Today Pottermore updated with new content written by JK Rowling about the first Harry Potter book, specifically excerpts from the textbooks in the Hogwarts library. The content from five different library books, listed below, is available in the Pottermore ‘Moments’ pages under chapters 12, 14 and 15.

Jo has written passages from these textbooks that were featured throughout the Harry Potter series:

- “A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration” by Emeric Switch
- “Curses and Counter-Curses” by Vindictus Viridian
- “One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi” by Phyllida Spore
- “The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)” by Miranda Goshawk
- “The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection” by Quentin Trimble

The new text from Jo (that she has been piling up for years) can be discovered over at the Pottermore site.

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If you’ve not managed to find the extra text yet, keep scrolling to get locations…

Sure you want to know?

Okay then!

Curses and Counter-Curses can be found in Chapter 12 by zooming right in and going near to the top of the shelf that’s second from right.

The Standard Book of Spells is in Chapter 14 on the bottom shelf to the right of Ron.

A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration is in Chapter 15 in the second ‘layer’ (i.e. not fully zoomed in or out), on the left-hand side of the second set of shelves, towards the top.

Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection is in Chapter 15 in the third ‘layer’ (i.e. fully zoomed in) at the top on the left-hand side, at the back of the library.

One Thousand Magic Herbs and Fungi is in Chapter 15, sitting on a table at the back of the library (clickable when fully zoomed in).

JK Rowling’s original manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will go on display tomorrow at the British Library, as part of their ‘Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands’ exhibit. Several pages in particular will be shown, of Harry at Platform 9 3/4 ready to catch the Hogwarts Express. The manuscript will be on display until the 25th September and tickets, costing £9 for an adult, can be bought here!

Source: The Telegraph

As you may remember, we told you a while ago that Jo would be receiving the Freedom of the City of London for her services to children’s literature. Today she collected her award at Mansion House; home of the Lord Mayor.

Not many details of the event have been released as of yet, but we know that Jo arrived at Mansion House around 10:30am and spent some time signing for fans before going in to collect her award; she stayed until around 2:30pm. More details and pictures when we get them!

Will you be in London on the 8th May? If you are, you’re in luck- Jo will be too! London’s Lord Mayor David Wootton has nominated Jo to become a Freeman of London, and the ceremony will take place at Mansion House on the 8th. In response to her nomination Jo said:

Both my parents were Londoners.  They met on a train departing from King’s Cross Station in 1964, and while neither of them ever lived in London again, both their daughters headed straight for the capital the moment that they were independent.  To me, London is packed with personal memories, but it has never lost the aura of excitement and mystery that it had during trips to see family as a child. I am prouder than I can say to be given the Freedom of the City, which, on top of all the known benefits (and few people realize this), entitles me to a free pint in The Leaky Cauldron and a ten Galleon voucher to spend in Diagon Alley.

Congratulations to Jo on this new honour to add to her huge list!

Source

J.K. Rowling’s interactive site has finally opened its doors to the general public! Users will be allowed into the site in a “steady stream”, according to the Pottermore Insider.

The Insider announced:

Over the coming days, we’ll be inviting new users onto Pottermore.com. We’re expecting to be really busy to start with and plan to activate new registrations in a steady stream. This means that you may not get access to Pottermore immediately after you sign up but we will get you exploring the site as quickly possible.

After you’ve signed up, you’ll get sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses, have a wand choose you, and discover exclusive new writing from J.K. Rowling.

To sign up, head on over to the Pottermore website. A heads up to those still unregistered – the number of fans currently swarming Pottermore is in huge numbers, so the site may be a bit slow!

It’s all systems go this afternoon as JK Rowling tweeted that her website is back online after being revamped at jkrowling.com. The site promptly crashed, and at the same time her publisher Little, Brown announced that one of the little handwritten notes on Jo’s site, which reads ‘The Casual Vacancy’, is to be the title of The New Book!

So, the need-to-know info: The Casual Vacancy will be released on Thursday 27th September 2012. It will be 480 pages long and has an RRP of £20 (ouch!). The plot centres around a town called Pagford where the death of a man called Barry Fairweather seems to incite a war amongst the residents.

The countdown is on- 168 days until we can get our hands on Jo’s new book! For more information visit Little, Brown’s website here.

As for the website, we have re-confirmation that Jo is working on a physical Harry Potter encyclopaedia, as we reported back in October. There is also a timeline showing important events in Jo’s life and surrounding Harry Potter, as well as news and events. In the background of the website are scribbles handwritten by Jo- some obviously related to Harry Potter, others a bit more mysterious!

We hope you’re all as excited about The Casual Vacancy and Jo’s website as we are!

J.K. Rowling is being featured on a new version of Sir Peter Blake’s famous cover for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The original album featured celebrities of old such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and Bob Dylan, but the new cover has added more modern icons, such as Damien Hirst, David Bowie and our celebrated author.

Jo commented, “Given that I’ve devoted quite a lot of time to gazing at the original Sgt Pepper album cover, you can perhaps imagine what it means to me to be featured.”

Sir Peter Blake stated that, “I’ve chosen people I admire, great people and some who are dear friends… I think that shows how strong Britis culture and its legacy of the last six decades is.”

Although the celebrity pictures are small, it seems that the image used is of Jo at the 2011 British Academy of Film And Television Arts awards, where she wore a python-print Lanvin gown. See the album cover here.

Charlie Redmayne, CEO of Pottermore, has this evening revealed to ‘The Naked Book’ that the Harry Potter eBooks made over £1 million in the first 3 days of their release (27th, 28, 29th March). Redmayne stated that these figures went beyond what was expected for the launch, and indeed go beyond any figures seen for eBooks. Harry’s making history once again! For more details see The Bookseller.

We’re very excited that the BBC has decided to make the archives of their Radio 4 programme ‘The Book Club’ available online, including the episode from Sunday 1st August 1999, with our very own JK Rowling and a group of children. You can download the interview here towards the bottom of the page. We’ve also found this interview, also from 1999, which you might not have heard before.

Happy listening, if you have any thoughts on the interviews let us know!

Pottermore.com has been offline for a week or so for planned maintenance and is now back online… WITH SOUND! Each layer of each picture has sound, some of which are interactive (for example, hovering over the bird in Chapter 1 will make a flapping and cawing noise).

More importantly, The Pottermore Shop has launched, meaning that for the first time Harry Potter eBooks and digital audio books are now available! eBooks start at £4.99 and digital audio books start at £17.99.

Let us know what you think of the Pottermore updates and what else you want to see on there!