Founder of international children’s organisation Lumos, J. K. Rowling, will shine a light on millions of the world’s most disadvantaged children in orphanages this weekend, in an exclusive Facebook Live global broadcast.

Also announced is the launch of a new limited edition T-shirt on sale from today, featuring a quote from J.K. Rowling from her Very Good Lives speech given at a Harvard commencement ceremony in 2008. The ‘Be the Light’ T-shirts feature a design using inspirational words from the author: “We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already” and are available to buy now at www.represent.com/lumos

In conversation with writer and broadcaster Lauren Laverne in London on Saturday 17 September at 8.15pm BST / 3.15pm ET / 12.15 PT the Harry Potter author will illuminate the work of Lumos, which she founded a decade ago to return children from orphanages and institutions to families. The broadcast will be streamed live via the Lumos Facebook page.

People are invited to submit a question for J.K. Rowling about Lumos’ work and the estimated eight million children living in institutional care, separated from families and exposed to abuse, harm and neglect. Questions can be sent this week via the We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign website and some will be selected to be read out on the night.

The Facebook Live event marks the start of the We Are Lumos Worldwide global campaign to raise awareness and urge people to get involved with the non-profit organisation’s work to bring the hidden children to light and get them home to families. The campaign will include:

• A gala performance of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End on Sunday 18 September, where J.K. Rowling will introduce the play and talk about Lumos. All proceeds from this event will go towards Lumos programmes around the world.
• A special advance screening, benefiting Lumos, of the new Warner Bros feature film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them following an on stage conversation between J.K. Rowling and the film’s star Eddie Redmayne on Saturday 12 November at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Written by J.K. Rowling, the film is inspired by the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by the author’s character, magizoologist Newt Scamander. The film opens in 1926 in New York, as Newt Scamander, played by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne, has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures.

Thanks to the generosity of J.K. Rowling and others, 100% of all public donations, including funds raised from the events in the We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign, will go directly to Lumos’ programmes helping thousands of children to leave orphanages and return to families, giving them a real chance in life.

The We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign will increase understanding of this global problem affecting an estimated eight million children hidden away in orphanages and large-scale residential care, the majority of whom are not orphans.

As part of this awareness raising, Harry Potter stars and Lumos ambassadors Warwick Davis, Evanna Lynch and Bonnie Wright have visited programmes in Moldova and Haiti to find out more about this vital work. Films of their visits will be released in the coming weeks.

Fans, supporters and celebrities everywhere are invited, as part of the We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign, to Be the Light in the lives of eight million forgotten children, living in the darkest of places.