The woman who brought Harry Potter to adoring millions has been rewarded with promotion to the board of Bloomsbury Publishing (from This is London). “Harry Potter” parody could score big.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the films being considered for the Makeup Oscar® at the 74th Academy Awards® Presentation. The films under consideration are: A. I. Artificial Intelligence A Beautiful Mind Hannibal Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Moulin Rouge Planet …read more!

Hey guys – Bloomsbury made a short comment on the possibility of a July release date on their website: We are not going to set a publication date for the fifth book until the book has been finished. In a perfect world the date would be July 2002, but we will wait until the book …read more!

“Harry Potter” has edged past “Jurassic Park” to rank as the second-biggest earner of all time at the foreign box office.

In an article entitled “Magic sales for Potter books,” CBBC Newsround mentions a possible July release date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The University of Alberta has become the latest Canadian university to offer a course about Harry Potter, turning the children’s best-seller into a subject of academic scrutiny (from the …read more!

From The Mirror: He has starred in many Shakespearean epics on stage and on the screen – now luvvie actor Kenneth Branagh is casting his spell in the second Harry Potter movie.

‘Harry Potter’ in Amman (from The Jordan Times). Teenage wizard Harry Potter and notorious single Bridget Jones have pushed 2001 book sales to a record one billion pounds. Hollywood’s family business: Top 3 films aimed at young people and their parents (from the San Francisco Gate).

The Sun ran an article today entitled “Potter sequel looks magic,” and which has what appears to be the first official picture of Kenneth Branagh as Professor Lockhart.

From the Irish Independent: “So what’s going on in Northern Ireland? Well, looking at it through Harry Potter’s eyes, the good guys the 90 or so per cent of the population who just want to get on with their lives and their neighbours are increasingly despairing.” Two from Ananova: A 48-year-old former jockey is to …read more!

Thomas Taylor, the young graduate artist who decided what Harry Potter ought to look like, made only two or three hundred pounds for his first drawing of the boy hero in 1997. Now, five years after its publication, initial designs for the covers of J. K. Rowling’s novels are worth tens of thousands.