Everyone, please join us as we wish actor Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) a very Happy 18th Birthday! Cheers Rupert!

Today Stephen Fry, the narrator of the U.K. Harry Potter audio books, is celebrating his 49th birthday. Happy Birthday Stephen!

Last August, we first told you that a handwritten draft of chapter six from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone would be on public display at the Seven Stories Centre in the UK. The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters draft from J.K. Rowling will now soon be pulled from exhibit, reports the website, …read more!

Empire Online and others are reporting today that British actress Jessica Stevenson (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Shaun of the Dead) has been cast in the role of Mafalda Hopkirk, from the Improper Use of Magic Office, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We are trying to verify this with WB, and will update …read more!

The World Soundtrack Award nominations have been announced, and a song from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack was among those listed. “Magic Works,” with music and lyrics by Jarvis Cocker, was nominated in the “Best Original Song Written for Film” category. These awards will be presented on October 14 in Ghent, …read more!

Actor Alan Rickman will be a guest on the BBC Radio 4 show “The Film Programme” Friday, Sept 1. According to the Radio Times website, “Chris Tookey talks to Alan Rickman about his role in Snow Cake, a powerful drama in which he plays a road accident survivor who befriends an autistic woman.” This new …read more!

The live, official Harry Potter podcasts that Cheryl Klein of Scholastic, Emerson Spartz (of MuggleNet) and I (for Leaky!) did in July are now all available for download on iTunes right here. We met nearly 1,000 of you at these events, starting at Anderson’s in Naperville, IL, and going to Barnes and Noble in Las …read more!

The calendar on JKRowling.com has been updated to wish a Happy Birthday to Percy Weasley.

The Teen Choice Awards were presented last night on Fox, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was named the winner in the “Choice Movie: Drama” category. Congratulations! Thanks Paul!

WB just confirmed that the release date of the Harry Potter of the Order of the Phoenix film, formerly set for Sept. 6 in Australia, has been moved up to July 12 there – even before it hits the US and UK. Hooray for our Aussie friends!