John David Mann, best selling author of The Go-Giver and co-author of the Chief Finn thrillers, sat down last week to discuss writing fiction from inspiration to publication, the locus of meaning in author and reader, the relationship of music and fiction (JDM is an accomplished cellist and composer), and his favorite writers, to include the […]| Hogwarts Professor
Nick’s Kanreki Retrospective Having just finished the month-long Lake and Shed celebration of J. K. Rowling’s opera omnia, my dominant feeling is one of pride. Recording somewhat over 31 hours of video, mastering (or at least becoming competent) in video editing for the intro and getting to grips with the technicalities of rendering and uploading […]| Hogwarts Professor
The marketing blitz for Hallmarked Man is in full swing. As it should be with only three weeks until its publication.| Hogwarts Professor
Available for Pre-Order Now. The first instalment in HARRY POTTER: The Full-Cast Audio Editions hits Audible on 4th November. The subsequent audio-books 2-7 are to be released between December 2025 – May 2026. The new cast has also been announced, and with some surprises. The young actress who will be playing Hermione in the HBO […]| Hogwarts Professor
Last month, Nick Jeffery and I logged a marathon of Kanreki ‘Lake and Shed’ posts at our Substack site in celebration of Rowling’s life and work at her 60th birthday. Nick has been re-posting links to that work here at the weblog and now I have assembled below an easy-to-access-and-reference single place for readers to find […]| Hogwarts Professor
Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery continue with their Lake and Shed readings into the fourth generation of Rowling scholarship. Join us for our celebration of Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday, and her Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth. For the day before Rowling’s 60th birthday, Nick and John tackle by reader request the never before discussed subject […]| Hogwarts Professor
I am not an “OG TERF” as I am not a “feminist” by any stretch of the imagination. I can, however, offer proof that I have from the beginning of this public controversy involving Rowling about Gender Identity vs Gender Critical stood with those saying sex is real. From my ‘Rowling Returns to Twitter with […]| Hogwarts Professor
Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery continue with their Lake and Shed readings into the fourth generation of Rowling scholarship. Join us for our celebration of Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday, and her Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth. Nick and John return to the books at a reader’s suggestion in order to give a Lake and […]| Hogwarts Professor
Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery continue with their Lake and Shed readings into the fourth generation of Rowling scholarship. Join us for our celebration of Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday, and her Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth. In this first overview of the Golden Threads, Nick and John go back and fourth with four Threads […]| Hogwarts Professor
Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery continue with our Lake and Shed reviews of the twenty-one stories written at least in part by J. K. Rowling. Join us for our celebration of Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday, and her Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth. Nick lays out the drama surrounding the third Fantastic Beasts franchise film and his favorite […]| Hogwarts Professor
Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery continue with our Lake and Shed reviews of the twenty-one stories written at least in part by J. K. Rowling. Join us for our celebration of Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday, and her Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth.| Hogwarts Professor
Here is a Christmas present for all serious readers of J. K. Rowling! | Hogwarts Professor
Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter| www.hogwartsprofessor.com
In a recent post about casting announcements for the upcoming film adaption of Sunrise on the Reaping, we focused on characters who are doubles—younger versions of characters from the other books or other pairs. That theme–twins, doppelgangers, substitutes, imposters, and pairs—is one that resonates throughout the entire novel and which merits a closer look. So let’s peer into this important feature and spend time with some of the many pairs that Collins includes in her powerful exami...| Hogwarts Professor
Starting tomorrow over at the HogwartsProfessor substack, Nick Jeffery and I will begin our Lake and Shed reviews of the twenty-one stories written at least in part by Joanne Rowling Murray, who writes under the pseudonyms of ‘J. K. Rowling’ and ‘Robert Galbraith.’ We have taken on this month long project to celebrate Mrs Murray’s 60th birthday which falls on the last day of the month of July.| Hogwarts Professor
J. K. Rowling cut a very elegant figure on Friday when she attended the fourth day of Royal Ascot, the grandest and most prestigious event in the UK’s racing calendar. Dressed in pale blue with a hat of heroic proportions, she was accompanied by her husband Dr Neil Murray and friends. Despite growing up within walking distance of Chepstow race course, this is the first indication we have from Rowling herself that she has an interest in either horse racing, or indeed horses themselves.| Hogwarts Professor
Last month, we offered a few thoughts on the casting, thus far, for the screen adaptation of the second prequel to the Hunger Games Trilogy. | Hogwarts Professor
Or the Post that Got Nick Cancelled.| Hogwarts Professor
On May 22, 2025, Universal Studios opened its eagerly awaited Epic Universe park in Orlando, a new attraction guaranteed to dazzle and amaze! While the existing park areas already have Harry Potter sections, the new Wizarding World at Epic Universe is its own dedicated trip into the universe of the Wizarding World. The tentpole attraction, for now, anyway, is the Battle of the Ministry, an adventure involving Dolores Umbridge’s escape on the day of her trial and her attempt, via Time-Turner...| Hogwarts Professor
After the huge box office successes of the five films based on the Hunger Games novels by Suzanne Collins, it should come as no surprise that the Hollywood Gamemakers are already champing at the bit for their chance to bring Sunrise on the Reaping to the big screen. A release date for the film, in November of 2026, is already set, and, with the novel only out for a little over a month, casting rumors are beginning to coalesce into actual contracts. We now have actors in place for three char...| Hogwarts Professor
On the 21st January J. K. Rowling changed her Twitter header to give us another clue about the upcoming Strike instalment The Running Grave. 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: Round Tower Churches and Rowling’s New Twitter Header. Join Prof Groves as she delves into the history and myth of the distinctive Round Tower Churches of East Anglia, and that of Aylme...| Hogwarts Professor
As the last days of what seemed like an interminable January faded, speculation about the next instalment of Robert Galbreath’s Strike-Ellacott series was given a welcome boost as J. K. Rowing posted a new header on her X homepage. Strike sleuths were quick to identify the Art Deco façade of Freemason’s Hall in London, which is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England, the governing body for Freemasonry in England.| Hogwarts Professor