The Leaky Cauldron - J.K. Rowling

Scholastic Announces Children's Essay Contest to Win Trip to "Beedle the Bard" Release Party

Mon Oct 20 10:12:00 -0400 2008

As a follow to what we first reported below, Scholastic, the US publishers of the Harry Potter novels, have now formally announced a Children's Essay Contest to win a trip to Scotland for the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. This contest, open to children ages 8-17 and begins today, requires the entrant to write a "an essay of 200 words or less describing how they have helped others. B...

J.K. Rowling to Host Party in Scotland for Release of "Beedle the Bard"

Mon Oct 20 07:43:00 -0400 2008

The Scotsman is reporting today that Harry Potter author will be holding a tea party at the National Library of Scotland for the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. This special book, proceeds to benefit the Children's High Level Group charity, will be released on December 4, and "ten local schools will be asked to bring 20 pupils, aged between eight and 11, to the party." The paper repor...

"Half-Blood Prince," "Deathly Hallows" Amazon UK Top Sellers of All Time

Tue Oct 07 11:16:00 -0400 2008

Amazon is celebrating ten years of online retailing this year, and as such, Amazon.co.uk has released a list of the top-selling books over this period. The Bookseller reports that the two top spots for the UK branch of the retailer are held by books from author J.K. Rowling: Number one goes to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, followed at number two by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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UK Harry Potter Audio Book Ad Campaigns and Photos Now Online

Fri Oct 03 02:56:00 -0400 2008

Hoop Associates, a company based in the UK, has posted online a host of behind the scenes marketing and photo shoots used in the marketing of the Harry Potter audio books. At this link, you can see many new rare behind the scenes photos of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, along with narrator Stephen Fry as the prepare the imagery used in the marketing of the audio books. UPDATE These are now a...

J. K. Rowling Tops Forbes List of Authors for 2008

Wed Oct 01 19:28:00 -0400 2008

Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling is once again atop a list from Forbes.com. The online version of the financial magazine just released their annual ranking of The World’s Best Paid Authors, with the Harry Potter author being ranked at the top of the list. Tracking the time period between June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008, Forbes formulated these rankings based on a number of factors. Ms. Rowli

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PotterCast 167: The Truth About the Veil... and Dobby's Eyes

Tue Sep 30 01:13:00 -0400 2008

It is back to the regular format of PotterCast, our Harry Potter podcast this week for our 167th episode of Harry Potter news, discussion, and more. Sue opens up this episode with the latest in Harry Potter news, including updates on a number of the Harry Potter cast, the city of Edinburgh honoring Jo Rowling, the 10 year anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” release, the cove

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(Updated)"What's Your Story" with HP Prequel Back in Stock

Wed Sep 24 15:08:00 -0400 2008

Previously we told you of the special prequel to the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling for charity. This prequel was then published in a book called “What’s Your Story,” with the book rapidly selling out in the first days it was available. Thanks to TLC reader Roonwit, we can report that Waterstone’s has this book now back in stock, and available for purchase here. UPDATE: It would ap

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A History of Harry for MTV

Tue Sep 23 17:55:00 -0400 2008

As readers will recall, TLC’s own webmistress Melissa Anelli is the author of a new book called “Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon,” which contains an interview and a foreward from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. This week, MTV is doing a series of features on the world of Harry Potter, and has a new interview with Melissa,...

Harry Potter "Cover to Cover" Day Today

Tue Sep 23 10:19:00 -0400 2008

A reminder that the special Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Read-a-thon is taking place today at the Scholastic store in New York. “Cover to Cover” Day is due to begin shortly at 8am, where people will take turns reading from the tenth anniversary edition of the first Harry Potter novel, and this event will also be broadcast on the net via THIS LINK.

As we told you previously, several spe

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Scholastic to Release US Paperback Edition of "Deathly Hallows" July, 2009

Mon Sep 22 17:43:00 -0400 2008

Scholastic has issued a press release heralding the good news that they will be releasing the paperback edition of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on July 7, 2009. The US publishers of the Harry Potter series note that this will see an nitial print run of 2 million copies, which will “bring the total number of the seven Harry Potter books in print to over 143 million in the U.S. alone.”

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J.K. Rowling Makes Large Donation to UK Labour Party

Sat Sep 20 11:59:00 -0400 2008

Scores of readers let us know that J.K. Rowling has donated £1million to the Labour Party in the UK. The BBC reports this very generous donation from the Harry Potter author was made because “she was motivated by Labour’s record on child poverty.” Jo, who has spoken openly about the pressures she had faced in the past while as a single mother, and supports the One Parent Family charity, issued

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J.K. Rowling "Can't Imagine" Leaving Edinburgh

Sat Sep 20 00:35:00 -0400 2008

The Telegraph has a new photo of author J.K. Rowling with the Edinburgh Award, which was presented to the Harry Potter author tonight in Scotland. Reuters also has a few small photos of Jo at this event here. The Scotsman is reporting that Jo with her husband, Dr. Neil Murray, attended the gala dinner event at the Prestonfield hotel where she noted upon receiving the award “Edinburgh is a very

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City of Edinburgh to Honor J.K. Rowling

Thu Sep 18 20:57:00 -0400 2008

Previously, we told you J.K. Rowling was to be honored with the Edinburgh Award, given by the city in Scotland where she resides. Update This event is now confirmed for tonight, Friday, September 19 in Edinburgh, with the The Herald reporting the following statement from JKR : “It is an absolute honour to receive this award, as Edinburgh is very much home for me and is the place where Harry evo

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Scholastic Updates with Special Guests, Video of Prep for Cover to Cover Day

Thu Sep 18 12:53:00 -0400 2008

Previously we told you that Scholastic would be holding a special read-a-thon to celebrate the release of the Tenth Anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” This Cover to Cover event is to be held next week in New York City at the Scholastic store on Tuesday, September 23. There, you can take turns reading aloud from the new anniversary edition of the first Harry Potter book, whi...

The (Almost) Case of Doctor Who and JKR

Tue Sep 16 23:01:00 -0400 2008

Great leaping Tardis! New reports are online tonight regarding how Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling had been favored to be a guest on the popular UK program Doctor Who for the Christmas 2007 show. The BBC is reporting that Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies had wanted Jo to star in the episode, however the star of the program, actor David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr.) nixed the idea. “David doesn’

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