Michelle Gayle: ‘They said don’t leave EastEnders – I never regretted it’

From Grange Hill to the West End, via Eurovision and the Brit awards, the star has built multiple careers. She talks about stage-school pressure, TV diversity and playing Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed ChildMichelle Gayle was 10 months into her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last March – and in such full swing that she was in “total denial” of the pandemic – when the West End closed its doors. Sitting in a chintzy backroom of the Palace theatre now, she talks in athletic terms about 12-hour rehearsal days and re-building her stamina. The whole cast is ecstatic to be back, she says, but they are also whispering about how tired they feel.Exhaustion aside, she speaks of her debt to Noma Dumezweni, whose casting in 2016 sparked online outrage from some at the prospect of a Black Hermione. JK Rowling piled in to the furore to defend the casting and call out the complaints as racist. Dumezweni won an Olivier award for the part. “I owe her a lot of gratitude – I’m standing on her shoulders,” says Gayle. “She got through that [time] with incredible grace and proved she was there on merit because she’s a bloody good actress but she had to take a big hit online to do that. When someone of the quality of Noma steps up, no one’s got anything more to say and then the conversation’s dead. It’s a shame that you have to be brilliant to end that conversation, but there are enough brilliant black actors out there.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-10-13 08:41:05 UTC ]

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Bookshops weave some magic to mark Harry Potter’s 20th anniversary

Bookshops around the country are unveiling a host of magical events — including Quidditch Pong, Harry Potter Bingo and Horcrux hunts—to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Bloomsbury). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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You're a legend Harry! The Harry Potter books turn 20

We dug into the archives to find the first Kiwi review of Harry Potter, but the earliest seems to be from 1999.  Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2017-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Misprint the legends: famous typos from James Joyce to JK Rowling

A proof of the first Harry Potter novel, which got the author’s name wrong, is only the latest example of an ungainly tradition stretching back centuriesProofreaders may be worth their weight in gold to authors, but their oversights have proved lucrative for some lucky readers of JK Rowling. On... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indigo Reports Record Revenue in Fiscal 2017

Driven by sales of general merchandise and 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' the Canadian bookstore chain reported record revenue growth for fiscal 2017. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British voters concerned about the impact of fake news on elections

With the UK's general election campaign now in full swing, a new study of 2,000 adults finds that 68 percent are concerned that fake news could influence the outcome. In addition, 26 percent are not confident in their ability to identify a fake story and a further 39 percent were unsure if they... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2017-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fate of the Furious breaks Star Wars box office record with $700 million opening

Star Wars, Harry Potter or indeed the almost century-old comic book legends Batman and Superman may have sprung from a rich creative well, but in a stunning twist all of them have been banished to the box office naughty step. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2017-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's 20th anniversary to be marked by London Book & Screen Week

A Soho awards night with David Nicholls and a "very special" Harry Potter screening at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London lead the "eclectic" line-up of this year’s London Book & Screen Week. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Green Bookshop tweets entire Harry Potter book to Piers Morgan

North London retailer the Big Green Bookshop is tweeting out every word of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Bloomsbury) to broadcaster Piers Morgan following his Twitter spat with its author J K Rowling. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling and Joe Wicks powered 2016 surge in UK book sales

Helped by Harry Potter and the hit fitness guru, year on year takings to December rose sharply to £1.59bnRetail sales struggled in 2016, but JK Rowling cast a spell strong enough to power sales towards a magical £1.6bn during the year, a rise of almost 5% on 2015, according to the latest annual... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What 2017 holds for book lovers

Dan Brown is back. Tolkien is back. Tony Abbott is back. Harry Potter is back (well, recycled in four new editions).  Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2017-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling books 2016: the ghosts of Christmas charts past

JK Rowling and Bill Bryson top the charts, while film tie-ins give Paula Hawkins and Jojo Moyes a second bite of the cherry – but this unpredictable year has also seen a welcome revival of humorous writingIt was a year when the No 1 book was a play script. When hyper-prolific James Patterson,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-12-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Monthly StatShot, July 2016

The release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child helped lift sales in the children’s/YA category 31.1% in July over the same month in 2015, according to figures released by the Association of American Publishers as part of its StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book and Reading Data Points from Amazon.com

The bestselling books over the holidays at the e-tailer were 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down,' 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' and a children's backlist book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Cursed Child' Boosts Kids' July Sales

The July publication of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' helped raise sales in the children's/young adult segment 31.1% in July over a year ago. July sales of adult books fell. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Cursed Child' Top Selling Book at Amazon in 2016

'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2' was Amazon's best-selling book of 2016 and was also the year's "most wished for" and "most gifted" book at the e-tailer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Essex Serpent beats Beatrix and Harry Potter to book prize

Sarah Perry's novel The Essex Serpent is named Waterstones Book of the Year ahead of a Beatrix Potter manuscript and a Harry Potter playscript. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2016-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Politics Tops in France; ‘Cursed Child’ Big in Germany, Italy

The top of France’s nonfiction list took on a political bent in October, with an exposé of French president François Hollande penned by investigative journalists Fabrice Lhomme and Gérard Davet after five years of research. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Warner Bros. to buy the rest of digital video company Machinima

Warner Bros. has signed a deal to buy the gamer-focused YouTube network Machinima in order to expand the movie and TV studio’s digital video business, the company said Thursday. Burbank-based Warner Bros., the studio behind film franchises like Harry Potter and DC Entertainment, was already a... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter helps Hachette UK to 30% third quarter sales rise

The release of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript, published by Little, Brown, has helped Hachette UK to grow its sales by 30.1% in the third quarter, according to results issued by its parent company Lagardere. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cunningham auctions personal Beedle The Bard edition

Chicken House m.d. Barry Cunningham, the man who acquired the manuscript for J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the late 1990s, is selling his unique edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard at Sotheby’s. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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