Don't judge a book by its cover - this episode is about how looks can be deceiving in Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. We're joined by Eizabeth Baird Hardy (Mayland Community College) to discuss her chapter in The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond, "Muggle Worthy: Deceptive Exteriors and Outsized Interiors in the Wizarding World." There is an implicit lesson in the wizarding world - one understood by magical children but that needs to be learned by newcomers like Harry - not to trust...

In the spirit of the spooky season, this episode is all about spirits and specters in the wizarding world. Emily and Katy, who recently published a new article titled "Harry Potter and Historical Witness: The Pensieve and the Time-Turner," are joined by Louise Freeman, fresh off our two-part episode on memory, and David Martin, member of the winning Hufflepuff team on Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses and author of Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches and Other Thoughts About...

The journey to the past continues as we delve deeper into the magic of memory in Harry Potter. In the second part of our conversation with Louise Freeman, we continue discussing the ethics of Memory Charms and move on to the memories stored in wizarding portraits and Horcruxes. Magical portraits can carry some of the memories of their subjects, allowing viewers to converse with them after their deaths. New developments in artificial intelligence purport to offer something similar. How...

Explore how memory operates in magical ways in Harry Potter that might be quite unlike the Muggle understanding of memory. Regular contributor Louise Freeman is professor emerita of psychology at Mary Baldwin University and a licensed behavior analyst and service provider for special needs individuals. She considers the implications of being able to store and share memories in a Pensieve. While the basic premise seems somewhat similar to the psychological process of encoding, storing, and...

What makes a monster, and how do we relate to them, especially when they produce works of art we love? There are plenty of monsters in the wizarding world, but the author has also been charged with being monstrous herself following her comments on transgender people. Katy and Emily talk to Lorrie Kim, author of Snape: The Definitive Analysis of Hogwarts's Mysterious Potions Master and host of the podcast Harry Potter After 2020, about Claire Dederer's book Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma, which...

Venture to the ancient past to explore Harry Potter and the Aeneid as foundational texts. Dr. Mitchell Parks (Knox College) joins us to discuss intertextuality and Harry Potter’s dialogue with classical works like Virgil’s Aeneid. In his chapter in The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond, he examines what it means for a text to be “foundational” in various ways – as a work of literature, on a personal level, for identity groups, as a political foundation. While the Aeneid can tell us...

Get a preview of the latest Harry Potter academic anthology, featuring a diverse array of essays on the series. We're joined by Dr. Lana Whited (Ferrum College), editor of The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter (University of Missouri Press, 2002), one of the first anthologies focused on the series, and now the second volume, The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond (University of Missouri Press, 2024). Quite a bit of Potter scholarship is contained in anthologies devoted entirely to the series,...

Get swept away by the cinematic sounds of the Wizarding World. We're joined by musicologist Dr. Daniel White (University of Huddersfield), who has a new book about the music of two major fantasy franchises, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. He talks about the musical foundation laid by John Williams in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and how subsequent composers built off his work both within the Harry Potter series and continuing into the Fantastic Beasts films. Dan applies music...

In the last of our episodes featuring contributors to our book, Potterversity: Essays Exploring the World of Harry Potter, take a look at two very different teachers: Albus Dumbledore and Dolores Umbridge. Our guests are Dr. M'Balia Thomas (University of Kansas) and Dr. Brent Satterly (Widener University), whose chapters focus on Hogwarts professors. Both found ways to connect with students through Harry Potter and saw examples of what to do and what not to do as a teacher by looking at the...

Hop on a tour of the UK this summer to see Harry Potter and more beloved works of fantasy come to life. On this episode, sponsored by History Bites Tours, Katy and Emily speak with History Bites founder Solomon Schmidt about the literary-inspired tour of England and Scotland he'll be leading in July. Solomon is the author of eight books in his History Bites series and host of the History Bites YouTube channel. In addition to his interest in history, he incorporates his love of fantasy...

We're in for a bit of fun as we look at games in the wizarding world and using games to bring the wizarding world to the classroom. Katy and Emily are joined by two more contributors to our book, Potterversity: Essays Exploring the World of Harry Potter. Laurie Beckoff, our producer, and Tison Pugh, Pegasus Professor of English at the University of Central Florida and author of Harry Potter and Beyond, both wrote chapters about games, with Laurie looking inside the series and back at...

On this episode, two more contributors to our book talk about their chapters on equality, inclusion, and compassion. Travis Prinzi and Mark-Anthony Lewis join Katy and Emily to discuss how the wizarding world serves as a lens through which to understand the social ethics of our own world, particularly amid racial tensions and diversity. Travis's chapter, "The Problem with Loving Enemies: Kindness and Oppression in 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,'" and Mark-Anthony's chapter, "Uncle Remus's...

Featuring more of our book contributors, this episode is about various members of Harry's found family. Katy, technical director Emma Nicholson, and Louise Freeman (Mary Baldwin University) discuss their chapters focused on character analysis: "Arthur Weasley and the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts," "Padfoot Revelio! The Life and Love of Sirius Black," and "The Weasley Witches: From Snitches to Stitches to 'Not-My-Daughter-You-Bitches'" (possibly the best title in the volume). Emma was drawn to...

The next topic from our book up for discussion is old magic steeped in myth and tradition. Katy talks with co-host and co-editor Emily Strand and contributor Lana Whited (Ferrum College) about their chapters "The Real Magic of Christmas in Harry Potter" and "Here Be Dragons and Phoenixes: A Thematic Direction for the Fantastic Beasts Series." Emily looks at the theological roots of magic and Christmas as a time for darkness turning to light - and thus an appropriate season for Harry to have...

We're starting off the companion episodes to our new book with the dark side of Harry Potter. Dr. Beatrice Groves (Oxford University and Bathilda's Notebook) and Dr. Amy Strugis (Lenoir-Rhyne University and Signum University) join us to discuss their chapters "Good Men and Monsters: The Influence of Bram Stoker's Dracula on Harry Potter" and "Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia." They talk about what drew them to the more disturbing and Gothic aspects of the...

Venture to infinity and beyond for a look at astronomy in the wizarding world. We're joined by Jane Bright, a PhD candidate in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Astronomy is the one subject wizards and Muggles seem to have in common. Why is it important enough to be a required subject at Hogwarts, and how is it different from the astrology that is part of Divination? Jane has some theories regarding the historical split between disciplines and the usefulness of...

On this episode, we dish about this year’s Harry Potter Academic Conference and preview our new book, Potterversity: Essays Exploring the World of Harry Potter (McFarland). Katy and Emily welcome Potterversity producer Laurie Beckoff and technical editor Emma Nicholson, as well as Louise Freeman, Mark-Anthony Lewis, and Lana Whited to talk about HPACs past and present. This year’s virtual conference allowed people from all over the world to come together, and we included the comments of...

In honor of Banned Books Week, this episode explores the causes and effects of book banning in the Muggle and wizarding worlds. Harry Potter is one of the most challenged works of the 21st century, frequently appearing on the American Library Association's list documenting book bans around the country. It has long been accused of inspiring interest in the occult and encouraging children to literally perform magic but has also been criticized for featuring characters who break rules, as...

Harry Potter may not technically be considered a work of horror, but there are plenty of horrifying aspects to explore in this episode. Katy and Emily speak with Dr. Jeff Ambrose about the scariest parts of the series and the lasting effects horrific events have on characters (and readers and viewers). The series has its fair share of monsters, torture, murder, and soul-sucking, with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire bringing in such terrors as Death Eaters, Unforgivable Curses, and a...

Join us for a special episode recorded live from LeakyCon Chicago! Katy, Emily, and producer Laurie give LeakyCon attendees an overview of the current state of Potter studies, including areas of interest, such as social justice, responses to the author and how authorship does or does not affect our reading, and where we see the field going. We also provide a preview of our upcoming companion book, available later this year from McFarland, and consider the symbiotic relationship between...

Return with us to the realm of refreshment in the wizarding world! Following up on Episode 29, Katy and Emily continue our conversation about the food foundations of Harry’s magical universe, joined by guests Louise Freeman and Emma Nicholson. Australian Emma shares her different interpretation of wizarding foods based on her cultural heritage, including her expectations about butterbeer (why so sweet, America?). We ponder whether wizard butterbeer might have alcoholic content and consider...

Explore connections between the works of Jane Austen and Harry Potter. Katy and Emily compare Austen's novels to the Potter series with Dr. Beatrice Groves (Trinity College, Oxford University), author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter and columnist at Bathilda's Notebook. Bea first noticed a connection when she realized that Filch's cat shared a name with Mrs. Norris from Mansfield Park, and the similarities only continue from there. The hero serves as a focalizing point for the...

Unpack mental health in the wizarding world and how Harry Potter can serve as bibliotherapy for readers. For insight into these topics, Katy and Emily talk to Nishi Ravi, a psychotherapist pursuing a PhD in Counseling Psychology at Marquette University. She recalls how reading Harry Potter as a preteen and teenager made her feel seen at a formative age - a common experience for many young readers. Who deals well with trauma in the wizarding world, and who struggles? Although there is no...

Fresh off of May the 4th, Emily and Katy talk about their love of and academic interest in Harry Potter alongside another fandom they hold dear: Star Wars. Emily came to Star Wars relatively recently, after the birth of her son and a class at Signum University taught by Amy Sturgis, but Harry Potter was a gateway for her into speculative fiction and imaginative literature. Falling into fandom can be like learning a language - it becomes easier to understand others in the same group once...