Shameless self-promotion and a public service to those who have asked about my speaking dates this year:
I will be speaking about The Hunger Games at Pepperdine University on 10 April, if you’re near Malibu, and then at Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute (THI) the following Monday on either ‘Ring Composition and the Narniad’ or ‘Nominalist Art: Film and Faith.’ That’s in addition to my Deathly Hallows talks at Augustana College’s Harry Potter retreat at Stronghold Castle and a Hunger Games lecture to the Quad City’s general public at Augustana’s beautiful campus in Rock Island, Illinois, on 31 March. I’ll be part of an Advent Retreat the first week in December at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church outside the District of Columbia to lead some discussions of reading and entertainment within the life in Christ. And there’s talk of my getting to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, after Pascha. If you want me to speak to your group, library, church, or school while on one of these trips to LA, Illinois, DC, and Carolina, let me know via owl to OKC or an email to john at HogwartsProfessor dot com.
Back to the promised Bulletin Board piece on Serious Reader gatherings:
I’m also hoping to get to the three Serious Reader conferences this year and next, both to give some talks and to meet up with old friends. None of these three are ‘super-sized,’ all things for all people attached-to-a-theme park. yes, there’s some serious Cos-Play and fandom events, in addition to the cutting edge discussion of the artistry and meaning of the world’s favorite books, conversations formal and informal around the clock. They’re relatively small gatherings, consequently, hundreds rather than thousands of participants, and intentionally so in order to facilitate the fun to be had at its best.
These big three are Chute 212, a “literary & create-play conference that brings witches and wizards together for ‘A Celebration of Magical Memories‘ ” in Santa Clara, California, 2-6 July 2014, The Harry Potter Conference for the very serious reader at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia on 17 October 2014 (in conjunction with the Harry Potter Festival and Brotherly Love Quidditch Tournament held in Chestnut Hill that weekend), and MISTI Con’s ‘Wizarding World’s Fair’ in wonderfully out-of-the-way Laconia, New Hampshire, 21-25 May 2015. I’ll be writing about each of these gatherings at length as the dates draw nearer; this is just a heads up with Bulletin Board hyper-links, provided with the hope that HogPro All-Pros on the coasts and from fly-over country can meet up there to catch up and pick up where we left off at last meeting.
And, yes, I’m working on a Heart of the Country Potter gathering for those of us in the heartland. Stay tuned!
Hello, I live in Los Angeles and would love to attend the Hunger Games lecture at Pepperdine on April 10th. Will this be open to the public and would you let me know where to find out more details? Thank you.