Rowling To Publish Hand Written Book
In what must be a dream move for all Harry Potter fans, JK Rowling has announced she has hand written and illustrated a new book called, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
The book is a spin-off from the Harry Potter series of novels, as it contains tales of wizardry that are referred to in the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Only seven copies exist, one of which will be auctioned off for charity at Sotheby’s this December, but with an opening price of approximately £30,000, most Potter fans will be priced out of the game. That is unless they can get their hands on one of the remaining six copies, that are to be given away for free.
Edwin Morgan Up For Another Prize
Scotland’s Poet Laureate, Edwin Morgan, is on the short list to win the T.S. Eliot Prize for poetry, and at 87, becomes the oldest poet ever, to be nominated for the UK’s most prestigious poetry award.
The award which concentrates on poetry collections published over a twelve month period, has included Morgan’s most recent work, A Book of Lives, which explores through verse, exactly what it really means to grow old, living with cancer, and homosexual love – three of the closest topics related to Morgan.
The collection also includes poems to mark specific events in history, such as the opening of the Scottish Parliament, world history from 20 billion B.C. to 2300 A.D., and a set of songs for the rock group Idlewild.
The chairman of the judging panel, Peter Porter, said: “Morgan is one of the most adventurous of poets. A lot of people talk about poetry as though it’s all a matter of feeling. It’s a matter of skill and technical facility and he has enormous technical facility.”
The £15,000 prize and honour will be awarded by T.S. Eliot’s widow, Valerie, at the Wallace Collection in London, on 14th January 2008. It is not known if Morgan, who suffers from prostate cancer and currently resides in a Glasgow nursing home, will be able to attend the ceremony.
Related Links
www.jkrowling.com
www.edwinmorgan.com
~ Colin Galbraith ~
