Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about Rowling's remarkable “fairy-tale” and the history and meaning of its release during the “pandemic” hysteria of 2020. The Ickabog, along with Casual Vacancy and Ink Black Heart, is not only one of Rowling's most autobiographical works, but, with the Lake and Shed interview, the Solve et Coagula tattoo, her RFK Award speech, and the Trans Tweet Heard Round the World, a key to her self-understanding in the critical year 2019-2020. Nick takes the ‘Shed' point and lays out the controlled demolition of her reputation among Group Thinkers on the Left in the lead up to Ickabog's publication and John shares the meaning of ‘The Ickabog's Song,' the embedded text of the tale, as interpreted by Daisy Dovetail (an embedded author?).New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? Perhaps the best single book by Rowling-Galbraith, Troubled Blood. Nick will be sharing Rowling's skills in and beliefs about astrology which plays an outsised role in the fifth Strike novel. John talks about the “Best Mate” scene in the Agency office and its important mythological backdrop. Stay tuned!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:Nick Jeffery: Beginning at the Beginning A History of ‘Ickabog' and Christmas PigInk Black Heart and Deathly Hallows: The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual CenterWeek Seven of the Ickabog! Hurrah!* Last Chapters Comment‘The Song of the Ickabog' — Three NotesRowling Writes Trans Views Tell All Post; Fandom Divides ‘Team Jo,' ‘Team Trans'Reading, Writing, Rowling 44: Ickabog! John Granger's Last MuggleNet PodcastRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas PigRowling Tweets Potter Fandom, IckabogThe Ickabog: Rowling Facebook EventGuest Post: Ickabog Notes & PredictionsThe Ickabog: JKR's Political Fairy TaleWas 2020 A Bad Year for J. K. Rowling? Nominated for 3 British Book AwardsGroves: The Rowling-Norton InterviewThe Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 1 (Beatrice GrovesThe Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 2: Ichabod (Beatrice Groves) Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Nick and John take a Lake and Shed long look at the second screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film series. On the Lake side of things, Nick explores the Johnny Depp casting scandal and the lead-up in 2018 to the 2019 Tweet Heard Round the World. John explains that the cut scenes from this dog's mess of a movie point that the shooting script, i.e., what Rowling wrote and approved before David Yates butchered the film in the editing room, was all about Leta Lestrange. More important, John makes the Shed point that every Rowling book features a text of some kind that the characters struggle to understand — and that Crimes of Grindelwald has ten of these, a veritable library of interior texts to interpret.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? We enter 2020, Rowling's annus horribilis, with the simultaneous nightmares of the COVID hysteria and lockdowns coupled with the Trans Wars, in which all thinking people (to include Rowling) were dismissed — or, in the prevalent jargon of those years, “cancelled” — as hateful, hurtful, even murderous “transphobes.” Nick explains the fascinating received history of The Ickabog manuscript and John builds on Nick's caveats and misgivings with why he thinks the textus receptus narrative is so much hogwash. John shares his favorite scene in the book, one from ‘Week Six,' in which Daisy talks with the Monster about her heart. Stay tuned!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:The Crimes of Grindelwald ‘Pillar Post' at HogwartsProfessor.com (more than 50 links to posts!) Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the fourth Cormoran Strike novel, Lethal White. Nick discusses the embedded class struggle in the book and its roots in Rowling's background before dropping the bomb of the real world identity of Jack O'Kent and his unhappy family. John is so taken aback by this revelation that Nick has to prompt the Shed portion of the conversation with a fun history of the Sonia Friedman production of Ibsen's Rosmersholm on London's West End, a show starring Thom Burke as Rosmer and which ended just before Bronte Studios beginning the filming of Lethal White. John explains why Rowling might have had something to do with the teevee C. B. Strike gaining a memorized knowledge of this play before filming the fourth book's adaptation.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? Another work with Rowling's name on the cover that is the not the work she wrote! Nick and John take a Lake and Shed long look at the second screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film series. On the Lake side of things, Nick explores the Johnny Depp casting scandal and the lead-up in 2018 to the 2019 Tweet Heard Round the World. John explains that the cut scenes from this dog's mess of a movie point that the shooting script, i.e., what Rowling wrote and approved before David Yates butchered the film in the editing room, was all about Leta Lestrange. More important, John makes the Shed point that every Rowling book features a text of some kind that the characters struggle to understand — and that Crimes of Grindelwald has ten of these, a veritable library of interior texts to interpret.Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* Henrik Ibsen's ‘Rosmersholm'* Every ‘Rosmersholm' White Horse Reference (Odd Sverre Hove)* London Production of Rosmersholm: Starring Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike)* London Production of Rosmersholm (2): Starring Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike)* The ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling' podcast on Lethal White (Kathryn McDaniel, Louise Freeman, Beatrice Groves, John Granger)* The Top Ten Things We've Learned About Lethal White Since Publication Day* The Three Things about J. K. Rowling's Cormoran Strike Novels Every Harry Potter Fan Should Know* Lethal White: The Ring Structure* Lethal White: The Cratylic Names* Lethal White: Autobiographical Elements* Lethal White: Flints and Head ScratchersLethal White as Turning Point of Seven Part Ring Cycle* Does Lethal White Foreshadow Running Grave? You Betcha* The Missing Page Mystery* The Missing Page Mystery, Part 2* Does Lethal White Echo Goblet of Fire?* Lethal White: Every Goblet of Fire Link?* Lethal White: Cuckoo's Calling Retold?* The Cuckoo's Calling Echoes (25+)* Seven More Cuckoo's Calling Links* Lethal White: The Big Change at the Turn (End of the Strike Agency in Strike5?)Literary Alchemy and the Mythic Context* M. Evan Willis: The Mythic Context and Hermetic Meaning of Cormoran Strike* Guest Post: Mythological Leda Strike – Cormoran, Zeus, Castor and Pollux (Joanne Gray; prepublication)* Guest Post: Rowling's Mercurial Hermetic Artistry from Snape to Strike (M. Evan Willis; prepublication)* The Swan Symbolism* More Strike Swans: Historical and Film Connections (Elizabeth Baird-Hardy)* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 1 Rowling's Most Loaded Tarot Reference* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 2 The Historical and Occult Interpretations* Harry Potter and The Hanged Man: Part 3 Its Meaning in Rowling's Written WorkOn ‘White Horses'* The White Horse Gallows: Karmic Legacy of Empire in the UK?* Charlotte Campbell: The Broodmare of Lethal White (Louise Freeman)* Every ‘Rosmersholm' White Horse Reference (Odd Sverre Hove)* Taylor Swift's ‘White Horses' (Louise Freeman)* Lethal White: The White Horse Evidence (pre-publication list of pointers)* Lethal White Horses (Pre-publication; Beatrice Groves, MuggleNet)Series Mystery Possibilities* Lethal White: Is Strike Rokeby's Son? The Dates Don't Seem To Match Up* Bookending the Past: Cormoran Strike's Real Father? (Joanne Gray)* Lethal White: The Daddy Chiswell Evidence (Joanne Gray)Literary Allusions and Influences* Henrik Ibsen's ‘Rosmersholm'* Every ‘Rosmersholm' White Horse Reference (Odd Sverre Hove)* London Production of Rosmersholm: Starring Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike)* London Production of Rosmersholm (2): Starring Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike)* Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger* Allingham: The Fashion in Shrouds* Rowling's Favorite Poem Found in Oz : Whitman's “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances”* Dorothy Sayers' Murder Must Advertise, Ian Rankin, P. D. James (ChrisC, pre-publication)* Cormoran and Robin: Echoes of Homer's Odysseus and Penelope? (Joanne Gray)* Cormoran and Robin: Echoes of Homer's Odysseus and Penelope (2) Joanne Gray* Ben Jonson's ‘Every Man In His Humor' A Meaningful Model for Strike Stories? (prepublication)* Ian Rankin and Cormoran Strike (prepublication)* The Three Fates Meet The Weird Sisters: Cormoran Strike, Harry Potter, and the Question of Fate, Free Will, and Choice (prepublication)The National Health Service Sub Plot* Lethal White: Ghosts of Aneurin Bevan? Lorelei Bevan, Dodgy Doc, and the NHS* Lethal White and the NHS: Rowling SpeaksMiscellaneous:* Marketing Efforts and Sales* Most Common Pub Names* The Personal Assistant Drama* Possibility Two: Court Ordered Silence* The Robert Glenister Audiobook* Lethal White Wins CrimeFest Award* On ‘Doom Bar Ale'* BBC1 Adaptation a ‘Go'* A Review of the Legacy and Online Media Book ReviewsRowling Interviews, Twitter* Pre-Publication: The Lethal White Music Playlist (Louise Freeman)* The Graham Norton Interview* On ‘Galbraith Meets Graham Norton' (Beatrice Groves)* Rowling as Labour's Tweeting Prophet* New Political Maturity from Rowling?Prepublication Predictions and Speculation* A Lethal White ‘White Horse' Round-Up: An Explanation of ‘Heroin Dark Lord 1.0'In a nutshell, the theory is that Jonny Rokeby was responsible for Leda Strike's death, a ‘hit' that he arranged to insure that she would never reveal what she knew about crimes he committed as a Deadbeat, crimes to include murder, in conjunction with heroin and the drug trade. The ‘White Horse' that Rowling has been teasing readers with this past year may involve an actual stallion but the larger meaning of the clues is heroin, for which ‘white horse' is a street euphemism.* Lethal White and Strike Speculation 101: The Trouble with JKR/Galbraith Dates (Heroin Dark Lord 2.0: The IED Explosion)* Super Lethal White Speculation Podcast! Reading, Writing Rowling, Episode 14: Cormoran Strike – and Harry Potter?The thirteen HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of Casual Vacancy* A Lake and Shed Reading of Cuckoo's Calling* A Lake and Shed Reading of The Silkworm* A Lake and Shed Reading of Career of Evil* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child* A Lake and Shed Reading of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Screenplay) Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's first “original screenplay,” Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Nick does his signature deep dive into the history of the Fantastic Beasts film franchise's origins in Warner Brothers' determination to keep the Wizarding World profit-pillar in their portfolio alive after the last Harry Potter adaptation — and Rowling's equal determination that they not use their copyright privilege to muck up her legacy with an Indiana Jones meets Crocodile Dundee knock-off. John takes the Shed pole in the conversation and shares his months long pursuit of the shooting text screenplay, the actual last screenplay over which Rowling had control. He lays out the (1) twelve scenes that were cut from that shooting script by Steven Kloves, David Heyman, and David Yates as they “fit the woman to the dress” of Hollywood blockbuster formula, and (2) how it made a mess of the movie's chiastic integrity. Hat tip to Kelly Loomis!New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? It's back to a book we know was written by Joanne Murray, aka Robert Galbraith, Lethal White, the fourth Cormoran Strike novel. Nick promises to lay out the tensions between classes and castes in this book and how the story told reflects those tensions in Rowling's own life. John is set to discuss how Ibsen's Rosmersholm, the source of this book's epigraphs, is also a story template for this turning point of the first seven books. Stay tuned! Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:Unlocking Fantastic Beasts: Finding the Text* Preface: ‘The Original Screenplay' – Not the Shooting Script or Even a Faithful Movie Transcript (What the Movie Makers Changed or Left Out)* Preface 2: Comparing the Original Screenplay with the Actual Film: What the Film Makers Left Out, Changed, or Deleted (with Kelly Loomis)* Part 1: J. K. Rowling, Screenwriter — Who is Working for Whom?* Part 2: The Film Makers and Decision Makers?* Part 3: The Six Scenes You Missed in Fantastic Beasts and the Seventh: GrindelGraves' Vision* Part 4: Fantastic Beasts Revelations from the Far Side Sources (Can You Say ‘Lego Movie'?) * Part 5: So What? The Found Text and Its Meaning* 5.1 The Story of the Text We're Looking For* 5.2 Theseus the Hero and Newt Scamander* 5.3 Jacob Kowalski: Is He Bigger than Newt?* 5.4 The Grindelwald-Credence Relationship* 5.5 Lumos and the Barebone OrphanageInterpretation and Speculation: Ring Structure, Christian Content, Elder Wand, Etc.* On the Story Structure of Fantastic Beasts: Is It a Ring?* On the Deep Back Story Revealed in Fantastic Beasts* On the Christian Content in Fantastic Beasts — and the New Controversy* Rune Magic in ‘Fantastic Beasts'? I wish* Why the Film Franchise Cannot Win a Major League ‘Oscar'* Nicolas Flamel to Appear in the Sequel? Don't You Believe It!* Who is the Death Stick's Master? The Elder Wand and Fantastic BeastsPodcasts:* Fantastic Beasts Ring Composition: A ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling' Podcast (with Katy McDaniel and Brett Kendall)* On Rowling's Missteps and Misappropriatrions in ‘History of Magic in North America‘ (with Dr. Amy H. Sturgis and Allison Mills, MuggleNet Academia podcast)* The HogwartsProfessors Talk ‘Fantastic Beasts' (with Louise Freeman, Emily Strand, and Elizabeth Baird-Hardy; MuggleNet Academia podcast)* Eugenics in American History and Fantastic Beasts (with Professor Chris Gavaler of Washington and Lee University; MuggleNet Academia podcast)Elizabeth Baird-Hardy's Fantastic Beasts Posts* Throwback Thursday with Narnia, Newt Scamander, and Fantastic Beasts: Part I* Throwback Thursday with Narnia, Newt Scamander, and Fantastic Beasts: Part II* Pack Your Bags! Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beast-y Suitcase, Hermione's Handbag, and their Literary Relatives* Five Spoiler-Free Reasons Potterphiles will Love Fantastic Beasts* Thanksgiving Thoughts on Terrific Treats from Fantastic Beasts!* Fantastic Beast Flashbacks: The Five Things We Want to Know about What Happened BEFORE Newt's NY Adventure* Fairies and Wizards? A Midsummer Night's Dream and What We Might Expect from Crimes of GrindelwaldGuest Posts:* Wayne Stauffer: Names in Fantastic Beasts* Beatrice Groves: On ‘Nagini Maledictus' – Literary Allusion in Fantastic BeastsThe twelve HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of Casual Vacancy* A Lake and Shed Reading of Cuckoo's Calling* A Lake and Shed Reading of The Silkworm* A Lake and Shed Reading of Career of Evil* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the Jack Thorne play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Nick reviews the history of how Rowling was sold on the idea of a Wizarding World stage production via a bit of bait and switch marketing and John reads the review of the Jack Thorn script by Pepperdine English Professor James Thomas. Neither John nor Nick is a big fan of the play but their back and forth about the several controversies connected with it and the question of its being “the eighth Harry Potter story” are still challenging and fun.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Tomorrow? Another work with Rowling's name on the cover that is the not the work she wrote! Nick and John take a Lake and Shed long look at the screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film. On the Lake side of things, Nick explores the genesis of this movie franchise (and finds The Blind Pig speakeasy in Rowling's home!). John lays out the twelve scenes cut from Rowling's shooting script to make the case that what was published as ‘The Original Screenplay' was a Reader's Digest condensed version of her story, one that “fit the woman to the dress.”Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* Pepperdine's Premiere Potter Pundit James Thomas Reviews Jack Thorne's ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'* Re-Hashing, Re-working, and Resurrection: The Cursed Child and Why Authors Cannot Settle for Re-Visiting their Texts.* Rowling's Pregnancy Traps: Bellatrix Lestrange and the Cursed Child Delphini* New ‘Cursed Child' Condensed Version: Will the New Play's Script Be Published?* Cursed Child and HogwartsProfessor Fan Fiction post Deathly Hallows* Cursed Child: Rowling Video Testimony* MuggleNet Academia: Four Hogwarts Professors Discuss ‘Cursed Child'* Reading, Writing, Rowling Episode 12: Serious Readers Talk About Cursed Child Performances in NYC, London* Guest Post: PotterPundit at Cursed Child* Voldemort, Delphini, and Oedipus: Complex Folks and Cursed Children* Meta-Potter: Is ‘Cursed Child' Harry Potter Canon or Something Else?The eleven HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of Casual Vacancy* A Lake and Shed Reading of Cuckoo's Calling* A Lake and Shed Reading of The Silkworm* A Lake and Shed Reading of Career of Evil Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's third Cormoran Strike novel, Career of Evil. Nick and John debate whether Rowling crossed the line of “violence porn” that she worried she had approached and they discuss why, in one of the few surveys of Serious Strikers, Career seems unique among these mysteries in being considered the best or the very worst of the set. The ‘Lake' point that Nick explores is Rowling's personal experience of violence against women and her determination to push back against the misogynist age she believes we have been living in for decades. John details the litany of crimes committed against women in the third Strike novel and suggests that in time, when we have the series as a whole, appreciation of the artistry involved will counter-balance the shock first-time readers feel on entering this boucherie.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The ten HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of Casual Vacancy* A Lake and Shed Reading of Cuckoo's Calling* A Lake and Shed Reading of The SilkwormTomorrow? It's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the play written by Jack Thorne “based on an original new story by Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne. Neither John nor Nick has seen the play but both have some thoughts about its place in the oeuvre and about its virtues and failings.Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:Ian Rankin's Rebus novel Black and Blue and Galbraith's Career of EvilThe Transabled Characters in Career of EvilRowling Discusses the Planning of Career of EvilDay of Publication Review at HogwartsProfessorThe Willy Wonka Golden Ticket Purchase of Career of EvilThe Ranking of the First Six Strike Novels:* John Granger's Choices of the Best and Worst* Nick Jeffery's Choices of Best to Worst* The Final Survey Tally Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's second Cormoran Strike novel, The Silkworm. Nick and John discuss the date Rowling claims to have had her Lake inspiration for Silkworm, the first book idea she had for the series, and what that would mean, if true. The ‘Lake' point that Nick reveals is the probable identity of ‘Jenkins,' the mystery person to whom Strike 2 is dedicated, a revelation consequent to no little detective work (and a very close reading of Louisa May Alcott!). He also discusses some real-life literary infighting in contemporary London that might have been lifted from the pages of Silkworm. John argues that this ur-novel of the series, its point of conception, is Rowling's not especially opaque guide to how to understand a novelist's life and to appreciate their work, in short, her first ‘Lake and Shed' discussion (albeit one embedded in story). He explores Kathryn Kent's blog entry about Plot and Narrative as Rowling's pointer to the syuzhet and Fabula distinction of the Russian Formalists, the key to understanding what writers do and create.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The nine HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of Casual Vacancy* A Lake and Shed Reading of Cuckoo's CallingTomorrow? It's Career of Evil, the Comoran Strike novel unlike all others and one which Serious Strikers either love or love to hate. Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:Does Rowling Merit the Nobel Prize in Literature?* Syuzhet and Fabula* Poeima, Genre, and Influence* LiterarinessKathryn Kent's Plot-Narrative DistinctionFirst Thoughts on The SilkwormBeatrice Groves on Early Modern Revenge Drama and The Silkworm* John's Thoughts on the Poisoned Skeleton in The Silkworm Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's first Cormoran Strike novel, The Cuckoo's Calling. Nick and John debate the degree of Rowling's dishonesty about writing a detective series before she was outed as ‘Robert Galbraith' to include whether she really had any other plan than for the book to be published by the company and edited by the editor who handled Casual Vacancy. The ‘Lake' point that Nick explores is the identity of the real Deeby Mac, namely, Di Brooks, Rowling's former security director and currently her office manager, a veteran with years of experience in the SIB. John's ‘Shed' point is his pushback against the idea that Calling wasn't really the first book in the series because Rowling has said she had the idea for it after Silkworm and only chose it because the case would make her detective famous. John argues that the many echoes that connect the first, fourth, and seventh books but especially Calling and Running Grave mean that Calling is the point of origin around which the ring of the first seven novels was constructed.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The eight HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* A Lake and Shed Reading of The Casual VacancyTomorrow? It's The Silkworm, the first Comoran Strike novel by conception, not publication, in Rowling's oeuvre (or ‘in Robert Galbraith's, if you prefer the second of Mrs. Murray's pseudonyms), in which Nick reveals the real-life feuding authors behind the Strike2 bitter battles between book-men (and Jenkins!) while John talks about the metaliterary heft of Silkworm's “novel inside a novel about novels.” See you then!Links to posts mentioned in today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* Meet the Real ‘Deeby Mac:' Evidence from the Amanda Donaldson Lawsuit * Cuckoo's Calling and Running Grave: The Essential Echoes and Parallels Between the First and Seventh Strike Mysteries* Did Charlotte Campbell Commit Suicide or Was She Murdered? The Argument from the Faked Suicide-Murders in Cuckoo, Lethal White, and Running Grave* Rowling Says The Silkworm was the First Cormoran Strike Novel Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about J. K. Rowling's first adult novel and one Nick and John think she may have been writing before she was inspired to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's that autobiographical, a transparency of sorts for the several unhappy women Jo Rowling Murray has been. Nick explains all the projects we now know she was working on between 2007 and 2012, the dates of Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy's respective publication dates, as well as the degree to which readers can assume that the novel's Simon Price is a fictional portrait of her father, Peter Rowling. John describes the three Gospel parables embedded in Casual Vacancy and why he thinks the book was a project the author was working on before the Hogwarts Saga as well as why it reflects a religious crisis akin to Harry's ‘struggle to believe' in Deathly Hallows.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of posts: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The seven HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read at the links below:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsTomorrow? It's Cuckoo's Calling, the first Comoran Strike publication in Rowling's oeuvre (or ‘in Robert Galbraith's, if you prefer the second of Mrs. Murray's pseudonyms), in which Nick reveals the real-life Deeby Mac to whom the book is dedicated and John talks about the parallels between the first and seventh Strike novels. See you then!Links from today's Lake and Shed conversation for further reading:* ‘Bad Dad:' A History of Rowling's Relationship with Peter Rowling, Her Father; * ‘Christmas Pig 1: Jack Jones, Peter, and John,' Rowling's Use of the Names ‘Peter' and ‘Simon' for Bad Guys in Her Stories;* ‘Exceptions to the Peter-John Rule: John Bristow, Dolores Umbridge, Matt Cunliffe;'* Casual Vacancy: The Characters Derived from Rowling's Life and Why the Book Should Not Be Read through a Biographical Lens;* The Christian Hypocrites and Sympathetic Sikhs in Casual Vacancy;* The Review of Casual Vacancy in Christianity Today (2012);* The Casual Vacancy and the ‘Good Samaritan' Gospel Parable; and* J. K. Rowling on the ‘Good Samaritan' Event in Casual Vacancy Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the seventh and final Harry Potter novels Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. John and Nick discuss the ‘Deathly Hallows' symbol, a triangulated and vertically bisected circle, from both its biographical point of inspiration to its anagogical or sublime depths. Nick reveals Rowling's story about how she was watching the 1975 John Huston film ‘The Man Who Would Be King' the night her mother died and that believes the “Masonic tag” of the story-line was her sub-conscious source for the Deathly Hallows '“triangular eye.” John thinks Rowling is really reaching here, akin to her claim that the name ‘Hogwarts' came from a trip to a public garden rather than the Molesworth books. He reviews the five eyes of Deathly Hallows and explains how Rowling embeds both a key to the four-level interpretation of symbols in how characters respond to that image and a model of how we are to interpret and understand her ‘transformed vision' mission as a writer.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of post: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The six HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read here:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceTomorrow? It's Casual Vacancy, the first post-Potter publication in Rowling's oeuvre, the most transparently auto-biographical, and the book Rowling Readers with few exceptions (I'm one!) deny ever re-reading. See you then! Links from today's Lake and Shed conversation:* “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Kipling, and the Origins of the Deathly Hallows Symbol (Beatrice Groves)* Beatrice Groves Archive at HogwartsProfessor.com* The Deathly Hallows Lectures (John Granger)* ‘The Eyes of Deathly Hallows' Lecture in NYC, 2010Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the sixth of the seven Harry Potter novels, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Nick reveals the real life model for Severus Snape, Rowling's Chemistry teacher at Wydean Comprehensive, and his remarkable story and melancholy end. John reviews Rowling's version of the so-called ‘Hero's Journey,' how she re-makes it into a life-after-death ‘Harry's Journey' ten step dance we see in every book — except for Half-Blood Prince with its two chapters before we begin at Privet Drive and its ending without a Dumbledore Denouement or trip to King's Cross.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of post: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The five HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read here:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixTomorrow? It's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the penultimate novel and alchemical Rubedo of that series. See you then! Links from today's Lake and Shed conversation:Much more on John Nettleship, the ‘Real Life' Severus SnapeHow Harry Cast His Spell (John Granger)Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Lake and Shed framed conversation is about the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Nick talks about the darkest period in Jo Rowling's life, namely, her return to the UK from Portugal as a single mother in Edinburgh. John reviews Rowling's tagging Goblet as a “crucial” and “pivotal” part of the seven book series and introduces how the ‘story turn' in a ring composition reflects the beginning and end of the story. This involves, believe it or not, an explanation of why Harry meets with Sirius on 22 November between midnight and 1 AM, the dragons of Philosopher's Stone, Goblet, and Deathly Hallows, and five of the twenty-five points of correspondence between the first, the fourth, and the seventh Harry Potter novels.New to the Lake and Shed Kanreki Birthday series? Here's what we're doing:On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the biographical source of her inspiration; the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and their birthday project at the first entry in this series of post: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.The three HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read here:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireTomorrow? It's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate novel and alchemical Albedo of that series. See you then!Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

On 31 July 2025, Joanne Murray, aka J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, will be celebrating her 60th birthday. This celebration is considered a ‘second birth' in Japan or Kanreki because it is the completion of the oriental astrological cycle. To mark JKR's Kanreki, Dr John Granger and Nick Jeffery, both Nipponophiles, are reading through Rowling's twenty-one published works and reviewing them in light of the author's writing process, her ‘Lake and Shed' metaphor. The ‘Lake' is the source of her inspiration and the ‘Shed' is the alocal place of her intentional artistry, in which garage she transforms the biographical stuff provided by her subconscious mind into the archetypal stories that have made her the most important author of her age. You can hear Nick and John discuss this process and this birthday project at the first entry in this series of post: Happy Birthday, JKR! A Lake and Shed Celebration of her Life and Work.Today's video conversation is about the fourth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Nick talks about the trip Rowling made as a teenager to Cornwall as a young woman in which some Quidditch World Cup camping may have been involved and about her core beliefs about bigotry and prejudice. John reviews Rowling's tagging Goblet as a “crucial” and “pivotal” part of the seven book series and introduces how the ‘story turn' in a ring composition reflects the beginning and end of the story. This involves, believe it or not, an explanation of why Harry meets with Sirius on 22 November between midnight and 1 AM, the dragons of Philosopher's Stone, Goblet, and Deathly Hallows, and five of the twenty-five points of correspondence between the first, the fourth, and the seventh Harry Potter novels.The three HogwartsProfessor birthday videos posted thus far in this series can be read here:* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* A Lake and Shed Reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanTomorrow? It's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Big Blue Book and alchemical Nigredo. See you then! Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

The second of our daily examples of the lake and shed inspiration withing all of J. K. Rowling's work. In this episode Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Read about the parallels between Prisoner of Azkaban and Career of Evil here. And listen to the Reading Writing Rowling team talk about the parallel series idea here. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

The second of our daily examples of the lake and shed inspiration withing all of J. K. Rowling's work. In this episode Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Check out Harry Potter and the Sexual Innuendos a Mugglenet Academia podcast here, and all about Sean Harris here. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

The first of our daily examples of the lake and shed inspiration withing all of J. K. Rowling's work. In this episode Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Check out Dr John Granger's work on Rowling's Molesworth inspirations here. Don't forget to watch our introduction to this work and an explanation of Kanreki and the lake and shed inspiration here. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Dr John Granger and I will begin our Lake and Shed reviews of the twenty-one stories written at least in part by J. K. Rowling. In this introduction to our month long project to celebrate Mrs Murray's 60th birthday, we explain the Japanese concept of Kanreki, 還暦, or calendar re-birth.Join John, in his shed in Oklahoma, and me, by my lake in Wales as we kick off this exciting new series. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. John Granger and Nick Jeffery explore the theme of pregnancy traps and coercive love as a golden thread running through all the published works of J. K. Rowling. After detailing the number and importance of this plot point in everything from the Harry Potter series to the latest Cormoran Strike novel — even the Christmas Pig and The Ickabog! — John and Nick explore the possibilities of what this means for understanding Rowling's artistry and meaning from a ‘Lake and Shed' perspective.The seven Hogwarts Professor weblog posts that John and Nick reference in their conversation can be found here:Rowling Pregnancy Traps: Merope GauntRowling Pregnancy Traps: Casual Vacancy's Krystal Weedon, Kay BawdenRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Bellatrix Lestrange and the Cursed Child DelphiniRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Leda StrikeRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Four StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Last StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas Pig Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

John and Nick discuss the four generations of Rowling studies, and applies their principles to the new video's “On Writing”. From the Lake and Shed metaphor to shocking DNA predictions, join Rowling Studies for episode five. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Join John and Nick as they explore the strange and quirky island of Sark, take a look at the latest J. K. Rowling twitter storms and stand in admiration of her heroic stand against judicial free-speech suppression in Scotland. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Join John and Nick as they tackle a controversial subject. Using the ‘lake and shed' analysis of J. K. Rowling's compete cannon to understand if Robin Ellacott might turn out to be sterile.The thesis is that Robin Venetia Ellacott will not have children with Murphy, Strike, or any other partner, because she cannot, at least not without some extraordinary efforts via in vitro conception and surrogacy. John tried in his Substack post a month ago to explain how this infertility is possible, to detail the ‘Lake' suggestions from Rowling's life and personal experience that shows she is more than familiar with this condition among women, and to share the ‘Shed' literary markers in Running Grave and Rowling's other novels that this is indeed what she has in mind for Strike's partner Robin. Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the second episode of our Rowling Studies podcast, this time a discussion on The Christmas Pig. Nick's ‘Top Three' books per the Lake or biographical and bibliographical perspective, Rowling's life and literature influences, and John's ‘Top Three' books along Shed or ‘artistry and meaning' lines only have one book in common: The Christmas Pig. Join ‘Mystic Nick' as he explains his prediction that this book was coming one year before the announcement and John - The Dean of Harry Potter Scholars as he explores the allegorical meaning behind Rowling's masterpiece.Let us know what you think of episode two and what you'd like to hear more of in our next episodes by dropping us a line in the comments spaces below or in the chat option at RowlingStudies.com! Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to ‘Rowling Studies,' a Hogwarts Professor podcast!In the pilot episode, Nick Jeffery and John Granger discuss the aim of ‘Rowling Studies' before jumping into a conversation about Nick's theory that Charlotte Campbell did not commit suicide in Running Grave but was murdered. Their choice of methodology in exploring this speculative subject — ‘Lake' biographical exploration (Simon Peter did it!), ‘Shed' artistry (structure!), intertextual allusion (Romeo and Juliet!), and a look across the full canon of Rowling work — is precisely their point, but they make a pretty compelling case that Strike really blew it in his Epilogue interview with Emilia Crichton.Nick and John's full written discussions of the mysterious death of Charlotte Campbell can be read here and here. Let them know what you think of their first podcast and what you'd like to hear more about in their next episodes by dropping them a line in the comments spaces below or in the chat option at RowlingStudies.com! Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe