The Witching Hour: A Harry Potter Symposium

[heiditandy]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2003
 
The Witching Hour to take place in Salem, Massachusetts 
 
SALEM, MA—The Witching Hour, the follow-up to the successful HP 
Education Fanon, Inc. (HPEF) -sponsored Nimbus – 2003: A Harry 
Potter Symposium, will commence on October 6, 2005 in Salem, 
Massachusetts.   

"We chose a place where our attendees could reflect on the recurring 
themes of ambiguity, choice, darkness, and tolerance as expressed in 
the Harry Potter books, "says Amy Tenbrink, one of the three lead 
event planners for The Witching Hour team. "Salem is a progressive 
town that has embraced a controversial past, and has drawn strength 
from it."

Indeed, as J.K. Rowling has said, "I knew [the books] would get 
darker.  The story is about a world that's getting darker."
Programming includes a full slate of academic presentations, panels 
and workshops, as well as Quidditch, music, and a fall festival 
event.  Conference organizers, whose professional lives correspond 
with the roles they are undertaking for The Witching Hour, are 
projecting hundreds of attendees, as well as many additional 
visitors to the related installations and exhibitions around town.

Public Relations Chair Dionne Williford is optimistic about the 
event.  "There was a tremendous amount of interest generated by 
Nimbus – 2003, and we're certain that once people see what an 
outstanding conference we have planned, they'll decide to come learn 
with us, play with us, and stay for a spell."

HPEF is a non-profit organization whose primary mission is to 
provide educational symposia on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels 
for fans, as well as scholars of the novels. HPEF's first event, 
Nimbus – 2003, took place in Orlando, Florida July 17 - 20, 2003; 
six hundred attendees enjoyed presentations by over eighty speakers, 
including Judith Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual 
Freedom at the American Library Association.

For further information, please visit The Witching Hour's yahoogroup 
at www.yahoogroups.com/group/witchinghour or its soon-to-be-up 
website at www.witchinghour.org (mirrored at www.hp2005.org).

This symposium is an unofficial event, and is not endorsed by Warner 
Bros., the Harry Potter book publishers or J.K. Rowling and her 
representatives.