Bloomsbury launches Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with
JK Rowling reading from her new book at Edinburgh Castle on
the stroke of midnight.
Before
midnight on Friday evening, JK Rowling will arrive at the Esplanade
outside Edinburgh Castle to be greeted by 2,000 Edinburgh schoolchildren
and their families. Street performers, torch bearers, jugglers
and entertainers will complete the carnival atmosphere outside
the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle’s medieval façade.
Onto the castle, will be projected a giant image of the Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book jacket. ITV’s presenter,
Stephen Mulhern will be hosting a live 30 minute programme entitled
“HARRY POTTER AT THE CASTLE: MAGIC AT MIDNIGHT” (11.45pm-12.10am,
Friday 15th July) which will be broadcast live onto a screen
(9 metres wide x 7 metres high) on the Esplanade.
Immediately after midnight, at 00.01am on Saturday 16th July
J K Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle. Her audience will be
seventy children who will have travelled to the Edinburgh Castle
Esplanade by horse-drawn carriages and have exclusive access
inside Edinburgh Castle. These aspiring cub reporters (aged
8-16) have won media competitions to attend the Harry Potter
Children’s Press Conference Weekend on behalf of selected
English-language newspapers and broadcasters from around the
world. The cub reporters will meet JK Rowling who will give
them each a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
They will then have the weekend to read the book before attending
the Children’s Press Conference on Sunday 17th July to
question J K Rowling in person. ITV’s ultimate Harry Potter
fan, Owen Jones, 14 (from Cardiff) will also have the exclusive
UK interview with JK Rowling which will be broadcast on a 30-minute
ITV programme entitled: “HARRY POTTER AT THE CASTLE: THE
J K ROWLING INTERVIEW” at 5.30pm, Sunday 17th July.
For more details visit the Bloomsbloomsbury
web site.
Visit the WCN Harry Potter
information pages and message board.
