By Olivia Loving

Update: Lincoln Center released a statement at 11 pm on its home page saying it would see “what arrangements may be made to honor each ticket purchased.”

Update as of 5:15 pm, as related to us in-person at the box office: Tickets given during the glitch last night will not be honored. They will start printing tomorrow. If you chose to pick them up at the box office, they will be available then. J.K. Rowling WILL be signing your books at the event; one will be distributed to each guest before the performance, unsigned.

Update as of 4 pm: Tickets are sold out.

“What’s coming will come, and we’ll meet it when it does.”

Rennervate if you have to, Muggles: J.K. Rowling is making a rare New York trip on Oct. 16 to promote her new novel, The Casual Vacancy. Before this, her most recent tour was in August of 2006, when she spoke at Radio City Music Hall alongside John Irving and Stephen King — who, we’ll remember, once said Rowling never “met an adverb she didn’t like.” Though expected of authors with her status, a world tour is uncharacteristic for Rowling and her deliberately private life. The book itself comes out Sept. 27.

Since tearfully shutting our copies of Deathly Hallows in July 2007 — or, if you successfully savored slowly, a little later — we’ve been waiting to once again reflexively check MuggleNet and Leaky Cauldron. And it’s arrived; J.K. Rowling is already the most successful “debut novelist” in history.

Though tickets were scheduled to go on sale today at 10 am, a batch appeared online late last night, 12 hours before the scheduled time. They sold out within the hour. The apparent glitch was corrected by Lincoln Center, which began releasing tickets again at the originally scheduled time. Though Rowling will be giving several interviews, this is the only public event in the States.

The theater seats 1,100. It is unknown how many of these are filled. Phone and box office reservations may still be available; to secure these, people have been camping out at Lincoln Center for days. Rowling will sign books after the event (one is included with your ticket), though we’re not sure for how many.

The Casual Vacancy is a departure from Harry Potter in many ways — it’s a novel; it’s for adults; it’s short(er), at 512 pages. The book cover reveals little, offering instead a sweeping, bold font and marked by a mysterious checkmark. Similarities in design have been drawn to The Marriage Plot, another highly-anticipated book by a wildly successful author (Eugenides). Both italicized titles have three words preceded by an article, and are accompanied by one obscure image.

Vacancy is a mystery, yes, but one operating on a smaller scale than that of the entire wizarding world. Like many Agatha Christie novels, the preview promises unrest beneath the surface of an idyllic English town populated by Muggles. (And also maybe reminds us of “The Riddle House,” the first chapter in Goblet of Fire).

This may be J.K. Rowling’s only American appearance, but it’s just one of the many public events she has scheduled for the book’s release. Her first is in Southbank Center of London at Queen Elizabeth Hall on Sept. 27. Being the rockstar she is, Rowling must schedule her events at music venues ordinarily scheduled to seat Gaga’s millions. She will also appear at the Cheltenham Festival on Oct. 6. The Festival is in Prestbury, another small English village you haven’t heard of.

We’re trying, Hagrid; we’re trying.

(image via)