Potterversity Episode 59: Holding Space for Harry

We're always holding space for Harry Potter, but no one does it quite like the Harry Potter Academic Conference.

Our favorite event of the year was back in person at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia in October and full of interesting insights as usual. Katy and Emily talk with Potterversity producer and conference communications coordinator Laurie Beckoff and conference vice chair Lauren Camacci about the range of presentations and the wonderful community of scholar-fans.

Emily, Laurie, and Katy discuss their respective papers: "Harry, Gawain, Green Knights, and Goblets," about the connections between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; "'All with Flaming Red Hair': Harry Potter and the Magical Redhead Tradition," on how Harry Potter engages with literary and historical depictions of redheads; and "The Petunia Palimpsest," about Fiona Shaw's portrayal of Petunia Dursley and Maarva Andor on the Star Wars show Andor.

We also talk about some of our favorite papers from the weekend. Dumbledore was a popular topic and remains a contentious figure. Psychology and politics were present alongside literary analyses. We enjoyed presentations on Madam Pince and the Hogwarts library (Ian McLaughlin), sexual innuendo and maturation in Goblet of Fire (Bill Ward), the series as wainscot fantasy (Liam Butchart and Katherine Wang), property law in the wizarding world (Dorothea Keiter), entrepreneurship and business in the wizarding world as well as the fandom (Abigail Kohler), and a potluck panel about food in Harry Potter (organized by Mark-Anthony Lewis).

There was plenty to learn from the plenary lecture by Priscilla Hobbs, author of Harry Potter and the Myth of Millennials, as well as the invited talks by conference regular Brent Satterly and first-time presenter Julian Wamble, known for sharing snippets of his Harry Potter class on TikTok and his Critical Magic Theory podcast.

The conference switches off annually between in-person and online events, so we look forward to joining a global community of scholars virtually in 2025.