larryni.me.uk

Looks like JK Rowling has got too much time on her hands again. I haven’t found anything online about this yet, so I’ll copy the whole article from today’s Derry News.

The Bogside Artists have received correspondence from JK Rowling’s lawyers threatening legal action over a book they have published which, it is claimed, bears an uncanny resemblance to Harry Potter.

The book, ‘Travels with Li Po’ by Will Kelly, has been published by The Bogside Artists and is available to buy from their website.

Like Harry Potter, the main character Eoin Muldoon is an orphan who is bullied at school and who is looking for the philosopher’s stone.

However, Mr Kelly’s book was penned in 1990, whilst JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was published in 1996.

Tom Kelly, of The Bogside Artists, explained: “The book has been available on-line for six months now so we were quite shocked to receive this letter from JK Rowling’s legal team stating they were monitoring us and threatening us with possible legal action.

“Since Will’s book was written a number of years before Harry Potter maybe it should be us threatening them with legal action and not the other way around.”

The correspondence also stated that the term ‘philosopher’s stone’ was owned by Warner Brothers.

Tom Kelly said Travels with Li Po was written by his brother Will as a follow on to his short story ‘Ace of Hearts’, which won a UK wide writing competition held by UTV in 1989.

“Travels with Li Po was submitted to a variety of publishers across the UK after it was written, including Amnesty International. Will is a respected artist and author whose work often centres around the theme of abandonment.

“Although it’s set in a fictional world this book was born out of the sense of disenfranchisement experienced in the Bogside during the troubles.”

The Bogside Artists said they are refusing to withdraw the book from sale. Mr Kelly added: “The People’s Gallery is now completed and we have decided it’s time to publish this book. We have published it for one reason, that it deserves to be.”

Ridiculous!

*** Update: The Derry News were forced to apologise. Read the apology and what the Bogside Artists have to say about it.