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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

Democratic independence taught in Potter  
In an outstanding article, Mike Hersh relates his view of the moral and social messages abundant in the Potter novels and the effects inherent on avid Potter fans. Hersh believes the series nurtures a serious independence and provides or solidifies a strong foundation for the expression of opinions in a democratic manner. Also included in this wonderful composition is an example of these same values manifested - through the famous "SaveGOF" campaign.
Source: MikeHersh.com
Posted by James on Sep 28, 2003 at 1:18 AM

Petition seeks to instate American talent  
Expressing outrage over the rule allowing only British actors and actresses to be cast into the Harry Potter films, a mass online petition has sprung up. Its message is directed to major and minor members of the casting process at Warner Bros., and although it is presently signed with less than 200 names in support of the cause, it just may be growing in popularity.
Source: Petition Online via Wizard News
Posted by James on Sep 2, 2003 at 9:53 PM

Henry Cavill as Cedric?    
A couple of fans devoted to seeing their favorite actor, the currently little-known Henry Cavill, have created a small and informative website soliciting letters to support their position to enlist him in the movie 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' as Cedric Diggory.
Source: Loyal And True: Henry for Cedric Diggory via iharrypotter.net
Posted by James on Sep 1, 2003 at 1:15 AM

Auction info!  
Phew! Our donor lists are complete. If there's a mistake, please contact us and we will fix it. ALSO - Book Aid International has published a special report on where all £14,202.93 of Leaky's readers' contributions went, so be sure to head over there and check it out! Thank you all, again, because I haven't said it in a while, and thank you Book Aid! (And stay tuned, because B.K. and I will be meeting the lovely folk from Book Aid this week, and will bring you pictures as soon as we can!)Still to come before our auction coverage is complete - The Filks, The Emails, The Letters and The Drawings. The things you guys sent us during this drive are too wonderful not to share with the world. Thank you all for being so patient!
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Mar 19, 2003 at 2:53 AM

Random factoids from March South Florida Parenting  
Percent of children who say the best book series is Harry Potter: 58 Percent who say it's Lord of the Rings: 29 Amount an unidentified American paid at a charity auction for 93 words handwritten by author J.K. Rowling that hint at the plot of her fifth Harry Potter book: $45,314 Number of books that donation will buy for schools in Afrida: 18,000 Number of letters said magazine will get letting them know that one of their readers was involved in excellent fundraiser related to card: at least one
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Mar 3, 2003 at 7:40 PM

Opinari Speaks To Melissa Anelli!  
Just last night, I pulled myself together for the second Opinari update of the year, in which I had a special interview with Melissa, Leaky's managing editor. Read it only at Opinari!
Source: iharrypotter.net
Posted on Feb 9, 2003 at 5:55 AM

Auction mention in YM  
Thanks Milly, for pointing us to this article in YM.com, about the auction. Quotage:Harry Potter Update: A few weeks ago, we told you about "The Card" an index card containing 14 words hinting at the plot of the new Harry Potter novel. The Card was being auctioned for charity, and one fan Web site, www.leaky-cauldron.org, was hoping to bid successfully so they could show its contents online. Sadly, they didn't make the winning bid, and The Card went to a private bidder. The $23,000 in proceeds went to Book Aid, who will use the money to buy over 11,000 books for kids in Kenya and Eritrea. Thanks for announcing it, YM! (Because you've been so nice I won't mention that the card had 93 words instead of 14. Nope, won't do it.)
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Jan 20, 2003 at 10:51 PM

TLC mentioned again in the Daily Telegraph  
In yet another book release article, the Daily Telegraph mentions TLC's charity bid. "Last year," the article reads, "a card on which Rowling had written 93 words providing an outline of the plot of the long-awaited fifth book fetched £28,680 at auction. The words, such as: "Ron, broom, sacked, house-elf, new, teacher, dies, sorry", caused such a frenzy that a website, The Leaky Cauldron, appealed for donations to bid for it. It raised £15,000, but was outbid." Thanks to Harry's Scrapbook for the heads up. (Note, you must be registered to read the article online).
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Jan 16, 2003 at 9:11 AM

Auction Money from TLC Readers to Buy Over 11,000 Books!  
Hi all - we've just received word from Book Aid International - fantastic word - that the $23,000 donation you all made happen is going to provide 11,000 books for readers in the developing world. Please take this moment to pat yourselves heartily on the back. We have authorized the use of the money for readers in Kenya and Eritrea - Book Aid will be putting more information on their site shortly (so will we - like a full donor list, I promise) but here is information about the areas to which the money will be headed, to tide you over: Kenya - This is a relatively stable country but still faces high levels of poverty and recent years have seen a decline in levels of school education that we're keen to help reverse. Our main partner in Kenya is the Kenya National Library Service. They take Book Aid International and distribute them so that they reach lots of different people throughout the country. They have branch libraries and community libraries, and run special services such as HIV/
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Jan 13, 2003 at 11:01 PM

"The Underdog"  
TLC managing editor Melissa spoke to Sidekicksociety.com about the auction effort to win the 93-word card. Quotage: SKS: As in life, there are not always clear victories - but what do you hope the fans and your site will gain from this experience? LC: I think the fans and our readers (whose ages range from toddler to grandmother) will learn that one dollar really does make a difference, and that when people band together to do something they believe in, the results are often staggering. This effort was a very swift and effective example of how every little bit helps. Our fans can look at our total and say: "Wow. I did that."
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Jan 8, 2003 at 3:01 PM

NPR archive link and auction radio interview  
If you missed the NPR segment about fanfiction, you can catch it here - it includes our editor Megan calling herself a dork (which in this edtior's opinion makes it not-to-be-missed. :) Seriously, it describes the world of fanfiction really well - here's Megan's quotage about what inspires people to write HP-verse fanfic:[J.K. Rowling] herself has said that she has boxes and notebooks and folders filled with information that we'll never see in the books. That just strikes everybody's imagination and gets their curiosity going...you get curious like that and you get a computer in front of you, or a pen, and you're doomed. Really excellent piece. In other news, a while back Cristin sent us an MP3 of the interview I did with Spin1038 for the auction and I keep forgetting to link to it - download it here if you like. Once the holidays are over we will fill in all the rest of our auction coverage (donor lists, etc.), so stay tuned.
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 30, 2002 at 11:01 AM

If you got the 93-word card for Christmas  
If you got the 93-word card for Christmas, please, share it with us, and we'll share it with the fandom!
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 26, 2002 at 7:31 AM

Want to see something incredible?  
Go here. More details soon.
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 20, 2002 at 8:31 PM

All Clear!  
Well, not all, but enough of our deposits have cleared that we are set to make our donation to Book Aid International. Right now approximately $24,100 is in our bank account. Of that, roughly $410 was cost - $300 of that will be reimbursed, the other $110 is a personal donation and remains in our total. To make it even, we're leaving $800 in the account for other costs (keeping the bank account open, wiring fees, etc) as well as money for potential accountant/lawyer fees, since we are going to file for our 501(c)(3) status in early 2003 and have to file taxes (and potentially be audited) in April. Right now we are sending $23,000 to Book Aid. When tax season / audit / filing is over, we will close the account and send all remaining money to the charity. Look for more about this soon - once the money is sent it clears up time to finish our donor lists and put letters and such online. Congratulations - and we'll let you know when it's gone through!
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 20, 2002 at 11:31 AM

Auction Video  
Thanks Karen for pointing out the BBC's video of the Sotheby's auction. There's not much more there than you would expect, but I certainly got a thrill watching it - as it brought back quite clearly my experience on the phone, as I sat in stunned silence once the bidding had gone over our limit. And I have to wonder if the people there who knew about our cause heard that the high bidder was on the phone and thought it was us. (On a side note - we'll have an update on our donation progress soon.)
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 17, 2002 at 4:01 PM

YM spotlights the TLC auction bid  
Still more articles about the auction, including this one at YM's website. They were kind enough to link to this site, and we appreciate them for that. Also, thanks to everyone who's sent in the MSNBC article - we were highlighted on their front page! However, as the article is the same AP one that we've linked to before, we're going to put a screencap to show the link up instead, later today.
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 15, 2002 at 7:01 AM

U.S. News article  
This was the very first interview I did after the auction, and you can probably tell from the quotes how wound up I still was - but I still think this is a great piece and thank the writer, Vicky Hallett, and the editor (and ubercool person) Holly Morris for doing it. I can't tell you all how bizarre it was to be on the other side of an interview for once (or four, or five, or forty-five times...). It should also be noted that we don't think of the buyer as a Voldy-type - at least, muah ha ha, not yet, you rich person who has yet to share. :-) Anyway, here is the piece from U.S. News & World Report: As any well-read muggle knows, evil Lord Voldemort will terrorize the denizens of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the delayed fifth installment of the J. K. Rowling series. But "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" may have competition for his nickname from the anonymous American who snagged a card with 93 assorted words from the book (like "dies" and "sacked") at a Sotheby's au
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Dec 15, 2002 at 2:31 AM

The Wait For The Mystery Collector Continues  
From The State: LONDON - An American collector has paid more than $45,000 for a card full of clues to the plot of the long-awaited fifth Harry Potter book. The unidentified buyer made the winning bid Thursday for the card, handwritten by author J.K. Rowling as a charity fund-raiser. The money will be used to buy more than 18,000 books for schools in Africa. Whether the buyer, who paid $45,314 for the card, chooses to keep the contents secret remains to be seen. ..."It's a wonderful Christmas present for readers in some of the world's poorest countries," said director Sara Harrity of Book Aid International. Read on at the link.
Source: iharrypotter.net
Posted on Dec 14, 2002 at 10:43 AM

Harry Potter goes for $954 a magic word  
A private United States buyer coughed up US$485 ($954) a word yesterday for a 93-word synopsis of the yet-to-be-completed fifth book about wizard boy wonder Harry Potter. "It was sold to a telephone bidder from America for £28,680 [$90,990]," said a spokesman for Sotheby's auction house. The price for the collection of random words giving a tantalising glimpse into the plot of Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix was nearly five times the pre-sale estimate of up to £6000. J.K. Rowling offered the teaser for sale to raise funds for Book Aid International. The content of the plot preview will remain the buyer's secret, although Sotheby's did release a selection of the chosen words as a taster before the auction. "Thirty-eight chapters ... might change ... longest volume ... Ron ... broom ... sacked ... house-elf ... new teacher ... dies ... sorry," were obviously more than enough to generate keen bidding. Source: New Zealand Herald
Source: DarkMark
Posted on Dec 13, 2002 at 8:01 PM