J.K. Rowling Announces Relaxed Licensing for Virtual Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic

Mar 20, 2020

Posted by: Kim McChesney

BigNews, Books, Education, J.K. Rowling, JKRowling.com, Legal, News

How often has the Harry Potter series been Lumos in the darkness for millions of its fans? Today its creator brought the magic once again on a global scale, just when the world needed it most. J.K. Rowling reemerged on Twitter today to announce a new initiative from the Wizarding World franchise allowing teachers to read any of the seven Harry Potter books to students learning from home during the COVID_19 pandemic. Via the just revealed hashtag #HarryPotteratHome teachers may now record their Harry Potter read aloud sessions under newly relaxed licensing rules.

Here are the details from jkrowling.com:

“Teachers can now post videos of themselves reading aloud from the Harry Potter books to children prevented from attending school because of the Covid-19 virus. This follows J.K. Rowling and her agents The Blair Partnership relaxing the usual copyright permissions required.

Teachers anywhere in the world are permitted to post videos of themselves reading from Harry Potter books 1-7 onto schools’ secure networks or closed educational platforms from today until the end of the school year (or the end of July in southern hemisphere). A full set of Guidelines for Teachers are downloadable here.

The open licence for teachers is the first of several initiatives being planned to help bring Harry Potter to children at home, which will be announced shortly – watch this space for more details! 

#HarryPotterAtHome”

harry potter books bloomsbury

There are specific guidelines for the open use of the books during this time frame which looks to wrap up, magically enough, on July 31, the birthday of the author and her Boy Wizard. And it appears Rowling’s literary agency and hub of the Wizarding World franchise The Blair Partnership are making it as simple as a flick of the wrist for teachers to bring Potter to their virtual classrooms during the coronavirus outbreak:

Name and location of the school

 Which Harry Potter book being read and approximate length of reading (e.g. one chapter, 25 pages, etc.) 

 Name and email for the individual responsible for the reading 

The school network or educational platform on which the video or live event is posted or held 

Truly a spellbinding gesture from the maestro during this challenging time when students are experiencing the upheaval from this situation  It’s more obvious now than ever that she really meant it when she said “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

Hogwarts will also be welcoming China home to theaters next month when they reopen to the remastered 4K, 3D version of Sorcerer’s Stone! Get all the details here.





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.