The New York Times Magazine reported yesterday that former Clinton campaign official and New York director of the New Democratic Network named a group of “progressive contributors” the Phoenix Group “one night, after getting sucked into a Harry Potter book.”

Bloomsbury has announced a competition to meet J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival next month. “Tickets were not sold for this event, but were available through a ballot, which has now closed. But don’t panic – we are delighted to offer you the chance to win two pairs of tickets to hear JK Rowling …read more!

The Burrow now has an interview with Alex Crockford, the young actor who stood in as Charlie Weasley in the Prisoner of Azkaban film. When asked about his chances of returning for the Goblet of Fire film, he answered: Minimal, I’m afraid. I got a letter from one of the director’s assistants telling me that …read more!

Readers have been emailing staff members to tell us that a two-disc PoA DVD to be released on November 23 (as previously rumored) was announced at Comic-Con. Stay tuned for more details. Please note that this announcement is still just rumor, and not confirmation about the DVD’s release date, yet.

JKR’s FAQ section has been updated with info about HBP (oh, nothing serious, just whether Arthur will be the new Minister, and what exactly HBP has to do with CoS….:) and more.

There is an interview in the Sunday Herald with Richard Bremmer, the actor who voiced the part of Voldemort in the first Harry Potter film. He says that while he was hired for the part, the producers have decided to use a bigger star for the role of Voldemort in the upcoming Goblet of Fire …read more!

Thanks to the readers who wrote in to tell us about the New York Times article, ‘Harry Potter’ Inspires a Christian Alternative, about G.P. Taylor’s Shadowmancer. The article brings up that good ol’ HP-and-the-Christian-fath chestnut, noting that Shadowmancer outranked Harry Potter in Britain for 15 straight weeks. The article discusses Shadowmancer and its image as …read more!

We hope you like the new text layout of TLC. We received this layout in e-mail from reader Oliver Janoschek, a designer who lives and works in Germany and often uses his PDA to surf the Web. When he couldn’t donate financially to the Leaky server drive, he thought he’d offer us something else; a …read more!

Jo Rowling writes on her website that she’s expecting a third child, to be born sometime next year, and reassures her readers that while she can’t say exactly when book six will be finished, it’s well on track and she doesn’t anticipate any baby-related delays. Congratulations to Jo and her family! Update: Her child is …read more!

Extremely reliable sources tell us that British actress Miranda Richardson will play Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ms. Richardson (headshot) is most commonly known for her roles in The Hours (playing Vanessa Bell), Sleepy Hollow (playing Lady Mary Van Tassel, pictured here with Michael Gambon, aka Dumbledore) and The Crying …read more!