A brand new Harry Potter Conference has been announced for 2007. Phoenix Rising, an educational and academic gathering, is set to be held in the city of New Orleans May 17-21, 2007. Aiming to further explore the Harry Potter phenomenon, this conference will feature academic programing, with panel discussions, roundtables, and debates. Brought to you …read more!

The Daily Record is reporting today that the role of a young Lily Evans has been cast for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film. The paper reports that “Susie Shinner, 17, of Nottingham” has been cast in the role of the young Lily Potter. She would appear in the pensieve …read more!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is now available for pre-order from Amazon in the US, for widescreen, while the links are up but the items are not yet available for pre-order from widescreen deluxe, full screen and four-movie gift set. We’re sure they’ll be available for order shortly. See an Amazon-exclusive clip of …read more!

PotterCast #24, temporarily held hostage by the release of the site’s redeisgn, is now available for download! In this show: The third and final portion of the interview with Arthur Levine, co-editor of the Harry Potter books. We talk about the anticipation for book seven, the remaining mysteries of the series, protecting the book from …read more!

Along with all the press yesterday about the new casting for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film, MTV included in their story a new quote from actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). Dan spoke about some of the preparations he has been making in order to better convey some of the deeper emotions …read more!

Warner Brothers sent us their first official studio photo of Evanna Lynch, the young actress who was just cast in the role of Luna Lovegood for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film. Production on the new movie is due to begin Monday, February 6, in Hertfordshire, England.

Thanks to you all, Leaky has been voted People’s Choice in the Yahoo! Search Finds of the Year Awards 2005. The news has now hit the AP (apparently NASA’s site was also up for the award), and BBC (and now we feel guilty for winning over the school site! Hey, all right, here’s a shout …read more!

Warner Bros. has announced that filming of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will begin Feb 6, along with a ton of new casting: The company has confirmed that the strong-rumored Imelda Staunton will play Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, according to a press release; meanwhile Luna …read more!

Actor Matthew Lewis is due to attend a special opening of a library in Horsforth, England on Friday, February 3 at 6pm. According to Leeds Today, Matthew will be reading his favorite excerpts from the Harry Potter novels, and participate in a question and answer session as well. Matthew will be returning to his role …read more!

Emma Thompson has launched a virtual Chestnut Tree, an internet tool created by the Anne Frank Foundation to “foster exchanges between schoolchildren and fight racism.” The Chestnut Tree symbol is being used in honor of the chestnut tree that Anne Frank could see growing outside the Amsterdam house in which she was hidden for over …read more!