Harry Potter in News

A set of stamps commissioned by Royal Mail, featuring the British children's covers of the seven books

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter, together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his friends from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The central story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world and subjugate non-magical (Muggle) people to his rule. Several successful derivative films, video games and other themed merchandise have been based upon the series.

Since the 1997 release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.[1] As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages,[2][3] and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.

English-language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic Press in the United States, Allen & Unwin in Australia, and Raincoast Books in Canada. Thus far, the first five books have been made into a series of motion pictures by Warner Bros. The sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is scheduled for release on 17 July 2009. The series also originated much tie-in merchandise, making the Harry Potter brand worth £7 billion (US$15 billion).

The novels revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that he is a wizard.[4] Wizard ability is inborn, but children are sent to wizarding school to learn the magical skills necessary to succeed in the wizarding world.[5] Harry is invited to attend the boarding school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life, and most of the events take place at Hogwarts.[6] As he struggles through adolescence, Harry learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional hurdles.[7]

Flashbacks throughout the series reveal that when Harry was a baby, he witnessed his parents' murder by Lord Voldemort, a fascist Dark wizard obsessed with racial purity.[8] For reasons not immediately revealed, Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry rebounds.[8] Voldemort is seemingly killed and Harry survives with only a lightning-shaped mark on his forehead as a memento of the attack.[8] As its inadvertent saviour from Voldemort's reign of terror, Harry becomes a living legend in the wizard world. At the orders of his patron, the wizard Albus Dumbledore, Harry is placed in the home of his Muggle (non-wizard) relatives, who keep him completely ignorant of his true heritage.[8]

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