Harry Potter author JK Rowling is to co-produce a British stage show about the boy wizard’s early years living with his cruel non-magical aunt and uncle.

Rowling said on Friday she would work with the writer on the new play, charting Harry’s lonely childhood when he was forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, but would not script it herself.

She will start the project in early 2014, working with producers Sonia Friedman – who has brought a string of hit shows to New York’s Broadway and London’s West End theatres – and Colin Callender.

“Over the years I have received countless approaches about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production,” Rowling wrote on her website.

“But Sonia and Colin’s vision was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.”

Rowling has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, which were also made into a blockbuster film series.