J.K Rowling wrote an excerpt for The Birthday Book, which commemorates the Prince of Wales’ 60th birthday; the proceeds from which will benefit the The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts.  You can go here or click More to read part of the excerpt!

Thanks The Leaky Cauldron!

Peter Pettigrew has made The Guardian‘s list of top-ten best fake deaths in literature.

In the third part of the Potter roman-fleuve, Peter Pettigrew pretends that Sirius Black has killed him, cutting off one of his own fingers to make it seem that the rest of him has been blasted to atoms. For 12 years he adopts the guise of Ron Weasley’s pet rat, Scabbers. But the severed digit gives him away.

Read the full list, HERE.
Thanks HPANA!

The Times reports that Deathly Hallows has been nominated for an Independent Bookseller Award, in the UK. It is nominated in the Best Children’s Book category. The winner, voted on by the public, will be announced on Friday, October 31.

Click here to vote!!!

The Guardian reports that J.K. Rowling will host a tea party for the release of Tales of Beedle the Bard on December 4th. The event will be held at the National Library of Scotland Attendees will be selected through a random ballot of ten schools, it will be run by the Edinburgh Evening News and will open on November 5th.

Scholastic will also hold an essay contest for children aged 8-17 and legal residents of the US.  Full details can be found here. Five winners will be chosen.
 
Thanks SS!

Scholastic has updated its official Harry Potter site  with a new section, “Quick Quotes Quill,”.  It has a bunch of Q&A’s with key members of Scholastic’s Harry Potter team.

Did you get to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before it came out? Was it hard not being able to talk about Harry Potter secrets with friends and family?

David Saylor: I was one of the few people that was allowed to read the book before it came out, because I was working closely with Mary GrandPré and Arthur Levine on concepts for the cover and chapter opening illustrations, so I had to read the book. It was hard not being able to talk about it, but I was really glad I could share thoughts with Arthur and Mary. It was like a little club. One thing I did learn from my years of working on Harry is that I’m great at keeping secrets!

Click the link above for all the full interviews! Thanks HPANA!

J.K. Rowling has donated an autographed set of all seven Harry Potter books to benefit and support research on the disease Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP). The book set will be auctioned on eBay from Sunday, November 30th, at 8:00pm, to Sunday, December 7th.

Thanks Harry Potter’s Page!