Harry Potter author richer than the Queen of England

(London) April 28, 2003 - The creator of Harry Potter, author JK Rowling, is even richer than the Queen of England.

According to a survey of Britain's wealthiest people in the Sunday Times newspaper, Rowling's conjured up a fortune of 280 million pounds.

Not bad for the writer that started out as a single mom living on government benefits.

Royal historian Robert Lacey says, "It proves that if you want to be rich, you've really got to work, and although the queen works as a civil servant, that doesn't seem to make her as much money as we all thought."

Rowlings' fortune has quadrupled in the last couple of years.

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April 20, 2003

It has been announced that the fifth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will be released June 21, 2003! Yay! Finally we have a date! I don't know about you, but I'm preordering it!

Summary of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"I say to you all, once again – in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust."

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter's fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort's rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it's all madness and lies – just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add this to a host of other worries for Harry…

A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey

A venomous, disgruntled house-elf Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams …and you'd know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it's even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

In the richest installment yet of J.K. Rowling's seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty, and unbearable sacrifice.

From the Publisher

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling, the fifth in the bestselling series has been scheduled for release on Saturday, June 21, 2003.

"We are thrilled to announce the publication date. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is absolutely superb and will delight all J.K. Rowling's fans. She has written a brilliant and utterly compelling new adventure, which begins with the words:

"The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.... The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four."

Later in the novel, J.K. Rowling writes:

"Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. 'It is time,' he said 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'

-Barbara Marcus, President of Scholastic Children's Books in the United States, and Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing in Britain

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is over 255,000 words compared with over 191,000 words in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The new book is 38 chapters long, one more than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Link to the site we got this from.