Article on a new website by J K Rowling, extending the Harry Potter world.
Level: Intermediate +
Contributed by: Sean Banville - find Sean's websites at: www.freeeslmaterials.com
Reading, listening and discussion activities, together with printable class handouts, and online quizzes for the article below are available from www.breakingnewsenglish.com
J K Rowling announces Harry Potter site
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has unveiled the latest addition to her hugely successful fictional phenomenon - a website called Pottermore.com. The new site will be officially online from October 2011, but people who sign up for it now have the chance of a sneak preview before then. The official online announcement reads: “Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books.” The site will include a considerable amount of unpublished material about Harry Potter, that Ms Rowling had to leave out of her books to keep the word count down. The author says there will be a lot of new info on the characters’ backgrounds and on wizardly locations.
J.K. Rowling says she is starting Pottermore to thank her fans. "I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation,” she said. There is currently no official Harry Potter website, although there are hugely popular sites run by fans, such as mugglenet.com and the-leaky-cauldron.org, as well as the Warner Brothers movie site. Pottermore will allow fans to interact with Rowling and create new content together. She said: "I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have." She added that fans, “will be able to enjoy a safe, unique online reading experience built around the books”.
