British Author Pans Neverland....

Neverland has been all over the news lately, what with the Michael Jackson saga unfolding. Again.

This just in:

"It is an astonishing, daunting privilege to be let loose in Neverland, armed with nothing but a pen,"

said British author Geraldine McCaughrean today at the London International Book Fair, which runs from March 13-15. But McCaughrean won't be writing about Michael Jackson. She has been chosen to write a sequel to J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan.

Barrie willed the copyright and royalties to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children upon his death in 1937. McCaughrean was chosen from a slate of 100 authors who sumitted a synopsis and sample chapter for a book to be called Captain Pan. The judges' panel included Barrie's great-great nephew David Barrie.

The hospital stipulated that the forthcoming book will have the same characters as the original - Peter Pan, Wendy and the rest of the Darling family, Tinkerbell, and of course, the arch-villain, Captain Hook. The copyright for the original Peter Pan expires in 2007 and the book will pass into the public domain.

The hospital hopes that proceeds from the new book will provide a legacy to help fund its many programs.