Big Thank You’s to Rev George and James and the other HogPro All-Pros who kept me up to speed on events in the world of Harry Potter while I have been away from the blogosphere this past month. I’m back from wonderful trips to Stronghold Castle and Augustana College in Illinois, Pepperdine University and Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute in California, and beautiful Liberty, Tennessee, for Pascha celebrations with my family.

More on those adventures in the next few days — as well as letters from China — but “first, the news.” After the jump — Emma “spiritual, not religious,” Newt scheduled for three movies, Harry’s time under the stairs coming to West End, Casual Vacancy on teevee real soon, and the Tolkien/Rowling collaboration in China!

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If you’re like me, you’re receiving a lot of email these days from the Wizarding World of Orlando about the new park opening this summer. For those who have missed out, you can see online versions here and here.

Is anyone headed to Platform 9 3/4 this July? Please let us know about the Hogwarts Express as well as the new exhibit. Did either or both enhance or diminish your personal, imaginative experience of the Hogwarts Saga?

Four quick links and notes on a beautiful Friday afternoon here in OKC!

(1) LeakyCon sent out its “insider” email to tens of thousands today to ask those already registered for their big ideas about programming. Read all the details here. This last ‘call for papers’ or other type of presentation has a deadline of 10 March. If you’d like a chance to speak to up to 5,000 members of a kaleidoscope of fandoms, this may be your best shot.

(2) Buzzfeed, one of the most popular time wasters on the internet (which OMG is really saying something, right?), has posted a multiple choice personality test of sorts called ‘What’s Your Patronus?’ At the conclusion of this battery, having discerned your inner essence through the answers given, the site provides you with what form your corporeal Patronus will take once you master Expecto Patronum! Hat tip, James!

The Pope outed and a way to read all of Harry Potter in less than a day after the jump!

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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!

I hope to post a list today of the various fan cons and academic gatherings scheduled for this year and next. Before I do that, though, I thought I’d post this News Release sent me under a professional publicist’s letterhead  for LeakyCon, the monster gathering for Harry Potter fandom not especially wrapped up in the books so much anymore. We’re talking well over five thousand movie fans, Wrock lovers, and everything written or staged that is current. clever, and popular. A smorgasbord, if you will, of what’s hot among the Leaky Elite. Make your reservations early because the best seats are taken promptly!

MORE THAN 5,000 FANS EXPECTED AT SIXTH ANNUAL LEAKYCON FOR ONE OF FANDOM’S LARGEST CELEBRATIONS OF EVERYTHING GEEKY

Fantasy film, television and book convention to be held July 30-August 3 in Orlando

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18, 2014 – If you know how to destroy a horcrux, what to do with a TARDIS and who Sam, Dean and Castiel are, then chances are you are headed to Orlando this summer for the sixth annual LeakyCon, one of the largest and most recognized conventions for fans of fantasy films, television shows and books. LeakyCon will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida July 30-August 3. Tickets are on sale now at www.LeakyCon.com.

Attendees can participate in programming that caters specifically to them and meet a community of like-minded enthusiasts. LeakyCon includes a wide array of special events, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, workshops, live performances, music concerts, celebrity meet-and-greets and a marketplace with a variety of vendors. Attendees will get a chance to meet their favorite authors, take pictures with celebrities from film and television and have 5 days of nerdy fun.

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