Reading, Writing, Rowling

On this episode, we're reading Harry Potter through trauma theory, Fat Studies, and semiotics - and from the perspective of a nonbinary trans scholar of young adult literature. What does it meant to be a Potter scholar? Get a glimpse of one academic's research into a variety of topics in the Harry Potter books. In this episode, Emily and Katy talk with Tolonda Henderson, former librarian and current scholar of the intersections of disability, race, and adolescence in young adult literature, about their research into the seven-book series. Tolonda shares how they became interested in Potter scholarship, wondering "Why is Madame Pince so useless?" and then moving to a wide array of Potterian topics. "What the text says matters," Tolonda explains, and so looking closely at the language and symbols used in the books has become an essential part of their study of Harry Potter and other young adult literature. Tolonda decodes for us the symbolic and textual memorialization of Harry's family in Godric's Hollow