J.K. Rowling Launches Next Harry Potter at Edinburgh Castle  5/14/05

J. K. Rowling Launches Next Harry Potter at Edinburgh Castle with Lucky Group of Canadian "Cub Reporters"

Raincoast Books and Bloomsbury PLC announced today that J. K. Rowling will be launching her long-awaited new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle on July 16th and that a select group of lucky young Canadians will be on hand to participate in the historic event. Go to http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter for contest details.

(PRWEB) May 14, 2005 -- Raincoast Books and Bloomsbury PLC announced today that J. K. Rowling will be launching her long-awaited new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle on July 16th and that a select group of lucky young Canadians will be on hand to participate in the historic event.

On the stroke of midnight on the eve of publication on Saturday 16th July, J. K. Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the latest installment in the Harry Potter book adventure in the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle. Images of J. K. Rowling reading from the new work at 00.01 am on Saturday 16th July will be available for print and broadcast media worldwide simultaneously by satellite.

Her audience of seventy aspiring cub reporters (aged 8-16) will attend the Harry Potter Children’s Press Conference Weekend on behalf of newspapers, and other organizations from around the world. The cub reporters will meet J. K. Rowling who will give them each a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There will be a photographer at the midnight event who will take a photograph of each child with J. K. Rowling as she gives them their book. These pictures will be available to all newspapers (national and international) via satellite that night. The cub reporters will then have the weekend to read the book in a specially created Reading Room at Edinburgh Castle before attending the Children’s Press Conference on Sunday 17th July to question J. K. Rowling about the new book.

Young Canadians (aged 8-16) will have ample opportunity to enter to win one of the coveted spots in Scotland in the weeks to come.

Raincoast Books will launch an online contest June 1st in partnership with independent bookstores and other retailers across Canada to select a Canadian cub reporter who, along with a guardian or parent, will travel to Edinburgh for the ultimate Harry Potter fan’s dream holiday.

The grand prize includes return economy air fare for two from the nearest international airport to the winner’s home, 4 nights accommodation, airport and hotel transfers, and 2 passes to the Harry Potter Launch Weekend event (approx. value $5000 Cdn.)

The online contest begins June 1st and will close on June 16th (Contest Period) and the winner will be announced on June 21st (the second anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Although no purchase will be necessary, entrants will need a special Harry Potter password to enter, obtainable on (a) special postcards that will be available without charge at participating independent bookstores and other retailers, and (b) online at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter.

All valid entries submitted between June 1st and June 16th at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter will be entered to win, including residents of Quebec.

Harry Potter Contest posters and password postcards will be shipped to independent bookstores and other retailers across Canada by the end of May to launch the online contest.

Visit your local bookstore on June 1st and then go online to enter to win! The selected entrant will be required to correctly answer a mathematical skill testing question in order to win. The odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Contest Period.

Indigo Books and Music and The Globe and Mail will be running separate but coordinated national competitions to select two other cub reporters and guardians/parents who will travel to Edinburgh Castle, Scotland in July. A select group of newspapers and other organizations from around the world will also run competitions starting May 14th and running through July 1st to select their cub reporter.