We received a press release this morning that the Raincoast Books launch event will be a charity fundraiser for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Join us Saturday June 21st when Raincoast Books hosts the Harry Potter Launch Party, especially for grown-up Harry Potter fans. Celebrate the publication day of Harry Potter and the Order of the …read more!

Thanks so much Rachel, for sending us this blurb from SPIN magazine, which has one of my favorite creative people ever talking about one of my favorite creative people ever: JOSS WHEDON (Buffy creator; science fiction and fantasy savant): I think the Harry Potter books are the finest of the century! JK Rowling is one …read more!

According to a press release we received this morning, all 21 Borders UK stores will stay open through midnight June 20th, 2003 to sell Book V. All those who preorder at Borders stores will be automatically entered to receive a copy signed by J.K. herself. We have received details of what each store is doing …read more!

Bloomsbury has posted the list of schools selected to attend the June 26th Royal Albert Hall event with author J.K. Rowling. Perhaps some lucky readers will be in attendance either as students, teachers, or chaperones. Don’t forget there are still contests ongoing in Singapore, the US and elsewhere – we’re due to hear from Scholastic …read more!

For those who have been asking, here’s the official site for EA’s Quidditch World Cup video game. Now if they could only get something like this working in Virtual Reality.

DigiCasey.com has some excellent new closeups of Hagrid’s Hut under construction. These appear to be the hi-res versions that RexFeatures took.

According to the BBC, actor Kenneth Branagh who played Gilderoy Lockhart in the recent “Chamber of Secrets” movie secretly married his sweetheart, Lindsay Brunnock.

Meetup.com along with The Leaky Cauldron on behalf of MUARI sent out a joint press release today announcing the Harry Potter MeetUp And Read-In. Please take a moment and send this release to your local newspapers. The more people who hear about MUARI, the better chance we have of capturing all the events going on …read more!

Thanks to a reader for informing us that Singapore’s Popular Bookstore will have the same contest several other countries are participating in that will send 3 kids to Royal Albert Hall in London. The same reader has said that Popular locations will be open at 7am on Saturday, June 21st to sell the book. We’re …read more!

Checking Meetup.com this morning, I’ve noticed we have over 620 people signed up for the June 20th Meetup around the world. This may sound like a lot, but only 35 of the 225 locations have 5 or more people signed up for them. Each Meetup location needs to have at least 5 people signed up …read more!