for the sixth Harry Potter book was to her satisfaction. "I am as happy as I have ever been with the end result," she said.
Rowling previously revealed that one of the characters in the series would be killed off in the sixth book, but confirmed that the character was not Harry Potter.
