Accio 2005 Guest speaker Announcement

[Ali]

Accio UK is delighted to announce Steve Vander Ark and Elizabeth Kay 
as two of its guest speakers for its Accio 2005 conference being 
held in Reading, UK.

Steve Vander Ark

Steve is the creator and editor of the Harry Potter 
Lexicon website(http://www.hp-lexicon.org), a comprehensive 
reference tool on the Potterverse extensively used by fans and even 
J K Rowling herself as she proved when she bestowed upon Steve's 
site one of her fandom awards. Steve is from Grand Rapids, Michigan 
(U.S.A.), where he works as a School Librarian. He is also director 
of his local community theatre as well as a freelance writer and 
columnist.

Elizabeth Kay

Elizabeth Kay (http://www.elizabeth-kay.co.uk/)  is a poet, writer 
and teacher of Art and Creative Writing.  She lives in Surrey.  The 
Divide, her debut novel for children, was published to enthusiastic 
reviews and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide, in countries as 
far afield as Japan, Finland, the USA and Canada.   The sequel, Back 
to the Divide, was published in August '04 and is showing every sign 
of being even more successful than the first book.  Elizabeth's 
publisher is Barry Cunningham of The Chicken House - known as the 
man who set up Bloomsbury's  children's list and signed the original 
Harry Potter contract with J K Rowling.  Elizabeth Kay was one of 
the first new writers he signed for The Chicken House.

Accio 2005 is the first conference of its kind in the UK. To be held 
at Reading University from July 29th-31st 2005, it is an unofficial, 
non-profit making, friendly event that will bring together academics 
and adult Harry Potter fans to discuss all aspects of J.K. Rowling's 
Harry Potter series. Planned events include presentations, panels, 
speeches, games, a feast, and informal discussions into the small 
hours. All meals are also included in the registration fees.

It is recommended that you book prior to 31st October 2004 to take 
advantage of our early bird discount. An instalment plan is 
available.

For further information please see our website: 
http://www.accio.org.uk. Details of how to register can be found 
here: http://www.accio.org.uk/registration.shtml

Al Hewison
Accio 2005 Chair


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