JMU grad students plan Harry Potter symposium

Two first-year graduates at James Madison University will host a scholarly Harry Potter conference from Nov. 10 to Nov. 12.

Matt May of Hampton and Stephen Jones of Yorktown have put together "Replacing Wands with Quills: A Harry Potter
Symposium for Muggle Scholars." The event invites faculty, fans and students to explore the more academic benefits of the book series. John Granger, whom Time Magazine called the dean of Harry Potter scholars, will give the keynote address on Nov. 11.

"Harry Potter was unlike any book series that I had ever read before," May said in a press release. "The main characters were kids who were my age and it also included magic, which was something that I had never read about in books before, and that intrigued me."

Jones will be part of a panel that is taking advantage of Skype to broadcast the symposium to countries like Scotland and Pakistan.

For more information, visit http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general11782.shtml.

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