By Kaite
You can almost feel it in the air like an incoming rainstorm. An official sequel to the Harry Potter series; an 8th Harry Potter book! Have you already pre-ordered it at a bookstore or placed a request for one of the library’s copies? Where will you be celebrating this momentous occasion? I, for one, plan to 
hit up the Harry Potter Party (hosted by McNally Robinson Booksellers and Prairie Ink Restaurant) at Assiniboine Park on July 30th. Surrounded by like-minded citizens I look forward to browsing the shops of Diagon Alley, exploring the Forbidden Forest and seeing many of Winnipeg’s local performers in action.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2 is a script book which will continue the saga of the wizarding world nineteen years after the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Most of the information we have on this new story is from the official synopsis:
“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”
The story is to be first released as a play one day before the distribution of the book, on July 30th at London’s Palace Theatre. The play is presented in two separate performances, hence the Parts 1 and 2 of the script book.
As if this were not enough, Harry Potter fans also have much else to look forward to. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be the next book to receive illustrations from Jim Kay, who tackled the saga’s first book just last year. The book is due to be released on October 4th, 2016.
I am already excited to head to the theatres on November 18th for the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Set in New York in 1926, this will be a fresh and exciting take on the wizarding world Rowling has created. Furthermore, we can look forward to new, illustrated editions of the “Hogwarts Library” books, which includes Fantastic Beasts as well as The Tales of Beedle the Bard and Quidditch Through the Ages. These books, according to publisher Bloomsbury, will see staggered releases beginning annually from 2017.
You thought I was finished now, didn’t you? Nope! Not yet! In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone next year, the book is set to be released in the UK in four special editions, one for each of the Hogwarts houses. I, personally, am excited to get my hands on a Gryffindor copy.
It makes me happy to think that there is still so much to look forward to, when so often our favourite books end and we are left feeling bereft, and unwilling to get out of bed. Just yesterday I had a room full of Harry Potter-loving tweens causing wonderful mayhem in the children’s department, casting spells at each other and comparing their own Harry Potter knowledge. Part of me was trying to prevent any eyes from being poked out, as they waved their unwieldy wands, but the better part was overjoyed to see that the magic still lives on.
