The Making of the Potterverse (26 page)

Academics from all over the world were expected to gather in Britain between July 29 and 31 to participate in the first Harry
Potter Conference. Noted the
BBC
, “Professors and academics are involved in the event at Reading University, looking at topics such as the social issues of the wizarding community. Lighthearted events include a mock trial of potions master Severus Snape and a Hogwarts-style banquet. But those aged under 18 are not able to take part, despite the fact J.K. Rowling’s books are aimed at children. Seminar topics being discussed around the books include mythic symbols, alchemy and religious identity.”

Half-Blood Prince
arrived in bookstores with a dire warning that carried serious consequences if the boxes were opened early. (Jim Sugar/Corbis)

Fourteen people in Britain were convicted of using fake names to obtain millions in government funds. Among the fake names used was Harry Potter.

ABC
announced that
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
would
be airing on May 7. An extra treat for fans would be behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the forthcoming
Goblet of Fire
.

IMAX
and Warner Brothers announced that
Goblet of Fire
would be issued in the large-screen format in addition to regular format.

Speaking to
USA Today,
Daniel Radcliffe confirmed he would be returning as Harry Potter in
Order of the Phoenix
, and he also admitted that he had not gone back to watch his younger self in the earlier Potter films. “I kind of contemplated watching the first, then I decided I sort of valued my sanity a little too much. I think it would be far too strange and I would be self-conscious about what I do now.”

The
BBC
reported that at 12:01 a.m. on July 16, a global media competition would allow 70 people to attend a reading from
Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling at Edinburgh Castle. Offered the
BBC
, “The lucky children will travel up the Scottish capital’s historical Royal Mile in horse-drawn carriages to the Castle Esplanade for the event, which will be broadcast live worldwide on
TV
and radio. The youngsters, who must be aged from 8 to 16, will return to the oak-beamed Great Hall of the castle later on the Saturday for a Hogwarts-style banquet. On the Sunday, the winners will then have the opportunity to be cub reporters and question Rowling, in what the author has promised will be the book’s only news conference.”

About two months before the publication of
Half-Blood Prince
, speculation was running high that Professor Dumbledore would perish in the book.

Potterinsanemania —
All things Harry were obviously getting out of hand, with a reporter from Britain’s
Sun
being shot at by someone who tried selling him an illegal copy of the
Half-Blood Prince
novel for nearly $100,000, and somehow J.K. Rowling’s lawyers got a court injunction designed to stop
anyone
with advanced knowledge of the new novel from saying anything publicly about it. Nice to have clout like that!

Emerson Sparts who runs the Web site www.mugglenet.com and Melissa Anelli of www.the-leaky-cauldron.org were awakened by phonecalls from J.K. Rowling inviting both of them to come “across the pond” to interview her. A rare opportunity indeed. “When the phone rang at 8 a.m.,” Anelli related to the
Times
, “I must have said, ‘Oh my God!’ forty-eight times.”

The success of Harry Potter in print and on the big screen inspired a tourism boom for fans wanting to check out real-life locations that relate to Harry.

Tie-in merchandise for the publication debut of
Half-Blood Prince
was cut down considerably as the expected boom of sales did not happen when
Order of the Phoenix
was published.

Amazon.com preorders for
Half-Blood Prince
were expected to top 1.3 million copies.

Oregon’s Natalie Jacobsen, age 15, spent a year writing her own 804-page Harry Potter novel with the hopes of showing it to J.K. Rowling. “I really love the books,” said Jacobsen, “and I want to be an author when I’m older. I went to the London premiere of the last Harry Potter film to try to meet J.K. Rowling, but it didn’t happen. So now I’ve come to Edinburgh and I really want to show her my book.”

Nigel Newton of Bloomsbury said that since Harry Potter had been turned down by every other publisher, the character owes at least part of his success to Nigel’s daughter, to whom he had given a sample of Rowling’s manuscript. “She came down from her room an hour later glowing,” Newton told the
New Zealand Herald
, “saying, ‘Dad, this is so much better than anything else.’ She nagged and nagged me in the following months, wanting to see what came next.”
Everyone
knows the answer to that one.

Bloomsbury announced that Braille editions of
Half-Blood Prince
would be available at the same time as regular publication. This was a first for the series.

Harry fans were encouraged to purchase copies of
Order of the Phoenix
from Canadian sellers, the book being printed there on recycled paper.

As J.K. Rowling was getting ready to celebrate her 40th birthday on July 31, it was reported that despite her great success, she had not really changed as a person. Pointed out Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine, “It’s a testament to her character, more than anything else, that she’s remained true to herself. She has managed to maintain her perspective. I think that takes a great deal of effort.”

British teenager Owen Jones, 14, won the chance to be the only person to interview J.K. Rowling on UK television. In that eventual interview, Rowling offered her thoughts on ending the series of novels. “I am dreading it in some ways,” she admitted. “I do love writing the books and it is going to be a shock, a profound shock to me. Even though I have known it is coming for the past fifteen years, I have known that the series would end, I think it will still be a shock.”

When a Canadian bookseller sold copies of
Order of the Phoenix
ahead of time, a judge ruled that the buyers could not say anything about it. One additional copy was inadvertently sold in America.

In a letter written several years ago, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, expressed his opinion that Harry Potter was decidedly anti-Catholic.

On the verge of
Half-Blood Prince
’s publication,
USA Today
reported that nearly 2,000 bookstores in the U.S. were planning Harry Potter parties in which kids could dress up like Harry, make wands and place temporary lightning tattoos on their foreheads.

In its first 24 hours on sale,
Half-Blood Prince
sold 6.9 million copies.

Reviewed Molly Griffin of the
Observer
, “The penultimate book in J.K. Rowling’s massively popular series deals brilliantly with the difficult task of setting up the final tale of the boy wizard’s adventures. While not necessarily the best book of the series, it effectively brings together many of the multiple plot strings that arose in earlier volumes and pushes them forward for the final novel, which is no easy task. This book reveals the care and attention to detail with which Rowling planned the Potter series from the beginning.”

An aspiring Harry Potter holds a copy of
Half-Blood Prince
in a bookstore in Calcutta. (Pival Adhikary/epa/Corbis)