As many of you already know, LeakyCon was July 13-18 in Orlando, FL. I worked on the academic programming committee (paper presentations, panels, workshops, lectures, etc.) as well as presenting my own paper and participating in a panel.
That week was life-changing.
Now, I don't mean to say that I've decided to quit my day job and join a wizard rock band or anything. When I say "life-changing," I mean I had a paradigm shift. But first, let me tell you guys exactly what LeakyCon was.
LeakyCon 2011 was the largest Harry Potter convention EVER, with 3,400 attendees all packed into the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios Orlando. It opened with Lit Day on July 13, an entire day dedicated to panels and speeches by young adult authors, agents, publishers, and editors. The day celebrated the genre of which Harry Potter is such an examplar, and focused on energizing new writers. Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray, John Green, Stephanie Perkins, Robin Wasserman, and their agents participated in panels on getting books written and published. There was also the obligatory--and hilarious-- "Let's Talk About Vampires" panel. Other programming included "How Books Saved My Sanity," "Mining your Life for your Fiction," "I was a Teenage Author," and "Books, the Basics."
The high point of the day--for me, at least-- was Arthur Levine's keynote address. Levine is the man responsible for bringing Harry Potter to America; he met with Rowling in Bologna, made an insanely high bid for the books, and then thrust marketing behind them to introduce the American muggles to this magical world. I will be forever grateful to him for that. His keynote theme was hunger, comparing Rowling's hunger as a welfare mom to Harry's malnourishment under the hands of the Dursleys, and our own hunger as readers.
The opening ceremonies followed Levine's keynote, and keeping with the theme of the con (attending school at Hogwarts) was presented as a video yearbook.
Along with programming, which I'll get to in a minute, LeakyCon also included some special events: an exclusive night at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with free butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and dinner, an early screening of Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the Citiwalk IMAX, a wizard ball, Quidditch, guest appearaces by Ivanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson), and the young stars who play the children in DH2, and--a highlight for me-- a morning with Team Starkid. Check out the LeakyCon Tumblr for pics.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Team Starkid, they are a group of performers who met in 2009 at University of Michigan and put on a parody musical of the Harry Potter series. They've followed that up with several other parodies, and Darren Criss, who played Harry Potter in the shows, is now on Glee. Here's some video from my seat, a bit shaky from me laughing (you can also watch the original parody in its entirety on YouTube-- viewer discretion advised):
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was very fun, but I wish it hadn't been the middle of the night so I could have better seen the details of the park. My favorite ride was Harry's Forbidden Journey, though Jessi and I also enjoyed the big rollercoaster TWICE with no waiting. Gotta love private parties.
I was fortunate enough to participate in a panel discussion on the film adaptation process and resulting changes in Rowling's story. The panel was well-attended (standing room only!), and I think we brought up some interesting ideas. I also presented a paper: Harry and Hermione-- Good Friends in the Books, Better Friends in the movies. Video on both of these presentations will follow in another post.
And, of course, seeing Deathly Hallows Part 2 in a theater with some of the actors and with fellow fans was magical in its own right. There was MUCH sobbing and cheering-- not just by me-- and there was a palpable depression from that moment on that seemed to darken as LeakyCon came to a close. After all, this was the end of an era, the end of our childhoods. Yes, we have Pottermore-- thank goodness!-- but the story has been told, now. It's out in the world, and we've all lived it. Harry Potter was part of my life through high school, the September 11th attacks and subsequent wars, and going away to college. I wrote my Master's thesis on the series, which means I lived and breathed it for a year, memorizing passages, analyzing structure, archetypes, and the genius of Rowling. The series was my introduction to young adult literature, a genre I had completely skipped over during my actual young adult years. I now write young adult literature.
Books like the Harry Potter series have been my Patronus in this world of Dementors. I cannot imagine my life without The Boy Who Lived. Someone recently said to me, "I liked the books and the films, but I don't understand the obsession." For me, it doesn't feel like an obsession (though it may very well be). I'm one of those people who laughs out loud, cries, and spins into emotional highs and lows while reading ANY book. For me, Harry Potter was real, in a sense. The lessons I've learned about friendship, finding one's purpose, defeating one's darkest tendencies, and learning to love were REAL. I know there's no such place as Hogwarts, and I know Voldemort doesn't exist. But I also know that learning IS magical, evil DOES exist, we WILL see our departed loved ones again, and that even girls with unmanageable hair and a fervent love of To Do lists CAN change the world.
To people who say "It's just a book," I will quote Albus Dumbledore:
Of course it's happening in your head... But why on earth should that mean that it isn't real?
That week was life-changing.
Now, I don't mean to say that I've decided to quit my day job and join a wizard rock band or anything. When I say "life-changing," I mean I had a paradigm shift. But first, let me tell you guys exactly what LeakyCon was.
LeakyCon 2011 was the largest Harry Potter convention EVER, with 3,400 attendees all packed into the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios Orlando. It opened with Lit Day on July 13, an entire day dedicated to panels and speeches by young adult authors, agents, publishers, and editors. The day celebrated the genre of which Harry Potter is such an examplar, and focused on energizing new writers. Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray, John Green, Stephanie Perkins, Robin Wasserman, and their agents participated in panels on getting books written and published. There was also the obligatory--and hilarious-- "Let's Talk About Vampires" panel. Other programming included "How Books Saved My Sanity," "Mining your Life for your Fiction," "I was a Teenage Author," and "Books, the Basics."
The high point of the day--for me, at least-- was Arthur Levine's keynote address. Levine is the man responsible for bringing Harry Potter to America; he met with Rowling in Bologna, made an insanely high bid for the books, and then thrust marketing behind them to introduce the American muggles to this magical world. I will be forever grateful to him for that. His keynote theme was hunger, comparing Rowling's hunger as a welfare mom to Harry's malnourishment under the hands of the Dursleys, and our own hunger as readers.
The opening ceremonies followed Levine's keynote, and keeping with the theme of the con (attending school at Hogwarts) was presented as a video yearbook.
Along with programming, which I'll get to in a minute, LeakyCon also included some special events: an exclusive night at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with free butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and dinner, an early screening of Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the Citiwalk IMAX, a wizard ball, Quidditch, guest appearaces by Ivanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson), and the young stars who play the children in DH2, and--a highlight for me-- a morning with Team Starkid. Check out the LeakyCon Tumblr for pics.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Team Starkid, they are a group of performers who met in 2009 at University of Michigan and put on a parody musical of the Harry Potter series. They've followed that up with several other parodies, and Darren Criss, who played Harry Potter in the shows, is now on Glee. Here's some video from my seat, a bit shaky from me laughing (you can also watch the original parody in its entirety on YouTube-- viewer discretion advised):
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was very fun, but I wish it hadn't been the middle of the night so I could have better seen the details of the park. My favorite ride was Harry's Forbidden Journey, though Jessi and I also enjoyed the big rollercoaster TWICE with no waiting. Gotta love private parties.
I was fortunate enough to participate in a panel discussion on the film adaptation process and resulting changes in Rowling's story. The panel was well-attended (standing room only!), and I think we brought up some interesting ideas. I also presented a paper: Harry and Hermione-- Good Friends in the Books, Better Friends in the movies. Video on both of these presentations will follow in another post.
And, of course, seeing Deathly Hallows Part 2 in a theater with some of the actors and with fellow fans was magical in its own right. There was MUCH sobbing and cheering-- not just by me-- and there was a palpable depression from that moment on that seemed to darken as LeakyCon came to a close. After all, this was the end of an era, the end of our childhoods. Yes, we have Pottermore-- thank goodness!-- but the story has been told, now. It's out in the world, and we've all lived it. Harry Potter was part of my life through high school, the September 11th attacks and subsequent wars, and going away to college. I wrote my Master's thesis on the series, which means I lived and breathed it for a year, memorizing passages, analyzing structure, archetypes, and the genius of Rowling. The series was my introduction to young adult literature, a genre I had completely skipped over during my actual young adult years. I now write young adult literature.
Books like the Harry Potter series have been my Patronus in this world of Dementors. I cannot imagine my life without The Boy Who Lived. Someone recently said to me, "I liked the books and the films, but I don't understand the obsession." For me, it doesn't feel like an obsession (though it may very well be). I'm one of those people who laughs out loud, cries, and spins into emotional highs and lows while reading ANY book. For me, Harry Potter was real, in a sense. The lessons I've learned about friendship, finding one's purpose, defeating one's darkest tendencies, and learning to love were REAL. I know there's no such place as Hogwarts, and I know Voldemort doesn't exist. But I also know that learning IS magical, evil DOES exist, we WILL see our departed loved ones again, and that even girls with unmanageable hair and a fervent love of To Do lists CAN change the world.
To people who say "It's just a book," I will quote Albus Dumbledore:
Of course it's happening in your head... But why on earth should that mean that it isn't real?
4 comments:
This was beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. I wish I had been there.
Hugs!
Yay for new posts!
Here, here!
Thanks for sharing - it sounds like it was a lot of fun. I recently posted about the Blackwell Series book Harry Potter and Philosphy and thought it was kind of fun to look at some of the topics from the books in more depth. But it's a bummer that it's really all over now. :-(
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