NEWS BROWSER

STORIES (22)
New! or 0.91 format

Peter Pettigrew

Peter Pettigrew: a top-ten best fake death  
The infamous return and escape of Peter Pettigrew in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" has made The Guardian's list of top-ten best fake deaths in literature.
Source: Guardian Unlimited via Yahoo! News
Posted by Jeremy on Nov 2, 2008 at 7:44 PM

Young fans

College-aged 'Potter' fans needed for FSU survey  
"Desperately seeking Harry Potter readers 18 to 24 years old!" So begins a plea for volunteers to take part in a study seeking to find the reasons why kids who grew up with the book series really read them in the first place (not why adults think they did). Were you were born between 1984 and 1990? Have you read all seven Harry Potter books? Did you first read Harry Potter during or prior to 1999? Are you willing to share your Harry Potter reading adventures, experiences or stories?
Source: HPANA
Posted by Cheeser on Aug 12, 2008 at 1:30 PM

Survey: College wants your input on 'Potter' impact, after-effects    
A psychology professor in Pennsylvania needs volunteer "Harry Potter" fans to answer a series of short surveys, spread out over the release of "Deathly Hallows" to gauge the end of the series' impact. One goal of the surveys is to study the role addiction plays in "Potter" fans' involvement with the books. Part one is available now.
Source: HPANA
Posted by Cheeser on Jun 27, 2007 at 4:04 PM

Edward Kern

'Wisdom of Harry Potter' author to offer fall college course  
Students at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, will be able to enroll in a course titled "Thinking about Harry Potter" during their fall term next year. Edmund Kern, author of "Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices," will teach the class, which has a prerequisite of reading all 4,000 pages of the series. Students must also apply to join.
Source: HPANA
Posted by Cheeser on May 25, 2007 at 2:39 PM

JK Rowling

'Harry won't die' says literature expert    
A few weeks ago "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling appeared on the 'Richard & Judy' show and announced to the world that two more characters have died than she originally planned in the last book. Fans have been grappling with who is going to die for weeks, and now a British Victorian literature expert says: "There's no way Harry will die."
Source: Newswise via Yahoo! News
Posted by Geri on Jul 18, 2006 at 9:25 AM

Judging a book by its title  
British statisticians have created a complex computer model that can determine a book's potential to become a bestseller solely by its title, with a success rate of nearly 70 percent. They compared every book since 1955 to have reached #1 on the New York Times' Bestseller List with their respective sales figures, but titles such as "Harry Potter" actually scored low in their model.
Source: CBC
Posted by Cheeser on Dec 28, 2005 at 11:27 PM

NY Post wants 20 'Potter' reviews in 12 hours    
The New York Post has asked us to find 20 super-fast readers who can finish "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by 2 p.m. Saturday and provide their take on the tome. Reviewers will get their thoughts printed with a photo! Kids and teens are encouraged to participate but they will also accept adult reviews. The bottom line: you must live in New York and you must read the book in less than 14 hours.
Source: NY Post
Posted by Cheeser on Jul 14, 2005 at 1:03 AM

Will Harry Potter live or die?    
JK Rowling's star wizard will die by the end of her "Harry Potter" book series, according to a slim 53% majority of over 15,000 votes cast in HPANA's informal poll. Most fans indicated Harry would sacrifice himself to save loved ones before the end of book seven. We asked, "Will Harry Potter survive the series and become an adult?" The author has playfully hinted at her leading character's demise. About 10% of fans agreed that if Rowling didn't kill him off, she'd be hounded for life to write more than the seven novels she's already promised.
Source: HPANA
Posted by Cheeser on Mar 7, 2005 at 8:50 PM

When 'Potter' fans get together, the plot thickens    
In a special article already published on Wizard News, editor Dave Haber was kind enough to review Galadriel Waters' latest "Harry Potter" analysis collection and share it with HPANA. The book, published in November, is now widely available and includes columns and essays about J.K. Rowling's novels, from fans of all ages and backgrounds. Many of them hail from our good friends at MuggleNet, in fact.
Source: Wizard News
Posted by Cheeser on Dec 2, 2004 at 9:44 PM

Review: 'New clues to Harry Potter'    
HPANA editor "grae" reviews Galadriel Waters' "New Clues to Harry Potter: Book 5 Hints from the Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter." He says the book makes hunting for hints entertaining and enjoyable, and a fun way to take another look at a series you may already have read 100 times.
Source: HPANA
Posted by grae on Nov 18, 2003 at 9:11 AM

Harry vs. Frodo  
A lecture at Belmont University will compare the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. Dr. Amy Sturgis will discuss how Tolkien and Rowling brought what was originally a children's genre into the realm of adult themes, including Death and Bereavement, Prejudice, Change, and Choice.
Source: Belmont University
Posted by Sano Orbis on Nov 4, 2003 at 1:13 PM

The Alchemist’s Tale  
Author John Granger, whose address was voted best paper by the participants of this year's Nimbus 2003 symposium, has an article posted online about the role alchemy plays in the "Harry Potter" novels.
Source: Touchstone via The Leaky Cauldron
Posted by grae on Nov 4, 2003 at 1:13 PM

Historian Edmund Kern talks about Harry Potter  
Edmund Kern, author of the recently published book, "The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices," will be presenting an address next week on Harry Potter and his resolve in the face of adversity.
Source: Lawrence University via Moreover
Posted by grae on Oct 24, 2003 at 12:06 PM

Reaction to Potter critics    
Michael Duff has penned a very funny article about his reaction to the frequent criticism of the Harry Potter series. He divides the critics into three separate groups, based on their rants against the novels: "the religious right," "the extreme left," and worst of all, "the cynical hipsters."
Source: Texas Tech University Daily via Wizard News
Posted by James on Oct 7, 2003 at 8:58 PM

Harry Potter and the College Credits    
A public university in Maryland offers a course on "The Science of Harry Potter."
Source: Netscape.co.uk via Moreover
Posted by rissa on Sep 28, 2003 at 2:07 PM

Extensive differences, indeed  
The differences in translation between American and British editions of the Harry Potter novels required quite an amount of hits on the "Delete" key or many bottles of White-Out on the American publisher's part - changes range from the ridiculous to the mildly understandable, and number in the hundreds.
Source: alt.fan.harry-potter
Posted by James on Sep 13, 2003 at 3:27 PM

Book burning and consequences  
Southern Vermont College professor Catherine Burns pens an articulately styled piece on book-burning and the effects it entails for any person, young or old: '...millions of imaginations would be stifled, having been deprived of the freedom of literature.' Burns warns of the increasing regularity of this practice by extreme political and religious group.
Source: Bennington Banner via The Leaky Cauldron
Posted by James on Sep 4, 2003 at 9:30 PM

Potter incorporates Eastern themes  
Ahmed Fadl Shablool of Egypt provides his evidence on some of the Eastern themes found in the Harry Potter books. Namely, he discusses Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and details his precise uncovering of Eastern material.
Source: Middle East Online via The Leaky Cauldron
Posted by James on Aug 24, 2003 at 4:45 PM

Superheroes too politically incorrect for kids?  
New Zealander Laura Franklin opines about the seeming desire of some parents to sterilize children's imaginations, using the claim that today's superheroes aren't suitable for kids. "Obviously," she says mockingly, "that sort of activity has to be ruthlessly stamped out before it spreads." Where is the line in the sand that separates healthy fantasy from dangerous fixation?
Source: Hawkes Bay Today via Wizard News
Posted by Cheeser on Aug 23, 2003 at 4:48 AM

The politics of Potter  
More than a few political essays have been written about the "Harry Potter" books, focusing on the similarities between the politics of Harry's world and ours. In her article for "The American Prospect," Ashley Glacel identifies Professor Dumbledore as a liberal, and equates both the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters to the Bush Administration.
Source: The American Prospect via Godric's Hollow
Posted by grae on Aug 23, 2003 at 12:54 AM