educating alice

It had to happen sometime — and, lo, an era has ended. After a 10-year run, and less than a year after the seventh and final book in J. K. Rowling’s series was published, the Harry Potter books have fallen — as of the May 11 issue of the Book Review, which went to press last night — off The Times’s best-seller list.

Ten Years Later, Harry Potter Vanishes From the Best-Seller List - Paper Cuts - Books - New York Times Blog

Just came back from watching a game of Quidditch between Middlebury and Columbia Colleges here in NYC. Lots of college kids running around with brooms between their legs while one in bright yellow (the Snitch evidently) ran all about chased by, what else?, two Seekers. According to this news release:

In 2005, students at Middlebury created earth-bound rules for the famous sport depicted in the Harry Potter novels. Since then it has grown into a major phenomenon at the college, with more than 400 students playing in the Middlebury league. The club created a Facebook page called the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association to spread the word and standardize the rules. It now has nearly 65 member colleges from across the country.

Looked like a mixture of tag, rugby, dodge ball, and a few other of the rougher sports. I got a kick out of those very athletic kids always keeping the brooms between their legs (one of the rules) and that lanky bright yellow Snitch dashing about. Here’s a USA Today article about the burgeoning sport and a Middlebury student documentary about it:

I have always known about the Hugo Awards, but not how they were selected.  Interesting!

Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the ballot for the 2008 Hugo Awards. Nominations were made by the members of last year’s World Science Fiction Convention, held in Yokohama, and this year’s, to be held in Denver. Members of the 2008 convention will have until July 1, 2008, to vote on this ballot. Winners will be announced and trophies awarded at Denvention’s Hugo Awards Ceremony on Saturday, August 9.

The voting will be conducted by mail and online. The online ballot will be available at the Denvention 3 web site in the near future. You do not have to attend the convention to vote. A Supporting Membership ($50) is sufficient to secure you voting rights. Memberships can be purchased here.

(The members also created the shortlist by way of nominations.)

And then there are the categories, like none I’ve seen before. Children’s material shows up on several short lists:

Best Related Book

• The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer; appendix by David Bratman (Kent State University Press)
• Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium by Barry Malzberg (Baen)
• Emshwiller: Infinity x Two by Luis Ortiz, intro. by Carol Emshwiller, fwd. by Alex Eisenstien (Nonstop)
• Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
• The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Enchanted Written by Bill Kelly Directed by Kevin Lima (Walt Disney Pictures)
• The Golden Compass Written by Chris Weitz Based on the novel by Philip Pullman Directed by Chris Weitz (New Line Cinema)
• Heroes, Season 1 Created by Tim Kring (NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions Written by Tim Kring, Jeff Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Natalie Chaidez, Jesse Alexander, Adam Armus, Aron Eli Coleite, Joe Pokaski, Christopher Zatta, Chuck Kim. Directed by David Semel, Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Ernest R. Dickerson, Paul Shapiro, Donna Deitch, Paul A. Edwards, John Badham, Terrence O’Hara, Jeannot Szwarc, Roxann Dawson, Kevin Bray, Adam Kane
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Written by Michael Goldenberg Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling Directed by David Yates (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• Stardust Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures)

Best Professional Artist

• Bob Eggleton
• Phil Foglio
• John Harris
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Picacio
• Shaun Tan

Here’s a very thorough article by John Crace on the court case involving the publication (or not) of The Harry Potter Lexicon:  Harry Potter: the last battle | News | guardian.co.uk Books.

Says Rowling in Time Magazine: “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.”

Missed this one back in July:

Harry Potter: The Complete Obituaries — Vulture — Entertainment & Culture Blog — New York Magazine

“This is the most important book in the history of literature,” wrote one man wearing a robe with moons and stars on it, who was clearly unable to conceal his enthusiasm for flying horses and magic dust. “I hope Lord Voldemort loses!”

Nation In Frenzy About Little Wizard Boy And All His Little Wizard Friends | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source

Here’s Jim Dale reading at the Union Square Barnes & Noble Book Seven release party this past July.

I was very fortunate today to be invited by Scholastic to attend J. K. Rowling’s morning reading at Carnegie Hall. 1600 school kids were there, 40 kids from 40 schools. They were justifiably excited and so was I!

Rowling read the chapter in the final book where Harry said good-bye to the Dursleys. It was just very cool to hear her read live, her very own words. She’s a very good reader!

After that she answered a bunch of questions from kids. They were all excellent and sadly I didn’t take notes so you will have to rely on others for the details. One friend, GraceAnne DeCandido did take excellent notes and sent an excellent overview to the Leaky Cauldron. (In the second part of this post.) I’m sure there will be many more reports before long.

It was a thrilled to be there. I’m saving my golden ticket!

Sprechen Sie Potter? How Harry is spreading the English language | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Books