JK Rowling, Author of the Harry Potter book series.
Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows, the last book in the popular Harry Potter book series, is due to be released on 21 July 2007, according to JK Rowling, the series' author.
Bloomsbury, her British publisher, said it would publish a children's hardback edition, and also an adult hardback, along with a special gift edition and an audio book on the same day. Scholastic Children's Books, the U.S. publisher, said it would offer a hardback edition at a suggested retail price of $34.99, a deluxe edition at $65.00 and a reinforced library edition at $39.99.
The last book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," sold 2,009,574 copies in Britain on the first day of its release, Bloomsbury said.
The Potter franchise is so important to the company's earnings that it announced the publication to the London Stock Exchange.
Bloomsbury shares were up 2.2 percent to $4.40 after the announcement.
"Not only will this be the biggest selling book, it will also break all records to become the fastest selling book of all time,'' Wayne Winston, a spokesman for U.K. book store chain Waterstone's, said today. The company, which has been taking pre-orders for the book since last year, said it planned to hold "Potter Parties'' and open more than 300 of its stores at midnight on the day the novel is released to sell the book.
Rowling, 41, said last June that two characters die in the final book of the series. "One character got a reprieve but I have to say that two die that I didn't intend to die,'' she said on the U.K.'s "Richard & Judy'' television show.
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Same month as the movie for OotP? Wild ... Early birthday present for my son, that's for sure.
HI:
Apparently she likes to have her books released in the same month she was born. She was born on July 31, 1965.
According to her website, the exact date is July 21, 2007 at 1 minute past midnight.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=97
BTW Ian P., if you didn't already know this, July 31st is not only her birthday, but Harry Potter's birthday too.
My favorite columnist died today and I really needed some good news from the book world to cheer me up. Thanks for that, Hedwig.
Damn, Doctorgoo, I had always hoped that Harry Potter's birthday was on my birthday, July 28th. I never caught when they said an exact date. I just knew it was in late July and had hoped that we shared. Bummer.
Is that 1 minute past midnight GMT, BST or local time?
If it's local time, I'm moving to the Chatham Islands for the summer. I hope they have a bookshop.
Bob
No, no, Kate. It was Beatrix Potter that was born on the 28th of July.