British printing firm St. Ives, best known for printing the Harry Potter book series, has been “hit by a major scandal” after “serious accounting errors” were revealed. The errors occurred in the firm’s point-of-sale division (customers include Marks & Spencer and WH Smith Bookseller) and resulted in the firing of the person responsible. The errors …read more!

Last August, we first told you that a handwritten draft of chapter six from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone would be on public display at the Seven Stories Centre in the UK. The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters draft from J.K. Rowling will now soon be pulled from exhibit, reports the website, …read more!

The live, official Harry Potter podcasts that Cheryl Klein of Scholastic, Emerson Spartz (of MuggleNet) and I (for Leaky!) did in July are now all available for download on iTunes right here. We met nearly 1,000 of you at these events, starting at Anderson’s in Naperville, IL, and going to Barnes and Noble in Las …read more!

The West Asheville Branch of the Asheville-Buncombe Library System in North Carolina won Scholastic’s competition for the first signed American edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the LibraryJournal.com reports. The book was hand-delivered by a representative of Scholastic this week and won among 9,000 entrants. Because response to the competition was so high, …read more!

The Scotsman is reporting about some new research that was conducted in the UK about the influence of the Harry Potter books on children’s literacy. A result of this research by The Federation of Children’s Book Groups shows that reading the Potter books have proven very beneficial to children’s reading abilities. “Almost six out of …read more!

MSNBC wants to know if you’re the biggest HP fan. If you’re under 13 you can enter their contest, to vie for the title of Harry Potter Total Trivia Tournament Champion. The contest for this title will take place on July 14 in NYC (winners will be brought to NYC for it).

As most of you are aware, on July 16, Emerson of MuggleNet and I will be in Scotland, interviewing Jo Rowling to celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. With less than 40 days to go, it’s time we get down to business! We know you’re all dying to get a question …read more!

The Herald Sun in Australia reports about a price war for the book that’s going on between the major chains, including Dymocks, Angus and Robertson. While the book has a recommended retail price of $45, Dymocks will sell it for $29.95, and the online retailers are still trying to determine their in-store prices.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a review of Stephen Fry’s audio version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and of the joy of listening to a good book (and yes, we noted the one mistake in the article as well :). Thanks to Sharon for the link!

In a list of the best and worst of 2003, India’s Business Standard gave P to Potter. (The article says the sixth book brought the craze around, but thanks to Jonathan of the Israeli Harry Potter 4 Grownups Community, we know that in India books four and five were split up into smaller books – …read more!