J.K. Rowling attended the Literary and Historical Society at University College Dublin earlier today to receive the James Joyce award. At the event JKR read from Deathly Hallows and answered questions.

You can read the Q&A at this report (scroll down for the English version) . Here are some examples: 

• Jo confirms that Snape and Dumbledore’s history were established before the Philosopher Stone was published, but states that she doesn’t think about the movie when she writes (even thought she had a thought for the producers after having written the battle of Hogwarts, realising how much it would cost.
• If Jo was to meet a character, she would definitely pick up Dumbledore (even if she had been tempted by a hug from Hagrid).
• As for the opposition of the Pope to Harry Potter, she confesses that she doesn’t follow the issue. Basically, she is definitely opposed to censorship and sees Harry Potter more as a moral book than a proselyte one.

Thanks HPANA!

The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award nominations for 2008 have been announced and the Harry Potter books have been nominated in the “Favorite Book” category. Other books in the category are:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume One: The Long Way Home
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• How to Eat Fried Worms

Go to http://www.nick.com/kca beginning Monday, March 3rd to vote for your favorites in 18 categories!

The show will air live from Los Angeles on Saturday, March 29th (8-9:30 p.m. ET/PT), with host Jack Black.

The USA Today website has added 3 new articles that include Harry Potter. The first says “Harry Potter, paperbacks are top trends in 2007″. The second is for the Top 100 books of 2007, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the number 1 book!  The final article has a little paragraph about Deathly Hallows that goes as follows:

The weekend of July 21 marked the end of an era. That’s when the seventh and final Harry Potter book went on sale, pulling the other six books in the series high onto the list. Even the Harry Potter Schoolbooks (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Quidditch Through the Ages”) made an appearance on the Top 150 list. Rowling is such a giant force that Potter books accounted for 8% of all sales tracked on the list in 2007. She is the year’s top-selling author, selling nearly three times as many books as No. 2 author James Patterson. Deathly Hallows is the No.1 book of 2007, selling nearly three times as many copies as its nearest competitor, No. 2 The Secret.

Thanks Leaky!

The American Library Association announced their winners for 2007’s top books, videos and audiobooks today. Deathly Hallows was among the books honored.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, produced by Listening Library

Jim Dale masters and maintains voices for all genders, ages, species, and emotions created by author J.K. Rowling in this final Harry Potter adventure.

Thanks Leaky!

USA Today has released their top books of 2007 and like Newsweek, they agree that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was the best book of 2007! SPOILERS BELOW

This year’s choice had to be the final Harry Potter book. The reasons are as varied as the different wizards’ wands found in Diagon Alley. There were the numbers: Hallows sold a record-breaking 11.5 million copies in the USA during its first 10 days on sale in July. Then there was the pre-publication hysteria: Would Harry die? Could the world’s children — and a lot of adults — handle it? Was an early version posted on the Web the real thing? (Yes.) Months after the book’s publication, Rowling triggered controversy by revealing that Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay. The blogosphere went wild. But none of that matters. Hallows is the book of the year because Rowling gave her story an ending that was as graceful, unpredictable and satisfying as the series itself. She reaffirmed that magic can exist when someone opens a great book and enters a world created from words on paper. She made us believe that the imagination — like her own little wizard, now all grown up — still lives.

Amazon.com has released the final plot summary for a story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. This time it is for the story The Tale of the Three Brothers. Which if you read Deathly Hallows, have heard the whole story already. But you can read their summary HERE.

I have also added lots of pictures to that part of the GALLERY.