[NOTD] News Of The Day - 23/07/2007 - Page 2

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is released for sale in Moscow on July, 21, 3 a m. This is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series of novels by J.K.Rowling. On 21 July 2007, all editions but the American were released at a minute past midnight (00:01) BST, i.e.3 a.m. Moscow time; the American edition was released at a minute past midnight (00:01), local time. It was released globally in 93 countries. Moscow bookshops gave their readers a great opportunity to be the first buyers of their favorite book. That's why they worked 24 hours on Friday and Saturday and started to sell the English version at 3 a.m. sharp. The queue made of Harry Potter's fans started forming already at 1 a.m. In anticipation the readers discussed the last film and the possible plot of the novel. The shop-assistants assured everybody that there were enough books for all. At the appointed hour the Harry Potters books disappeared from the shelves. The lucky readers were happy to held dark green books, published by the Bloomsbury publishing house. This edition is for adults with a pendant on the cover and with a photo of the author. The most devoted readers started reading just in the shop on the floor or in the street. Neither late hour nor 700 page edition in English prevented Harry Potter fans from buying the book. What's important for them is to know as soon as possible who will stay alive and who will die in the final struggle between Harry Potter and his allies, and the ever-more-powerful and influential Voldemort and his allies, the Death Eaters. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is expected to be the best-ever-seller. It's the fist book to be ordered in the amount of sixty thousand copies for the Russian market. The English version is likely to be sold in nearly all the Russian bookshops.

Such a high demand on the English version only proves that more and more Russians can now read original English literature. Or may be the book about Harry Potter itself has grown up a new generation, being both a good teacher and perfect motivation.

As for the Russian version, usually it took about a year to translate a book. The seventh book is expected to be translated in four months, and Russian readers can enjoy it already in November. Sergei Iljin , Maya Lahuti who translated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will do the translation this time as well. The first edition of the Russian version will make up 1 800 000 copies.