Nominations for the First Annual Woke Men Awards
The most important night for fragile male egos is nearly upon us.
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Posts Tagged: JK Rowling
The Most Depressing Harry Potter Fan Theory
The only thing creepier than a spot-on Harry Potter fan theory is a spot-on Harry Potter fan theory that is … not exactly unconfirmed by J.K. Rowling herself. Harry Potter is a novel series with quite a few depressing moments to get readers all up in their feelings, so it’s certainly something when a fan theory […]
...moreJust Kidding
Heads up, Harry Potter fans: the staff over at VICE confirm that J.K. Rowling will be coming out with three more short stories about Hogwarts. The stories will provide background to some of the secondary characters in the Harry Potter series: Power, Politics, and Pesky Poltergeists centers on Voldemort’s ties with Professor Horace Slughorn at Hogwarts; […]
...moreFranchise Exploitation
Harry Potter fans are celebrating the release of J.K Rowling’s newest work, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth installment in the Harry Potter series. However, unlike the other novels in the series, Cursed Child is the script of a play, written primarily by playwright Jack Thorne with the help of Rowling: It’s hard […]
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Publishing Industry’s Diversity Limits Revealed
JK Rowling has published rejection letters she received writing under the name Robert Galbraith. Rowling has racked up book sales worth billions for the Harry Potter series, but set out to see if she could sell a novel without Potter’s help. She posted the rejections for “inspiration,” but as Jenny Pierson at Alternet points out, the […]
...moreLess Is Pottermore
Since the Harry Potter series ended, the Potter universe has continued to expand with tie-in books and lore published on the website Pottermore. However, Rowling’s magic-based historical revisionism was challenged this week by Native American activists responding to her latest post. Titled “The History of Magic in North America,” the post provides an explanation for […]
...moreLemon-Drizzled Cakes Bring J.K. Rowling to Your Book Club
There are no shortages of serendipitous tales of celebrities meeting up with their average-Joe fans through something as small as a Twitter exchange. For one library in Scotland, an exchange of teasing Twitter messages led to J.K. Rowling making an actual appearance for a book club covering her book The Cuckoo’s Calling (written under the […]
...moreBlack Hermione Fine with Rowling
A black actress—Noma Dumezweni—has been cast to play the adult Hermione in the upcoming stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and author J.K. Rowling applauded the choice. Some fans were upset or confused about the choice to go from Emma Watson’s white Hermione to an adult Hermione of color, but Rowling pointed out […]
...moreStar Words
Ryan Britt provides a list of non-Star Wars books for Star Wars fans to read. The list includes books by authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J.K. Rowling, and Carrie Fisher. Check these books out either before you see the new Star Wars movie, as preparation, or after.
...moreVoldemort vs. Trump
J.K. Rowling has recently found herself defending her Harry Potter series’ character Voldemort against comparisons to Donald Trump. At Electric Literature, however, Julia Tolo points out the similarities between the two: As Harry Potter fans know, Voldemort’s motis operandi was hinged on deep-set racism and his desire to purify wizard-kind. Voldemort casually murdered and tortured people, […]
...morePaying the Bills
Electric Literature has an infographic of day jobs (originally posted on Adzuna) that both paid the bills and inspired writers to create some of their best work. The professions range from teacher (Stephen King, J.K. Rowling) to insurance officer (Kafka) to coffeehouse/jazz bar owner (Murakami).
...moreAnother Gryffindor Is Sorted
Harry Potter’s son James has been sorted into Gryffindor, J.K. Rowling revealed on Tuesday afternoon. Rowling also took to Twitter to wish the Potter child a happy first day at Hogwarts, the school for wizards featured prominently in her novels.
...moreWhat’s in a Name?
Back in the day, many writers adopted a pen name to “tell the truth without fear.” For some contemporary writers (e.g. J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith or the enigmatic Elena Ferrante), writing under a pseudonym is still liberating. But are pseudonyms going out of style? The Guardian investigates recent trends.
...moreNo Excuses
Because…the Internet exists! Because is this really the first time in your two (or, heaven forbid, three) literate decades on this planet that it’s occurred to you to seek out brain padding by AN ENTIRE HALF of the population? Alanna Okun explains why she doesn’t bother with guys who don’t read books by women (and […]
...moreDan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
(Dan Weiss is out on tour with his band The Yellow Dress. He’ll be back on August 3rd.) In the best news ever for someone yet to be determined, J.K. Rowling has announced an open casting call for her Harry Potter spin-off. The Boy Scouts of America have (finally) unanimously approved a resolution allowing gay adults to […]
...moreHarry Potter Headed to the Stage
J.K. Rowling announced on Twitter that she is writing a new play to tell portions of Harry’s stories that the books skipped over. The new stage show include Harry’s parents, Lily and James Potter, but Rowling stressed it is not a prequel. The show will open in London in 2016.
...moreCheck Your Magic
Muggle-born students of Hogwarts are an underprivileged class, while magic-born students enjoy unquantified privilege, argues Sarah Seltzer over at Flavorwire. Rowling creates a world where privilege and power are coupled together, just as wealth and race have allowed certain classes greater access to power in the real world: Rowling isn’t arguing that a wand is […]
...moreA Magical Bibliography
A new bibliography cataloguing the various editions of Harry Potter publications will help readers identify which edition of the books they own. The collection will also reveal secrets of JK Rowling’s edits, reports the Guardian. The 544-page book took Sotheby’s director Philip Errington five years to compile and includes such facts as alternative titles like Harry […]
...moreThe Games Writers Play
The Guardian looks at the different games writers play to take their minds off of their work, including chess, poker, and Minecraft.
...moreBuilding Hagrid’s Hut
Killiechassie House, the £1.9 million Scottish estate author J.K. Rowling calls home, will gain a new addition: a circular stone hut similar to the hut that Hagrid resides in at Hogwarts. The summer cottage recently received approval from the local council, on the condition that no tree was harmed in its construction, reports the Independent.
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