Nick Jeffery, Author at Hogwarts Professor

A New Year and a New Twitter Header
ByNick Jeffery January 3, 2023February 12, 2024
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On Sunday 1st January, @CormStrikeFan who runs the wonderful Strike Fans website tweeted a cheeky request to J. K. Rowling: “Waiting for @jk_rowling to change her Christmas header photo to something Strikey”. Wonderfully and unbelievably she responded the following day!

The new header is a picture of Cromer Pier a location we last saw in the header from 4th March 2022. After a brief visit to King’s Lynne in The Ink Black Heart, it now seems certain that Strike will return to Norfolk in book 7.

The news about Montgomery was so cheering that Strike didn’t much mind his first glimpse of a windmill, or the change in landscape to wide flat fens and marshland. He never went voluntarily into Norfolk and in fact had a slight prejudice against the whole county, because the worst of all the many places to which Strike’s novelty-chasing, peripatetic mother had taken her son and daughter to live had been a Norfolk commune, a place Strike sincerely hoped no longer existed.

The Ink Black Heart Ch. 48

Let me know what you think of the new header in the comments down below.
Beatrice Groves – The Winter Solstice and Beira, Queen of Winter
ByNick Jeffery December 21, 2022February 12, 2024
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We are today (21st December 2022) at the darkest part of the year for the Northern Hemisphere: the winter solstice. The shadows are long and the golden days of Summer seem a long time ago. Now is the perfect time to push your stool a little closer to the fire, and warm your hands on a mug of tea the colour of creosote. Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: The Winter Solstice and Beira, Queen of Winter. Read More “Beatrice Groves – The Winter Solstice and Beira, Queen of Winter”
Rowling’s New Twitter Header – and News of Book 7
ByNick Jeffery December 16, 2022February 12, 2024
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J. K. Rowling has updated her twitter header in the run up to Christmas. This time it is a partial image of a decorated Christmas tree. The last time she did this was in December 2015: All J. K. Rowling’s Twitter Headers.

Christmas trees are important to Rowling, so it is always worth paying close attention to hers, and this time there is an unusual decoration attached.

The decoration is in the form of a suffragette or member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), dressed in the Union colours of purple (for loyalty and dignity), white (for purity) and green (for hope). The colours also have the hidden meaning GWV – Green White Violet – Give Women Votes!

The suffragette colours have also been used by women organised to oppose attempts to reduce or remove protections for women’s sex in UK law, for example the Scottish Feminist Network. The decoration itself can be picked up online from quite a few places, particularly London based museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Hot on the heels of changing her header Rowling revealed that she is about two thirds of the way through writing Book 7 of the Strike series.

Following up this with the revelation last night that this means part six of (presumably) a nine part book.
Beira’s Place – J. K. Rowling’s Latest Project
ByNick Jeffery December 14, 2022February 12, 2024
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On Monday 12th December J. K. Rowling announced the launch of a new project : Beira’s Place, which provides support, advocacy and information for women survivors of sexual violence aged 16 and over in Edinburgh and the Lothians. The launch occurred precisely at 09:00 GMT with a simultaneous tweet from the new twitter account @beirasplace and a re-tweet from Rowling.

In addition to Rowling’s personal charity Volante, Lumos, and the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, we have her latest project: Beira’s Place. Find out more after the jump:

Read More “Beira’s Place – J. K. Rowling’s Latest Project”
Rowling Library Magazine – the Christmas Edition
ByNick Jeffery December 13, 2022December 13, 2022
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Always eagerly anticipated, the latest Rowling Library Magazine has dropped with a special Christmas feature from Beatrice Groves:

The Rowling Library Magazine #72 is out!💫⚡️🎄@ofhorton and @beatricegroves1 wrote about Christmas and Harry Potter + we have forums again + @Fausto_Giurescu's Famous Wizard Card + and more!!

Read it online here 👉 https://t.co/fWC6T6SfR5 pic.twitter.com/svt3cIjK3i

— The Rowling Library (@rowlinglibrary) December 12, 2022

For a wonderful exploration of how Harry Potter, The Christmas Pig and indeed Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women all use Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as story scaffold and Christian message, do check out Beatrice’s Potter’s Progress – The Christmas Pig and Harry’s quest.