Potterversity: A Potter Studies Podcast

Katy and her co-host Emily Strand discuss these fan favorites with guests Katherine Sas  (University of Pennsylvania) and Robb McDaniel (Middle Tennessee State University). We take a deep dive into the characterization and group dynamics of Harry’s father’s generation. Are they really “marauders”? Are they bullies? Why did things go so badly for their friendship in the past and what role does this...

We pull apart the latest Cormoran Strike novel on this episode of Reading, Writing, Rowling . Katy and John dissect J.K. Rowling’s most recent crime novel Lethal White with guests Beatrice Groves and Louise Freeman. In a lively, detailed, and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about predictions we got right (like Louise’s accurate guess about the London Olympics), how the relationships in the book...

Reading, Writing, Rowling: Imagination and Fiction in the Age of Harry Potter Episode 17: Harry Potter Festivals Which Must Not Be Named Host: Katy McDaniel Guests: Emily Strand, Louise Freeman, Amy Sturgis, Lana Whited, Christen Church Have you recently attended an unnamed magic festival filled with Harry Potter wonders? In this episode we come to you from Roanoke, Virginia's Generic Magic Festiv...

Harry Potter Is The Perfect Mystery! Discover the detective-rings of Harry Potter on this month’s episode. Especially since J.K. Rowling has now transitioned to writing detective crime fiction, in hindsight we can find elements of that genre in the Harry Potter series. 

Join us for an all-out Quidditch-palooza! Do you skip over the Quidditch scenes in the Harry Potter novels? Katy and Guest Expert Emily Strand talk with author and wizard activist Caitlin Elizabeth Harper about the meaning of Quidditch—the sport from Queerditch Marsh—for the Harry Potter series.

Catch up on the latest Cormoran Strike analysis before the release of the fourth novel in the series September 18! With guests Dr. Karen Kebarle and Dr. Louise Freeman, Katy and John examine the connections between the Harry Potter series and the first three Cormoran Strike novels.

Are you a "Harry Potter" pilgrim? If you’ve journeyed to Platform 9 ¾, to a coffee shop in which J.K. Rowling wrote parts of the series, or to sites used in the Harry Potter films and experienced the sacred or transcendence along the way, you may be a Harry Potter pilgrim. Guests Caroline Toy and Beatrice Groves join the hosts to in discussing the practice of Harry Potter fan travel to sites of im...

Fan Worlds Are Colliding! "Star Wars" fan and "Harry Potter" scholar Emily Strand (Instructor in Comparative Religions at Mount Carmel College of Nursing) joins Katy and John to talk about the connections between these two popular series.

Whether or not you think it’s canon, seeing the play The Cursed Child offers a unique Harry Potter experience. Readers of the script were often disappointed, but those who attend the play rave about it. Are you curious about how Harry Potter aficionados respond to seeing the play?

What happens when a student-journalist meets a famous author? Ten years ago, journalism student Adeel Amini spontaneously asked J.K. Rowling for an interview for the University of Edinburgh newspaper. Having spotted her in a coffee shop in 2008, he successfully landed the interview and produced a unique character study of our favorite author in the wake of Book 7’s publication.

Readers love the Harry Potter series, but is it a classic? Hosts Katy and John discuss Harry Potter’s relationship to the Academy and the importance of readers with special guest Dr. Cecilia Konchar Farr, author of The Ulysses Delusion and editor of A Writer of Their Age.

In this episode, Katy and John talk with Associate Professor of Literature Dr. Beth Sutton-Ramspeck (The Ohio State University in Lima) about Rowling's "literary housekeeping" in the "Harry Potter" series. Bringing her knowledge of Victorian literature to her analysis of "Harry Potter," Sutton-Ramspeck explores the complex array of attitudes toward filth, innovation, artistry, and the unforgivable...

Come along with cohosts Katy and John, along with special guest Brett Kendall to explore the structure and meaning of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film.

Where can Harry Potter scholars and fans meet and share ideas, and where can fans be scholars and scholars be fans? The Harry Potter Conference at Chestnut Hill College, in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.

Discover new information about J.K. Rowling’s writing process, her intentions with the Harry Potter story, and her commentary on other fantasy writers in Episode 5.

In this episode, Katy, John, and their guest Dr. Amy H. Sturgis discuss J.K. Rowling’s work as it relates to Native American culture and Indigenous writing.

Have you ever wondered about the power relationships in the wizarding world? In our third episode, John Granger and Katy McDaniel talk with Dr. Tracy Bealer (Assistant Professor of English at Borough of Manhattan Community College) about oppression and subversion in the Harry Potter series.

Professor Beatrice Groves discusses references to other literary works in Rowling's "Harry Potter" series.

Join Katy McDaniel and John Granger (Dean of Harry Potter Scholars) for the debut of a new MuggleNet podcast focused on the scholarship of J.K. Rowling’s literary works, featuring the most prominent researchers and the most inspirational ideas in the field of Potter Studies today.