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Harry Potter magic comes alive as new book hits stores today

Post-series life
Last Updated 30 July 2016, 20:48 IST

After nearly a decade, magic is in the air again with ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ set to release on Sunday. Potterheads in the city can pull out their dusty hats and wands because Bengaluru has plans to revisit the Wizarding World.

The Harry Potter series by British author J K Rowling was believed to have been concluded after the seventh book was released in 2007. It is making a comeback now with the upcoming release, which is actually the script of a two-part play co-authored by Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, on the Potter family’s life after the series ended.

Lightroom Bookstore in Cooke Town is celebrating the launch with a Harry Potter-themed party on Sunday. Maegan Sippy, who works at the store, said, “Guests will be dressed up as characters from the book and we will sort them into different houses — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. They will compete with each other in a quiz and a game of Pictionary on the same theme.” Instead of the ordinary ‘muggle’ food, fans will be served butterbeer, pumpkin pastries and other iconic dishes from the Potter Universe.

To mark Rowling’s 51st birthday and the release of ‘Cursed Child’, Atta Galatta is hosting a reading of the book by Deesh Mariwala, a well-known storyteller and theatre person. Participants can also ask him to read their favourite passages from any of the previous seven books. Mariwala has been on the Potter journey before, doing the launch reading for the past three books.

“I am very curious to see the response of fans because it has been nearly 10 years since the last book and most people who grew up with the series are now in their 30s. It will be fun to see this older crowd come for the reading dressed up in costumes.”

For those who have grown up reading the series, Harry Potter is more than just a book. Taking his fascination for the series a step further, Sabarish Suresh took an elective course ‘Harry Potter and the Power of Imagination’ in law college.

Interested in the perspectives the story offered, he wrote a paper interpreting Harry’s life on the basis of Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism.

Excited about the new book, Sabarish said, “There has been a lot of fan fiction written about what must have happened in Harry and the other characters’ lives after the seventh book. Now, we will finally know how the author herself imagined it.”

The release is scheduled for 11 am on Sunday but most bookstores have already received pre-orders. Sapna Book House has received 600 pre-orders at its 13 branches. Blossom bookstore on Church Street has received about 150 pre-orders and is expecting 600 copies to be sold on Sunday. It is pricing the book at Rs 600, while the actual cost is Rs 899.

Bookworm bookstore will also sell the book at a discounted price of Rs 670 and has received about 30 pre-orders.

“For the seventh book, we had people crowding near the bookstore at 4 am.

But because this book is in the format of a play unlike the novels, I am not expecting the same level of excitement or sales,” said Krishna, who runs Bookworm.

Interestingly, books in the Harry Potter series have always been transported with tight security.

“The publisher transports the books in trucks accompanied by guards to ensure that the book is not leaked before the official release.

Only the Harry Potter books get this level of security because of the huge fan following,” he added.

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(Published 30 July 2016, 20:48 IST)

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