CBC News has a profile which focuses on Convention Alley, the for adults only Harry Potter symposium which took place over the weekend in Ontario, Canada. Overall, the conference’s wide range of paper, panel and discussion topics – from “Severus Snape: Romantic Byronic Hero or Unredeemable ‘Greasy Git’?” to “Harry’s International Readers: Global Understanding or …read more!

Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine featured a piece on Susanna Clarke’s “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell,” a novel about a friendship of two gentleman sorcerer’s in London. (Registration required to view article, but it’s free and worth it.) Quotage: The novel is being compared with abandon in the press to the ”Harry Potter” books, but …read more!

Yesterday’s edition of Speaking of Faith on NPR dealt with fantasy and religion, including HP. The description reads: “A Return to the Mystery: Religion, Fantasy, and Entertainment Today’s program is on the explosion of religious and spiritual themes in movies and television. Host Krista Tippett explores the deeper appeal of programs like Harry Potter and …read more!

Klara of HarryPotter.cz has sent us the text of the the letter the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, recently wrote to J.K. Rowling regarding her letter objecting to caged beds in childcare facilities, a letter which prompted the country’s minister of health to order the removal of the beds in question in short …read more!

Today’s Ottawa Citizen showcases the ongoing ConventionAlley‘s unique approach to dodging copyright issues that come with running a fan conference: So, in a solution that’s increasingly common among legions of Potter-obsessed fans, organizers of an international Harry Potter conference this weekend in Ottawa have tweaked the children’s classic. Their Harry has Canadian roots. … And …read more!

The Sunday Herald has a new interview with actor Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid). In this indepth profile, the actor speaks at length about his role as Hagrid, and the impact of a high profile film on his personal life. On the question of whether he or the trio would return for future films after the upcoming …read more!

In addition to our Book Six (RSS, LJ), Goblet of Fire film (RSS, LJ) and Order of the Phoenix film (RSS, LJ) news feeds, we bring you five more: the HP Cast feed(RSS, LJ), the Daniel Radcliffe feed (RSS, LJ), the Rupert Grint feed (RSS, LJ), the Emma Watson feed (RSS, LJ) and the Tom …read more!

Thanks so much to Jenna of danradcliffe.com and the 300 other people who helped sell out the POAIMAXFTL show this afternoon at the Museum of Discovery & Science in Ft Lauderdale. This is a long post, so read more (including the day’s trivia questions) by clicking below! There were dozens of people there who’d heard …read more!

Check out JKR’s newest Wizard of the Month.

As noted on JKRowling.com, today (July 31 in the UK) is Harry’s – and J.K. Rowling’s – birthday. A wonderful, magic-filled birthday to you both. The wonderfully artistic Marta has sent us a little glimpse into what’s going on in Edinburgh right about now on this special day. Click for a larger version.