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May 7, 2008

J.K. Rowling succeeds in one court filing

3:01 PM Wed, May 07, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

The Associated Press says:

A court ruling in favor of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has set the stage for a trial on whether publication of photos taken of her young son violates his privacy.
The Court of Appeal in London says children of famous parents have the same right to expect privacy as children of parents who aren't well-known.

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May 5, 2008

Harry Potter history is made

9:46 AM Mon, May 05, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

potter.jpgFor the first time in 10 years, there are no Harry Potter books on The New York Times best-seller list.

The post on The Times' blog notes how the paper had to keep inventing new lists to keep J.K. Rowling from overwhelming them.

(Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the tip.)

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May 4, 2008

What do kids read? Harry Potter doesn't top list

9:33 PM Sun, May 04, 2008 |
Rebecca Stumpf   E-mail   News tips

The Washington Post is reporting that the largest survey ever of youthful reading in the U.S. will reveal Monday that none of J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter books has been able to dislodge the works of longtime favorites Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton and Harper Lee as the most read.

Books by the five well-known U.S. authors, plus lesser-known Laura Numeroff, Katherine Paterson and Gary Paulsen, drew the most readers at every grade level in a study of 78.5 million books read by more than 3 million children who logged on to the Renaissance Learning Web site to take quizzes on books they read last year. Many works from Rowling's Potter series turned up in the top 20, but other authors also ranked high and are likely to get more attention as a result.

I've always been a fan of young adult books and hope this study draws more attention to the genre.

How did your favorite books fare?

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May 2, 2008

Harry Potter: Remember this "scandal"?

8:00 AM Fri, May 02, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

If the words "Harry Potter," "Aldus Dumbledore" and "gay" make your pulse quicken, get over to the Religion blog, where Jeffrey Weiss discovers some thoughts on J.K. Rowling from Connie Neal, a conservative Christian author who had been one of the first to publicly defend the Potter books.

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April 16, 2008

Late-breaking Harry Potter trial update

11:43 PM Wed, Apr 16, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

According to The Associated Press, J.K. Rowling angrily defended her rights as an author as testimony ended today.

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What's at stake in the Harry Potter lawsuit

11:30 AM Wed, Apr 16, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

The Times of London notes the broader issue at stake in the ongoing courtroom drama between J.K. Rowling and the author who wishes to publish a Harry Potter-related book (today's update on the case is posted below.)

The Times notes:

A generation has now grown up besotted (©Milton) with Quidditch and Hogwarts. However, it is not astonishing that J.K. Rowling is using a court case to remind the writers of a zany (©Shakespeare) Harry Potter lexicon, now making the jump from cyberspace (©William Gibson) to print, that it is not common property and she did invent it all. ... However, unless she employs a mole (©le Carré) to oversee our every conversation and written exchange, she should not try to suppress a collection of her invented words. For Voldemort, Muggles, Horcruxes and all Rowling's other serendipitous (©Walpole) coinages are ours now; it would be pig-headed (©Jonson) not to let us use them as we wish.

Interestingly, our own Jeffrey Weiss made a similar argument not long ago.

(Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the spot.)

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April 15, 2008

Today's Harry Potter trial drama

1:19 PM Tue, Apr 15, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

NEW YORK -- A Harry Potter fan who wants to publish an encyclopedic guide to the wildly popular fantasy novels broke down and cried on the witness stand Tuesday as he faced off in federal court against his idol J.K. Rowling.

(More from The Associated Press follows.)

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April 14, 2008

J.K. Rowling in court

11:15 AM Mon, Apr 14, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

She took the stand today in her federal lawsuit to stop publication of stop publication of Steven Vander Ark's "Harry Potter Lexicon."

And she is NOT happy.

"This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work," she testified.

Here's the complete Associated Press report:


April 9, 2008

Naked Harry Potter in America

10:02 AM Wed, Apr 09, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

This is not really a book-related item, except everybody loves Harry Potter.

So I will pass along word (via Bloomberg News) that Daniel Radcliffe is coming to Broadway to perform "Equus" in September, and yes, he will be naked.

Mr. Radcliffe, 19, will play opposite Richard Griffiths, another star of the "Potter" films.

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March 25, 2008

Harry Potter goes to college

12:33 PM Tue, Mar 25, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Sorry fans. You can't major in Muggle Studies. Yet.

But you can find the world's most favoritest boy wizard popping up in college classrooms and textbooks, says CNN. Says the report:

Philip Nel, author of "J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide" and professor of children's literature at Kansas State University, started teaching the books in 2002.

"Harry Potter is unfairly maligned simply because of the audience for which it is intended. Children's literature is literature, and if people don't agree with that definition, it's sort of hard to have a conversation with them," Nel said. "They see things that ... are easily accessible as therefore not serious and therefore not worthy of serious inquiry."


March 12, 2008

Harry Potter movie news

6:16 PM Wed, Mar 12, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

The Los Angeles Times reports there will be eight Harry Potter movies, with two coming from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
As recounted by The Associated Press, producers are expected to announce Thursday that J.K. Rowling's last "Potter" installment will be split into two parts on the big screen. The first film is slated for release in November 2010, with part two following in May 2011.
"It was born out of purely creative reasons," producer David Heyman told the Times. "Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book."
Creative reasons. Yes, I am sure that was the motivating factor.


February 29, 2008

J.K. Rowling lawsuit

1:13 PM Fri, Feb 29, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

“I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations.”

That's J.K. Rowling, speaking in court documents about a fan she once praised but now is suing for trying to publish a Harry Potter reference book.

(Tip to aspiring authors: If you are worried about relations with your fans ... don't sue them.)

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January 18, 2008

J.K. Rowling coming to America

9:57 AM Fri, Jan 18, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

And if you are a Harvard graduate this year, you'll get to hear her.

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December 20, 2007

Harry' Potter's anti-sarcasm charm fails

7:12 AM Thu, Dec 20, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

He made the list of Top Stories of the Year in The Onion.

An excerpt:

"NEW YORK—Delirium swept the nation this summer as the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel sent millions of Americans into a frenzy over some little wizard boy and all his flying wizard buddies going on another one of their little wizard adventures."

Fans (and children) might want to skip the rest. Muggles ... er, non-fans ... might get a giggle.

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December 19, 2007

Amazon.com reviews 'Tales of Beedle the Bard'

7:02 PM Wed, Dec 19, 2007 |
Joyce Saenz Harris   E-mail   News tips

In case you missed them, Amazon.com has posted reviews of the five stories in its new prize possession: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, handwritten by J.K. Rowling.

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JKR a runner-up for TIME's 'Person of the Year'

11:58 AM Wed, Dec 19, 2007 |
Joyce Saenz Harris   E-mail   News tips

It's not often than a writer is on the short list for TIME magazine's "Person of the Year," but this year J.K. Rowling is up there as second runner-up (behind Al Gore and TIME cover boy Vladimir Putin -- who bears an odd resemblance to the Harry Potter movies' depiction of Dobby the house-elf, btw).

Read the interview and the "10 Questions About Harry" that are answered.

Excerpted from the interview's ending:

Rowling has some rebuilding of her own to do. Her time, she says, will be divided among her children, her charities and her writing. But she has only to look at George Lucas to appreciate that the pressure to return to Hogwarts will be ferocious — and some of it self-inflicted. She's already had to cope with the pressure of not disappointing the fan closest to her: her daughter Jessica, 14. What will happen when her two younger children a decade from now discover the stories for themselves and know that Mom has the power to make more of them? "There have been times since finishing, weak moments," she says, "when I've said, 'Yeah, all right,' to the eighth novel." But she's convinced she's doing the right thing to take some time away, do something else. She's working on two projects now, an adult novel and a "political fairy tale." "If, and it's a big if, I ever write an eighth book about the [wizarding ] world, I doubt that Harry would be the central character," she says. "I feel like I've already told his story. But these are big ifs. Let's give it 10 years and see how we feel then." It's a pretty safe bet how her audience will feel. But we'll just have to wait and prepare to be surprised.
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December 14, 2007

Amazon buys Rowling book: Are they nuts?

8:39 AM Fri, Dec 14, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Somehow, I suspect that signing up for one-click shopping was not an option with this one.

But Amazon is making the most of their $4 million dollar investment by gushing about the book and showing pictures at their site.

People are leaving rage-filled comments about the purchase. Which is surprising to me. The money went to charity after all.

But then, these are the same esteemed critics that some people think will replace professional book reviewers. So they can't be wrong, I suppose.

UPDATE: Full details on the auction are appended below.

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December 13, 2007

J.K. Rowling and the really successful auction

10:31 AM Thu, Dec 13, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Her handwritten book of fairy tales just fetched nearly $4 million for charity.

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December 11, 2007

J.K. Rowling reads a book

10:14 AM Tue, Dec 11, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Bloomberg reports that she had a public reading of her handwritten "The Tales of Beedle the Bard,'" which is expected to sell for more than $100,000 at a charity auction Thursday.

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November 23, 2007

An author? On the cover of EW?

9:39 PM Fri, Nov 23, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Love her or hate her, ya gotta give J.K. Rowling credit: What other author could snag a spot on the cover of "Entertainment Weekly," much less be named the Entertainer of the Year?

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November 21, 2007

Harry Potter image of the day

9:08 AM Wed, Nov 21, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

The Guardian newspaper has images of J.K. Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

This is a little project of hers designed to raise money for charity.

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November 15, 2007

Harry Potter in the paper again

9:45 AM Thu, Nov 15, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

We interrupt our coverage of the National Book Awards to bring you a Harry Potter interlude.

nonsequitur.gif

(Non-Sequitur appears daily in The Dallas Morning News comics section.)

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November 1, 2007

J.K. Rowling's new book?

5:49 PM Thu, Nov 01, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Apparently, she has been busy with something besides filing lawsuits and counting large bags of money:

Associated Press

LONDON — J.K. Rowling has completed her first book after her wildly popular series on teen wizard Harry Potter — an extremely limited-edition illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.”
Only seven copies of the handwritten book have been made, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts.

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October 31, 2007

J.K. Rowling strikes again

9:46 PM Wed, Oct 31, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Having won the affection of most of the world's readers, the author now seems intent on alienating them, one by one:

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Author J.K. Rowling and the maker of the “Harry Potter” films are suing a small publisher in Michigan over its plans to release a book version of a popular Web site dedicated to the boy wizard.

The suit, filed Wednesday by the author and Warner Bros. in federal court in Manhattan, claims that RDR Books will infringe on Rowling's intellectual property rights if it goes ahead with its plan to publish the 400-page “Harry Potter Lexicon” on Nov. 28.

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October 29, 2007

Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Dumbledore

3:33 PM Mon, Oct 29, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Blog readers, I know what you want. Don't deny it. I counted the page views.

So let's milk one more entry out of the what's-his-name is you-know-what business.

The trend now is witty columns "outing" other fictional characters.

Here's New York magazine's version. (Fozzie Bear? Schroeder? The Flash ?("... the Flash is both light in his loafers and flaming. No, really — he runs at superhuman speed and flames literally shoot out of him."))

They admit stealing the idea from Radar. (Happy the dwarf from "Snow White?" Willy Wonka? ("The Candyman lived alone with only his (all male) Oompa Loompas.... "))

The Albany Times Union offers its own send-up. ("Few commentators touched on the significance of where Rowling chose to let the secret slip: Carnegie Hall, the site of the author's packed-house reading, holds a hallowed place in gay culture. It's the stage where gay icon Liza Minnelli recorded her landmark 1972 "Liza with a 'Z' " album and TV special. It's also where Minnelli's mother, gay icon Judy Garland, recorded her own smash 1961 live album ... .")

And Publishers Weekly offers this roundup of Dumbledore thoughts. (I think some echo our own Jeffrey Weiss.)

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October 25, 2007

Continuing the Dumbledore conversation

2:16 PM Thu, Oct 25, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

Well, I think it's safe to say that Jeffrey Weiss has touched a nerve.

Just to focus in on one literary aspect of the debate: What are the other classic examples of authors who either overexplained their creations, or refused to?

The example of J.R.R. Tolkein came up in a conversation yesterday. He certainly offered a wealth of background on the world he created. But as it was pointed out to me -- he created most of that before he wrote "The Lord of the RIngs." And revealed it all in print (whether it was readable is a more subjective question.)

On the other hand, I seem to recall that Arthur Conan Doyle resented all the attention Sherlock Holmes generated. I imagine his audiences would have loved to hear him detail Holmes' grade-school years, ponder whether a demanding father caused him to be so pernsnickety and debate whether Watson was co-dependent by allowing him to use all those drugs.

To my knowledge, he never did.

The result is that a century later, a cottage industry of Sherlock Holmes biographies and further imagined adventures has sprung up.

Which may be precisely Jeff's point.

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October 24, 2007

The clues were there, folks

11:43 AM Wed, Oct 24, 2007 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

An amusing column from the Los Angeles Times looks at the clues that should have tipped "Harry Potter" readers about the world's most famous just-outed fictional character. Among them:

"Albus Dumbledore" is an anagram for "Male bods rule, bud!"

(I don't research this stuff, folks. I am just the messenger.)

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