UK channel ITV is set to broadcast a television show where four young Potter fans will be competing for a chance to be one of the lucky cub reporters at the Half-Blood Prince launch party. Chosen from a writing contest, these young finalists will be tested on their knowledge of the Harry Potter world. The …read more!

Today’s Leaky Lounge poll is up, dealing with the kind of things Arthur Weasley might enchant. You can see a list of our Countdown to HBP polls here; we’ll tell you each day when the new one goes up. Yesterday’s poll, Who Will Harry Kiss?, which seemed to inspire a frenzy over there, is closed: …read more!

Are your kids making your crazy, waiting for the 16th? Are you making your kids (your significant other, your friends, your co-workers, your pets) crazy, waiting for the 16th? Bella Online offers instructions for a weekend diversion – plant a theme garden, featuring plants used in the first five books of the series. Thanks to …read more!

Barnes & Noble.com has announced that it will be opening up, for the first time, free online Harry Potter Reading Groups, and we’re proud to announce that Leaky staff will be helping to moderate the discussions. The exhaustive forum will be moderated by staff from the main TLC page and moderators of our forum, including …read more!

Some more details today from Bloomsbury regarding the big Edinburgh release party: The cub reporters will arrive at the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle by horse-drawn carriage. About 2,000 Edinburgh school children and their parents will be seated in the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle to cheer on JK Rowling and the cub reporters as they make …read more!

Many of you have reported a not-found error when accessing our “Ask Jo” poll; it should be right here; be sure to look at the right side of your page! A lot of you are also asking why you can’t vote more than once here: we restrict by IP, which changes often if you’re an …read more!

Security continues to be tight as the publishers of the new Harry Potter book are determined to keep a tight lid on any possible leaks and spoilers getting out before the release date on July 16. While there are not any security trolls on patrol(that we muggles can see anyway 🙂 ), The New York …read more!

Hey all; we’ve been working with the incomparable Chad Everett of Everitz Consulting, who developed the system that sends you news notifications, to fix the bug where you’re getting multiple copies of each entry. That bug is fixed. Also, now, if you’re subscribed to more than one category and the news is filed in more …read more!

We have two pieces of news today regarding the Harry Potter Conventions that are to take place in the near future. First, Accio 2005, the UK Harry Potter Conference, has announced that, due to demand, they will have day tickets available to the public for Saturday, July 30th. The announcement says: “Day tickets for Accio …read more!

Well, the excitement and speculation continues to grow about the new Harry Potter book, as witnessed today on CNN’s 90 Second Pop, a segment of their morning program. Host Miles O’Brien spoke with “Time Magazine” reporter Christopher John Farley, comedian Andy Borowitz, and B.J. Sigesmund from “Us Weekly.” There was the usual guessing about things …read more!