The showdown between Rowling and Steven Vander Ark is scheduled to last most of the week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Rowling is scheduled to testify Monday in a trial that is sure to generate huge interest among Harry Potter fans and the public. Her lawyer has arranged with the judge to have a private security guard for Rowling in the courtroom and for the author to spend breaks in the seclusion of a jury room — away from any die-hard Potter fans in attendance.
I think that’s us, they are referring to.
Well, we are some die-hard Potter fans, but unfortunately we won’t be in full stalking attendance mode. But we will keep you updated on any news that surfaces.
We haven’t spoken about the JK Rowling’s lawsuit against Steve Vander Ark and RDR Publishers lately. But a whole bunch of news stories have cropped up today rehashing the issue. Here is how the Associated Press is reporting what Jo has said in her lawsuit:
“I am deeply troubled by the portrayal of my efforts to protect and preserve the copyrights I have been granted in the Harry Potter books,” she wrote in court papers filed Wednesday in a lawsuit she brought against the small Muskegon, Mich., publisher.She said she intends to publish her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia.
“If RDR’s position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the Internet,” she said.
“Authors everywhere will be forced to protect their creations much more rigorously, which could mean denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities.”
She added: “I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations.”
I am still unsure how I feel about this. What are your thoughts?
So things are a bit crazy around here and we will not be able to record until the weekend. We are looking to have the show up hopefully sometime Saturday night or Sunday.
As a preview: We will be discussing the transformation of Ron Weasley from a self-concious, goofy kid with a just a *small* chip on his shoulder to a confident mature adult who was able to help defeat not only Voldemort but some of his followers.
We are assuming you will have tons of free time since you won’t be listening to HP Progs and commenting, so you can register for Portus 2008 as well! The holiday discount registration rates will be ending soon. We can’t wait to see you there.
And that is on top of the impact, even her critics acknowledge, of inspiring a generation of obsessive readers unafraid of fat books and complex plots. “They’re easy to underestimate because of what I call the three Deathly Hallows for academics,” says James Thomas, a professor of English at Pepperdine University. “They couldn’t possibly be good because they’re too recent, they’re too popular, and they’re too juvenile.” But he argues that the books do more than entertain. “They’ve made millions of kids smarter, more sensitive, certainly more literate and probably more ethical and aware of hypocrisy and lust for power. They’ve made children better adults, I think. I don’t know of any books that have worked that kind of magic on so many millions of readers in so short a time in the history of publications.”
It should be noted that Andrew Slack, the Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance (which in case you aren’t familiar with, is an organization which was created to promote awareness of the Genocide in Darfur- and BTW, HPProgs is the top recruiter for- on their facebook cause right now) was mentioned in the article and there was a nice write-up about the HP Alliance, which runs under the motto, “The weapon we have is love.”
The top bidder in the auction for the seventh handwritten copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard has been announced. It’s Amazon.com! Amazon has always been one of my favorite companies and web sites (I do all my online shopping there, if I can help it), but this makes them even more awesome. Not only are they going to take the book on tour so that everyone can get a chance to see it, they are posting copious amounts of information on their web site. It’s so amazing that Amazon has chosen to share this with so many Potter fans. Thanks Amazon.
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) — J.K. Rowling’s handwritten book of fairy tales sold for 1.95 million pounds ($3.98 million) at a London charity sale.
Sotheby’s top estimate for “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” one of seven copies made after Rowling finished her last Harry Potter book, was 50,000 pounds. The money will go to the Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson, a member of the U.K. House of Lords.
The buyer was Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, an old-master dealership with many collector clients, Sotheby’s said.
Was it just us, or was Draco’s finale just a bit disappointing? By the end of Book 6, it looked like Draco was prime for some kind of glorious and game-changing redemption. His failure to off Dumbledore left him in a bad place, but it was clear that there was still some good left in him. Along with the hints that, in order to prevail, Hogwarts would have to unite against a common threat, we had all the signs that Draco was going to turn coats at a crucial moment, a la Darth Vader, and help Harry save the day. But alas, all we get is a mopey blond kid, more scared than anything else. What happened? How did Draco lose his mojo?
At the New York City stop on J.K. Rowling’s Open Book Tour, J.K. Rowling announced (in response to a question from the audience) that Dumbledore was gay. For various reasons, this has caused quite a stir. How does this change, if at all, how we perceive Dumbledore, how we view his childhood pursuit of power? Does this change the nature of the books, their appropriateness for children, or their religious character? All these questions, and a few others, are discussed in this week’s episode.
J.K. Rowling has begin her Open Book Tour, with stops in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City. At the press conference at the LA appearance, J.K. Rowling spoke for the first time at length on the religious themes of the Harry Potter books, speaking openly about the Christian themes and references in Book 7. She also spoke about Snape, Dumbledore, the Harry Potter Encyclopedia and how she broke the news of the fate of the trio to the actors who portrayed them.
OK, so we spoke to Michal and she has graciously offered to extend the Thank You book Entry deadline to Saturday, September 15.
But here is the good news. Everyone who sends in an entry will be entered into a drawing to win a free limited edition HPPROGS t-shirt!
So, here is your chance to let JK Rowling know how much you appreciate what she has done for you and have a chance to get a new article of clothing (that happens to broadcast your favorite podcast on it)!!
Remember how you felt exactly a month ago (!) when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out? You were overwhelmed, overjoyed, and probably overtired as well.
But many of you did express an interest in doing something to thank JK Rowling for what she has done for you (us) over the past 10 years. Here is a not so subtle reminder to get in your entries for the HPPROGS Thank You Book to JK Rowling. Once again, here is the info from Michal, our wonderful listener who has graciously offered to put this together:
As you may have heard, HPProgs is putting together a “Thank You” book for Jo Rowling. Everyone is invited to submit their letters of thanks, praise and reminiscence to the wonderful woman who has given us all so much. Artwork and poetry can also be included if you wish. All entries will be organized in a binder and sent to Jo- hopefully, we may get a response!
Guidelines are as follows:
1)Please email your letters to me (Michal) at inkasrain@yahoo.com
2)Please submit your letters by SEPTEMBER 1st 2007.
3)Please send letters in file attachments- I will try to keep the format you put together. The greater stylistic variety, the better!
4)TRY not to have your letters exceed two printed pages- although I do understand if you go over, it’s Jo after all.
5)Please spell-check and edit your letters carefully. Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, I will print them out as I receive them.
6)Artwork/handwritten letters must be scanned and sent in file attachments. Please make sure that it will be legible and clear after it has been scanned and re-printed. (I am not sure about color printing yet.)
If you have any ideas or suggestion, feel free to email me!
You have a little less than 2 weeks to get your entries in. Please be part of this wonderful endeavor.
There’s no question that there are religious/Christian undertones and themes to the Harry Potter books. In 2000, JK Rowling stated that if she were to divulge her religious beliefs, it would make the ending of the story obvious. Now that we’ve read Book 7, the religious content is clear; not only is Harry’s final battle with Voldemort very much a passion play, there are overarching religious themes to the entire book. What is the character of the religious content of Deathly Hallows in particular, and the Potter series in general? Is JK Rowling preaching or does she have a different intention? In this podcast, we explore the religious themes and try to figure out the religion of Harry Potter.
We’re just back from Prophecy 2007. In short, we had a great time, came home and immediately sat down to recap . Between the amazing sessions, the vast array of Potter fans and the great discussions, it was a weekend to remember. Penny recapped day one and day two in two previous posts, with some great links to many of the amazing speakers we got to hear. Make sure to check them out, as well tune in to this episode to hear our thoughts.
No news for this episode, we’ll be back with a regular episode later this week.
It’s been less than a week since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet most of us have now read the book more than once; inevitably, bits and pieces need to be re-read to make sense of them. In addition to re-reading, the comments on our last post were extremely amazing, and really helped make sense of the book. This week, we look back through the comments and pull out a few topics to discuss further: a possible relationship between Harry and Voldemort? Examples of Voldemort’s spells not working, references to Nazis, the fittingness of Snape’s death. What was the purpose of the epilogue? And what did we need the Deathly Hallows for anyhow? Of course, there’s more questions that need to be discussed (who discovered magic later in life? Where did Harry’s parents get all that money from?), but they’ll have to wait until next time.
Thanks so much for all the great comments, keep them coming, we couldn’t do the show without them!
Make sure to listen to our interview on The James Madison Show from Friday, July 20. The interview can be found a the website if you click the podcast button. Special thanks to James and Frank for having us on.
Don’t forget to order your HPProgs t-shirts! Contact us if you’re interested in a red, white or black limited edition t-shirt.
We decided in the comment thread of the last post that we wanted to put together a thank you book for JK Rowling from the HPPROGS community. Our listener, Michal (who is a “she” by the way), has graciously offered to organize the effort. Please take some time to participate in this endeavor. It has the potential to be an amazing collaboration on all of our parts.
The following is a message from Michal:
As you may have heard, HPProgs is putting together a “Thank You” book for Jo Rowling. Everyone is invited to submit their letters of thanks, praise and reminiscence to the wonderful woman who has given us all so much. Artwork and poetry can also be included if you wish. All entries will be organized in a binder and sent to Jo- hopefully, we may get a response!
Guidelines are as follows:
1)Please email your letters to me (Michal) at inkasrain@yahoo.com
2)Please submit your letters by SEPTEMBER 1st 2007.
3)Please send letters in file attachments- I will try to keep the format you put together. The greater stylistic variety, the better!
4)TRY not to have your letters exceed two printed pages- although I do understand if you go over, it’s Jo after all.
5)Please spell-check and edit your letters carefully. Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, I will print them out as I receive them.
6)Artwork/handwritten letters must be scanned and sent in file attachments. Please make sure that it will be legible and clear after it has been scanned and re-printed. (I am not sure about color printing yet.)
If you have any ideas or suggestion, feel free to email me!
The top bidder in the auction for the seventh handwritten copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard has been announced. It’s Amazon.com! Amazon has always been one of my favorite companies and web sites (I do all my online shopping there, if I can help it), but this makes them even more awesome. Not only are they going to take the book on tour so that everyone can get a chance to see it, they are posting copious amounts of information on their web site. It’s so amazing that Amazon has chosen to share this with so many Potter fans. Thanks Amazon.
