A HArry Potter FAn ConFerenCeCHICAGO, ILLINOISAUGUST 9–12, 2012

An overview oF LeAkyCon 2012LeakyCon is a charity conference just for fans—presented by fans.

The LeakyCon will take place August 9 through 12, 2012 at the Hilton

Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and will give fans a chance to celebrate J.K.

Rowling’s stories about The Boy Who Lived. The Harry Potter novels

spread messages of friendship, community and love. These three principles

guide LeakyCon, with the important addition of fun. The four-day

conference provides an opportunity for attendees to experience an exciting,

enlightening, safe, and magical weekend with their fellow Potter fans and

book lovers.

LeakyCon features unique keynote events, speaker panels, roundtables and

formal academic programming. Fans will also experience informal events

including Wizard Rock shows, a Quidditch tournament, costume contests,

podcasts, a vendor room, craft show, and a charity ball.

The conference’s main charitable beneficiary is the Harry Potter Alliance,

a non-profit organization that champions such causes as disaster relief and

social equality. The conference will also benefit Book Aid International,

the This Star Won’t Go Out Foundation and other smaller charitable

organizations. In 2011, LeakyCon donated over $120,000 to various

charitable causes, and charitable giving continues to be at the forefront of our

priorities for 2012.

For more information on the charities involved with LeakyCon, please see the

charity information page in this press kit.

overview

LeakyCon will include appearances, performances, and special events

featuring the wildly successful theater troupe and YouTube sensation,

Team StarKid as well as actors from the Harry Potter films including

Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson).

Other special events will include a premiere of the fan-made documentary,

“Real for Us: Fandom, Friendship and the Boy Who Lived,” and

performances from nine musical acts including Harry and the Potters,

The Whomping Willows, Alex Carpenter and Meghan Tonjes. This year,

LeakyCon will also feature the Leaky Stars, a talent competition featuring

talented people from within the community inspired by their

favorite fandoms.

LeakyCon will also present LitTrack, a special two-day “conference within

a conference” focusing on Children’s and Young Adult literature. Planned

in coordination with New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson,

the lineup of writers, agents and editors includes heavy-hitting industry

professionals such as New York Times bestselling authors

John Green, Lev Grossman, Holly Black, Margaret Stohl and more.

Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) on stage with Wizard Rocker Brian Ross of Draco and the Malfoys at LeakyCon 2011

Team StarKid performs during LeakyCon 2011

overview

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be able to continue to grow and evolve

LeakyCon as our own fandom grows,” said Melissa Anelli, the conference’s

organizer. “LeakyCon is a place where fans can come together and celebrate a

decade-and-a-half of community and charity, and continue to pay tribute to

the novels that brought us all together.”

We are honored to bring LeakyCon to the fans and to be celebrating in

the great city of Chicago. Please find additional information about the

conference throughout this press kit and email press@leakycon.com

with any questions.

Wizard Rockers Paul and Joe DeGeorge (Harry and the Potters) perfom during LeakyCon 2011

overview

SPeCiAL eventS

A Very StarKid EventA special musical event featuring the cast of performers from Team StarKid

will include singing, dancing, and a question and answer session.

Team Starkid is the theater troupe behind the YouTube sensations “A Very

Potter Musical” and “A Very Potter Sequel.” These spoof Harry Potter

musicals have been global hits, collecting tens of millions of views on

YouTube. This year, the StarKid cast will incude:

With: Julia Albain, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Brant Cox, Brian Holden, AJ Holmes,

Matt Lang, Nick Lang, Lauren Lopez, Corey Lubowich, Devin Lytle, Joe

Moses, Jim Povolo, Joey Richter, Brian Rosenthal, Dylan Saunders, Meredith

Stepien, and Joe Walker.

Esther Earl Rocking Charity BallThe Esther Earl Rocking Charity Ball will be a time for fans to come together

to, dance, celebrate, and on the last evening of the conference. Esther was an

avid Harry Potter fan and supporter of the Harry Potter Alliance, wholost

her fight against cancer in August 2010. Her family, friends and fans have

worked to keep her spirit and memory alive through the This Star Won’t

Go Out Foundation, created in her honor and dedicated to raising money

for families with children suffering from cancer. We are proud to work with

the Foundation to remember Esther, and we cannot think of a better way to

honor her memory than with a celebration!

LeakyRockOn the evenings of August 9 and August 10, fans will be treated to rock

concerts featuring a variety of performers who sing about everything from

Harry Potter to The Hunger Games to Lost. The line-up will feature Meghan

Tonjes, Tonks and the Aurors, Alex Carpenter, Ministry of Magic, Gred and

Forge, Lauren Fairweather, The Whomping Willows, Hank Green,

and Harry and the Potters.

SPeCiAL eventS

Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)Evanna Lynch answered an open casting call for the role of Luna Lovegood in

2006 and her life was changed forever. She went from being one of the series’

most ardent fans to the cinematic personification of one of the fans’ favorite

characters. She was fourteen years old, and had only acted in school plays

before; she took to the role with a level of passion and spirit only a true fan

can apply. She has played Luna in the final half of the Potter films to acclaim

by fans and critics alike, and remains one of Harry Potter’s most enthusiastic

supporters.

Evanna has also turned her creativity to fashion, bringing to life Luna’s

famous radish earrings as well as designing the lion hat worn by Luna in the

sixth film. She has actively supported charity efforts such as the Multiple

Sclerosis Society of Ireland and the HP Alliance, speaking out on issues

of self-esteem and body image. Evanna attended LeakyCon 2011 and has

recently moved to the United States to pursue her acting career, and traveled

to Malta to film her first post-Potter role.

Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson)

Scarlett Bryne has been interested in performing since a very young age,

after a lead role in a school play gave her the acting bug. She performed

in commercials and television, and just before attending college and her

seventeenth birthday was cast as Pansy Parkinson in Harry Potter and the

Half-Blood Prince. Scarlett attended LeakyCon 2011 and helped to celebrate

the release of the final Harry Potter film. Scarlett currently lives in London

and has been filming a number of roles, including a part in the upcoming

Lake Placid 4.

SPeCiAL GueSt BioGrAPHieS

SPeCiAL GueSt BioGrAPHieS

StarKid

StarKid Productions is an ensemble of writers, actors, directors, designers,

producers, and other goof-offs. Blending live performance with the

accessibility of the Internet, StarKid has taken the long-revered art of parody

and fumblingly marched forward with it into the 21st century. StarKid has

its roots firmly embedded in the University of Michigan’s School of Music,

Theater, and Dance. In April of 2009, with a budget of less than $150, an

original script and score, and a cast and creative team chock full of Michigan

cohorts, A Very Potter Musical premiered. Three months later, having

filmed the live performances for family and friends, writers Nick Lang, Matt

Lang, and Brian Holden posted the videos to YouTube, and within days

the show had gone viral. In just under two years, StarKid’s original works

have garnered over 120 million views on YouTube, a devoted international

fan-base of over 233,000 subscribers, and national attention from MTV,

Entertainment Weekly, blogger Perez Hilton, Access Hollywood, The

Hollywood Reporter, BillBoard.com, New York Magazine, The Detroit Free

Press, and National Public Radio, and more.

Melissa Anelli Melissa Anelli has been active in the Harry Potter fandom for nearly 12

years. In addition to co-founding LeakyCon and Mischief Management,

she is the owner and operator of The Leaky Cauldron and the new site

LeakyNews.com. Melissa’s first book, the New York Times bestselling Harry,

A History, was published in 2008 with a foreword from J.K. Rowling. Since

2009, Melissa has also served as senior creative consultant on Pottermore.

In her spare time, she indulges her other obsessions: theater, television, and

the sparklification of designer shoes. A NYC native and dweller, Melissa is

currently hard at work on her second book.

SPeCiAL GueSt BioGrAPHieS

Lit trACk BioGrAPHieS

Holly BlackHolly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for kids,

teens, and adults. She is the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series (Tithe,

Valiant, and Ironside), The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), and

The Good Neighbors graphic novels (with Ted Naifeh). She is also the co-

editor of three anthologies, Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs.

Unicorns (with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen

Kushner). Her most recent works are The Poison Eaters and Other Stories,

a collection of short fiction, and The Curse Worker series (White Cat, Red

Glove, and the forthcoming Black Heart). She lives in Massachusetts with her

husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library. You can find out more about

Holly on her website, blackholly.com

John GreenJohn Green is the New York Times bestselling author of Looking for

Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and The Fault in our

Stars. He is also the co-author, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will

Grayson.  His novels have received much critical acclaim, including the

Michael L. Printz Award and the 2009 Edgar Award.  No stranger to the

internet, Mr. Green releases vlogs along with his brother, Hank, on the

popular YouTube channel, VlogBrothers, which began in 2007.  John Green

lives in Indiana with his wife and young son, Henry.  More about John can be

found on his website, johngreenbooks.com

Lev GrossmanLev Grossman is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Magicians

and The Magician King. He is also the book critic at Time magazine.  He

has  written for Salon, The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, Wired,

Entertainment Weekly, The Believer, Lingua Franca, the New York Times, and

several other publications.  You can find out more about Lev on his website,

levgrossman.com

Lit trACk BioGrAPHieS

Maureen JohnsonMaureen Johnson is the bestselling author of such books as Suite Scarlett, The

Bermudez Triangle, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Let It Snow (with John Green

and Lauren Myracle), The Last Little Blue Envelope, The Name of the Star and

the upcoming The Madness Underneath. Before attending graduate school

in theatrical dramaturgy and writing at Columbia University, she held a

variety of unlikely jobs, many of which involved fire (usually not on purpose).

In addition to her novels, she was the scriptwriter for the “Harry Potter and

the Half-Blood Prince” handheld video games. She lives in New York City,

but travels to England on a regular basis. She has the dubious distinction of

being Mashable.com’s “Most Interesting Person to Follow on Twitter” award

winner for 2009. This is because she lives on her Twitter account. You can

also find her at maureenjohnsonbooks.com

Jennifer LaughranJennifer Laughran is a literary agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, based

in New York. She went from reading children’s books to selling them with her

first job in a bookstore at age 12, and has been up to her neck in kids and YA

books ever since. She represents many popular and award-winning children’s

authors, all of whom are adorable geniuses. You can find out more about Jenn

on twitter, @literaticat, and about the agency at andreabrownlit.com

 

Stephanie PerkinsStephanie Perkins writes young adult novels with funny bits and kissing. She

is the author of Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door and

the much anticipated Isla and the Happily Ever After. Her husband isWizard

Rocker Jarrod of Gred and Forge, and they live with two elderly pups and a

pesky cat named Mr. Tumnus. More information about Stephanie Perkins

can be found on her website, stephanieperkins.com

 

Lit trACk BioGrAPHieS

Rebecca ShermanRebecca Sherman is a literary agent for the publishing company Writers

House, based in New York City.  With over eight years of experience in

the industry, Sherman has worked with such authors as Grace Lin, author/

illustrator of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon; Andrea Davis Pinkney

and Brian Pinkney, author and illustrator of Sit-In; and David Ezra Stein,

author/illustrator of Leaves. She also represents Melissa Anelli, author of

the New York Times best-selling Harry, A History. Further information about

Rebecca Sherman can be found on the Writers House website,

writershouse.com

Margaret StohlMargaret Stohl is the author of Icons, the first book in the Icons Series,

forthcoming from Little, Brown in Spring 2013 – as well as the New York

Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Indie-Bound and

Internationally Bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures Novels

(with Kami Garcia.)  You can find out more about Margaret on her website,

margaret-stohl.com

 

Laini TaylorLaini Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch:

Three Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger.  Her upcoming

novel, Days of Blood and Starlight will be released in the fall of 2012 and is

the sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  She lives

in Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their

daughter.  You can visit her website to learn more about Laini at

lainitaylor.com

 

Lit trACk BioGrAPHieS

Kate Schafer TestermanAfter nearly ten years with industry powerhouse agency Janklow & Nesbit

Associates, Kate Schafer Testerman formed kt literary in early 2008, where

she concentrates on middle grade and YA fiction. Her clients include

Maureen Johnson, Ellen Booraem, Stephanie Perkins, S. Terrell French,

Thomas E. Sniegoski, Josie Bloss and Matthew Cody, among others. Kate is

a graduate of the New York Renaissance Faire, and an avid collector of shoes.

Her interests cover a broad range including teen chick list, urban fantasy,

magical realism, adventure stories, and romantic comedies. She is an active

member of the SCBWI and AAR

Robin WassermanRobin Wasserman is the author of The Book of Blood and Shadow and several

other young adult books including Hacking Harvard, the Seven Deadly Sins

series, and the Cold Awakening trilogy. (Though you may know her from all-

time bestselling literary triumph, Scooby Doo: The Search for Scooby Snacks.)

She grew up in Philadelphia, went to Harvard, and, for her very first task at

her very first job out of college, was assigned to scour the city for a miniature

red carpet that could be rolled out for J. K. Rowling’s imminent arrival. (She

failed.) More information about Robin Wasserman can be found on her

website, robinwasserman.com

Lit trACk BioGrAPHieS

CHAritieSLeakyCon is a charity-supporting conference. We regularly benefit The Harry Potter Alliance and Book Aid International, two organizations close to our heart who have done phenomenal work in literacy and community action. We have also benefited This Star Won’t Go Out, an organization that helps families of terminally ill children and was inspired by Esther Earl, after whom our charity ball was named.

LeakyCon has raised more than $120,000 for charitable causes in its short history. We aim to continue to use our conference to support these and more charities as our commitment to good works grows and deepens.

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The Harry Potter AllianceThe Harry Potter Alliance has worked for the past four years to motivate

and inspire youth around the world to get involved in various social issues

that face the world today. From the struggle for universal equal rights to

alerting the world to the dangers of global warming, poverty, and genocide,

the Harry Potter Alliance has been a champion of grassroots, community

activism in response to these vast issues. Their successes include raising

funds for the protection of thousands of women and children in Darfur

and Burma and collecting and donating thousands of books for a youth

village in Rwanda. In early 2010, efforts by the Harry Potter Alliance and a

network of related fandom communities raised more than $123,000 for the

Haitian people through Partners in Health. In July 2010, the HP Alliance

was awarded $250,000 through the Chase Community Giving Challenge on

Facebook. The HPA entered the four-week contest, which looked for the most

promising local charities from across the globe, and won the challenge with

38,000 votes. With the winnings, the HPA will be able to improve literacy,

LGBT rights, and build an online coalition of fandoms, YouTubes, and

organizations.

More about The Harry Potter Alliance can be found on their official website.

Book Aid International

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Book Aid International

Book Aid International increases access to books and supports literacy,

education and development in some of the poorest communities in the

World.  Each year the charity provides more than 500,000 new, carefully-

chosen books to libraries in villages and cities, schools and universities,

reading rooms and refugee camps in sub-Saharan Africa.  These books are

read time and time again by adults and children — for education, for vocation

and for pleasure.  The charity also provides training to librarians and teachers

as well as small grants to enable libraries to purchase books in the local

language and refurbish reading rooms to make them more attractive and

functional. In sub-Saharan Africa today at least 153 million people cannot

read or write and Book Aid International is a long-standing global charity

dedicated to helping change lives through books.  Leaky has supported many

of the charity’s worthwhile endeavors for several years, and we are proud to

continue this tradition.

More information can be found on the Book Aid International website.

This Star Won’t Go Out FoundationThe purpose of This Star Won’t Go Out foundation is to financially assist

families struggling through the journey of a child living with cancer. Caring

for a seriously ill child creates tremendous stress for the family system, and

having to worry about money is both burdensome and distracting. TSWGO’s

goal is to carry a bit of that burden for hurting families through financial

gifts.

TSWGO has a second goal, and it’s tied to why the foundation got started

in the first place. TSWGO was established in memory of 16-year old Esther

Earl, an avid Nerdfighter and passionate Harry Potter fan. Her online friends

and causes met many of the social and emotional needs in her life, hampered

as she was by her progressing thyroid cancer. Yet Esther (Persian for “Star”)

lived life fully, getting involved in social justice issues, loving her friends,

her family and cats, and always remembering to be awesome. With the goal

of never letting her Star go out, TSWGO will also be funding occasional

projects that fit Esther’s quirky, compassionate life vision.

More information can be found on the This Star Won’t Go Out Foundation

website http://www.thisstarwontgoout.org/

Additional Charities

Profits from LeakyCon will be donated to

charity and while the money will primarily

go to The Harry Potter Alliance, Book Aid

International and the This Star Won’t Go Out

Foundation, we may make additional, smaller

donations to other organizations.

All donations will be listed on LeakyCon.com.

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ContACt

Katie BurnsidePublicity Coordinator

press@leakycon.com

(773) 966-8162