“Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 1: “Reading, Writing, Rowling… Roanoke!”

MuggleNet presents its newest podcast, Reading, Writing, Rowling: Imagination and Fiction in the Age of Harry Potter.

Episode One: “Reading, Writing, Rowling . . . Roanoke! Top 20 Harry Potter Moments”

Join Katy McDaniel and John Granger (dean of Harry Potter scholars) for the debut of a new MuggleNet podcast focused on the scholarship of J.K. Rowling’s literary works, featuring the most prominent researchers and the most inspirational ideas in the field of Potter studies today.

Our first episode was recorded at CoLab in Roanoke, Virginia, at the May 2017 Roanoke Harry Potter Fest and celebrates 20 years of Harry Potter. Listen to a stellar crew of Hogwarts professors discuss their favorite moments in the Harry Potter series, inspired by Bloomsbury Publishing’s recent reader poll. Guests Louise Freeman, Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Emily Strand, and Lana Whited identify the best moments featuring the trio friendship, surprises and narrative misdirection, wizard magic, Snape, texts-within-the-text, and those inspirational messages that make the Harry Potter series profound and emotionally resonant to readers worldwide.

Hear us discuss the Weasley twins’ escape from Hogwarts, Harry’s Patronus, the bonds created by defeating a mountain troll, Dobby: A Free Elf, Tom Riddle’s chance for redemption, Neville’s transformation, Dumbledore’s Army at the Ministry of Magic, unexpected Animagi, the Prophecy and the Pensieve, “Always,” and Dumbledore’s wisdom – among many other moments that made the series meaningful and life-changing for us. A fun and far-reaching conversation among Harry Potter experts. Did we discuss your favorite moment? Listen and let us know!