Rowling drives secrecy surrounding Potter
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The latest Potter book hits bookstores June 21.
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CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on the tight security surrounding the new Harry Potter novel
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(CNN) -- "Voices," a regular feature of CNN.com, compiles comments on major news issues.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth installment in a seven-book series about the conjuring kid, becomes available at the instant after midnight, the onset of June 21. Below are excerpts from interviews about the book and preparation for its sale.
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter author
Two days before "Order of the Phoenix" hit the shelves, British author J.K. Rowling talked to journalist and author Jeremy Paxman of the BBC about secrecy, success and killing a character. Below are excerpts from the interview that appeared on BBC's Web site.
PAXMAN: ... Do you find the whole secrecy issue, the need for secrecy, a bit ridiculous?
ROWLING: No not at all. Well, a lot of it comes from me... Yeah, definitely. I mean, of course one could be cynical, and I'm sure you would be disposed to be so and say it was a marketing ploy, but I don't want the kids to know what's coming. Because that's part of the excitement of the story, and having -- you know -- sweated blood to create all my red herrings and lay all my clues, to me it's ... a very important part of my life.
PAXMAN: ... And is there going to be a death in this book?
ROWLING: Yes. A horrible, horrible [death.] Yeah. Well, I had re-written the death, re-written it, and that was it. It was definitive. And the person was definitely dead. And I walked into the kitchen crying and Neil [Murray, her husband] said to me, "What on earth is wrong?" and I said, "Well, I've just killed the person." Neil doesn't know who the person is. But I said, "I've just killed the person." And he said, "Well, don't do it then." ... and I said "Well, it just doesn't work like that. You are writing children's books, you need to be a ruthless killer."
John McWarner, Manhattan Institute
Friday morning, John McWarner, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank that disseminates new ideas to foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility, appeared on "American Morning" with CNN anchor Leon Harris. McWarner discussed the latest Potter installment, which has more than 800 pages.
"The print culture is receding. I teach at U.C. Berkeley. I deal with older kids all the time. It is so wonderful to see people reading these books. And notice that the books get longer and longer and people keep reading them. I see this Harry Potter media blitz as a good thing. I swell every time I see one of those mock-ups in a bookstore window."
Kristie Salerno Kent, Borders Books
Kent spoke to CNN anchor Carol Costello about midnight parties, breaking records and the preparations the bookstore chain made to keep the contents of the book secret..
"There were ... very explicit instructions for all staff that the boxes were not to be opened. They were kept in a secure location. And there are even, I think, confidentiality release forms that had to be signed by staff members as well to make sure that nobody, you know, broke that breach....
"Right now as we speak [stores] are preparing for these midnight release parties, where the actual store is becoming... a wizard wonderland. I think for Borders this is actually a record for us. I think we ordered the most amount of books, one title, than we've ever ordered. So, this is a record breaker for us."
