| << Newer | Older >> |
 An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in the British capital. Waterstone's Booksellers Ltd. says the cream-colored A5 papers — each slightly bigger than a postcard — were distributed to 13 authors and illustrators, including the boy wizard's creator J.K. Rowling, Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing, novelist Margaret Atwood and playwright Tom Stoppard. Rowling used both sides of her card to hand-write a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga, while Lessing penned a story about the power of reading. Stoppard wrote a short mystery and Atwood was due to fill out her card remotely using a robotic arm controlled by computer linkup. Other cards were completed by children's author Michael Rosen, illustrator Axel Scheffler, graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, Lauren Child, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks and Nick Hornby, who plastered his card with a collage. The cards will go on sale at the "What's Your Story?" auction at Waterstone's flagship store in central London on June 10. The proceeds are to go to English PEN, the writers' association, and the British charity Dyslexia Action. Copies of the cards will be collated into a book to be made available at the bookstore and online in August. Organizers refused to comment on the content of Rowling's Harry Potter prequel, but Hogwarts fans hoping for another book to add to their collection may be disappointed by her signoff. "From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!" Rowling wrote. Rowling has previously said she had no plans to write another Potter novel, but in December she sold a handwritten, leather-bound book of fairy tales she described as drawing on the series' themes, for nearly $4 million at auction. The money went to The Children's Voice, a charity Rowling co-founded in 2005
Related StoriesHarry-Potter-in-Telugu  The hugely successful Harry Potter series of films are being lapped up in India as well. Keeping in mind the huge potential, the producers dubbing the film in regional languages too. The fourth in the series – Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix’ has been dubbed into Telugu and is hitting the screens in the state today. more Harry-Potter-is-only-safe-behind-bars!  Such is the craze for the Harry Potter novels that a charity has locked up copies signed by Rowling at a police station to ensure their safety. A charity has been forced to put a full set of seven Harry Potter novels signed by J K Rowling into police custody after the bank in town revealed that it was not insured to look after the books. The set is now whiling away its time locked up at the next safest place in town - the Huntly police station in Aberdeenshire. The books will be more ‘Harry-Potter-and-the-Half-Blood-Prince’-to-go-3-D-in-parts  Harry Potter fans are in for more excitement, as few sections of the latest Harry Potter instalment, ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’, are being shot in 3D for IMAX audiences. Twenty-five minutes of the flick will be given the 3D treatment including the opening and the closing sequence. The audience will be alerted to each 3D part of the flick, which stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Michael Gambon, with a symbol on the screen like a wand, reports The Sun. more They-don’t-like-‘Hari-Puttar’-in-India  No, not Harry Potter – he’s still a star. But in India it’s been thumbs down everywhere for Hari Puttar, according to a piece in Sunday’s Guardian. Bollywood blockbuster “Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors” opened in 200 cinemas across India on Friday, despite an attempt by Warner Brothers‘ legal team to persuade Indian courts to block it, claiming that it infringed intellectual property rights and “unfairly sought to confuse consumers and benefit from the well-known and well-loved Harry Potter brand” creat more Can-Shyamalan-play-Quidditch-  M Night Shyamalan isn't done just yet. Despite all the critic flak following his latest release Lady In The Water, Shyamalan is still an A-list director -- and potentially the man helming a future Harry Potter production. While Lady made a disappointing $25 million in its first week in the US, the film certainly isn't a flop. It cost nearly $60 million, half the budget of most major studio releases. Once overseas and DVD revenues are added in, the film is likely to make a small profit. A flop or two more Hari-Puttar-wins-Harry-Potter-suit  Move over Harry Potter. Make way for Hari Puttar. "Hari Puttar" is set to hit cinema screens this week after an Indian court rejected a Warner Bros. lawsuit claiming the name was too close to its Harry Potter series. The court said in its ruling Monday that people who have watched the Harry Potter movies and read the books would know the difference between that and an Indian Punjabi film called "Hari Puttar — A Comedy of Terrors." The producers, Mirchi Movies, said the Puttar movie b more Im-not-scared-of-nude-scenes  Daniel Radcliffe is preparing to bare all in the final film of the Harry Potter franchise and insists he isn't scared about stripping off on screen. The 19-year-old was required to disrobe on stage when he starred in the dramatic play Equus in London's West End last year, a role he'll soon reprise on Broadway. And he insists the experience has given him the confidence to appear naked in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which starts filming next year. He says, “At first more Harry-Potter:-Hollywood-takes-on-Bollywood-with-lawsuit-against-Hari-Puttar  A Bollywood children's film, Hari Puttar, has been forced to postpone its premiere after the Hollywood studio behind the Harry Potter blockbusters took the Indian producers to court over the film's title. Warner Brothers claims the Bollywood film sounds too similar to the teenage wizard and has refused the Indian studio's offer of putting a disclaimer in the title sequence. The Harry Potter films have grossed $4.5bn (£2.5bn) since 2001. Hari Puttar was due to open last Friday but more Actor-of-next-Harry-Porter-movie-stabbed-to-death  A budding teenage actor, set to appear in the next Harry Potter movie, was stabbed to death in a brawl outside a bar in London, police said. 18-year-old Rob Knox, who was killed in the early hours on Saturday, was a member of the same rugby club as Jimmy Mizen, murdered in a bakery in Lee in southeast London two weeks ago, they said. The drama student died in an attack in Sidcup, Kent, and was officially pronounced dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. In the ne more Lonely,-I’m-so-lonely...  Emma Watson aka Hermione can’t get herself a date Going from child star to teenager on the big screen doesn't, it seems, guarantee a charmed life with the opposite sex. Harry Potter actress Emma Watson has revealed that despite her success, she has difficulty finding a boyfriend. Sixteen-year-old Emma, who plays Hermione Granger in the hit films, told The Sun: “People say to me, ‘Oh it must be so easy for you — dating and boys. They must be lining up for you”. “It’s really not easy. It’s really not. I suppose gu more |
