HBO has already revealed that "Game of Thrones" season 6 will premiere in April 2016. But fans of the series and its book saga inspiration are still waiting to hear George R.R. Martin's announcement regarding the release date of "The Winds of Winter."

Speculations about the release date of the sixth installment of "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga has been going around since the fifth season finale of its TV adaptation. Fans are already eager to learn the fate of their beloved characters in the series.

But Martin continuously refused to reveal more information about "The Winds of Winter." During his appearance at the awarding of Hall of Achievement of his alma mater Northwestern University, the author admitted that the TV adaptation of his bestselling saga had already caught up to him. "I had such a huge lead, but the truth is, I'm a very slow writer," the writer confessed.

Earlier, the author told the Entertainment Weekly that he miscalculated his estimated timeframe for finishing the book. "Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish," Martin explained. "But I canceled two convention appearances, I'm turning down a lot more interviews—anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done."

Martin's last "ASOIF" release "A Dance with Dragons" came out in 2011. Both the novel and "Game of Thrones" season 5 ended in a huge cliffhanger, where the fate of Jon Snow was left in limbo after being stabbed to death. Since Jon Snow is one of the most favorite characters in the series, the followers of both the books and TV adaptations are eagerly waiting to know the next arc of the story.

Meanwhile, the Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire blog revealed that the sixth installment of "ASOIF" will probably come out in the latter part of 2016 or 2017.

Fans are expecting to hear an announcement about the release of "The Winds of Winter" in the coming days.