MuggleNet celebrates Harry Potter Book Night!

by · February 6, 2015

We were very excited when Bloomsbury UK announced the first ever Harry Potter Book Night toward the end of last year. Since we learned about the event, we’ve all been planning how to celebrate our favorite boy wizard and where the magic all started, with bookstores and libraries across the UK – and the world – putting on events on February 5.

MuggleNet was lucky enough to be invited by Bloomsbury to celebrate the night with them at the Waterstone’s Piccadilly event, and two UK MuggleNet staff members went along to the event to test the audience’s Harry Potter knowledge – and in return attempt to answer some trivia questions from the audience.

Of course, there were plenty of other rather special guests present, and with a sold out audience of 200, there was a buzz of anticipation in the air. With the whole event being hosted by author Damian Kelleher (Life, Interrupted, Amazing Animals), the night kicked off with some readings from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone from Fleur.

This was followed by a presentation by Alex from Pottermore, who spoke about the site and some of her favorite discoveries so far, including where the other platforms at King’s Cross lead and Professor Umbridge’s secrets.

Next up was Jonny Duddle, illustrator of the newly republished editions of the Harry Potter novels. Jonny spoke to the audience about the creation of the covers, how he had to cram reading all seven books into a very short time, and how his screen became covered in Post-it notes so that he didn’t forget anything important in his illustrations – including Harry’s scar. Jonny also showed the audience some of his original sketches – plus all of the photographs he took of family members and friends’ hands so that he could get them just right! 

If you’re interested in learning more about how Jonny created the book covers, you can see some fantastic animated images of the process here. 

And then it was our turn to test the audience and for the audience in turn to test us back.

There was just one more important thing to do – and that was to pick some favorite costumes from the audience members and hand out some prizes to the lucky winners. The evening was finished off with a signing from Jonny, and fans lined up for over an hour to make sure they got their books signed.

It was a fantastic night, and we’re already looking forward to next year. Thanks to Bloomsbury UK and Waterstones Piccadilly for putting on such a great event and inviting us along to join in. It was wonderful to celebrate the magic of the books and where it all began. We had a great night, and we hope you all did, too, whether you were at the Waterstone’s Piccadilly event or elsewhere!

Did you go to a Harry Potter Book Night event? Or did you run your own event? Let us know how you celebrated in the comments below!

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