Welcome to the Hogwarts Professor New Year’s Celebration! John and Nick look back to a packed 2025, as John looks forward to big changes in 2026. From the marathon Kanreki celebration in July to the joys of sharing The Hallmarked Man with friends around the world and plans for The Hogwarts Professor in 2026. John Granger, Nick Jeffery and the HogPro faculty wish you and your families a happy, healthy and fulfilled new year!

1.) John, this time last year you said “I’m hopeful that 2025 will be the most exciting year in Hogwarts Professor’s 20+ year history, at least the busiest since the madhouse period following the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” As someone who was part of the initial fandom frenzy, how did this year compare?

Not anything like 2007 which was a continuous love fest for Harry Potter and that series’ author, Woman of the Year, etc. I was on national teevee repeatedly in the run-up to Deathly Hallows publication and the weblog and podcasts and book sales and speaking dates all did numbers they will almost certainly never do again. Rowling world was the world undivided and I rode that tsunami wave for several years afterwards.

Times have changed. Rowling is a much more influential and consequently divisive figure. Her legacy is proving to be at least as great in the political realm as it is in literature with almost 14 million people reading her tweets and her books not selling that well if very well by any other measure.

And our role at Hogwarts Professor has changed correspondingly. We sided with Team Rowling against the Gender Theory Extremists in 2020 and were cancelled in consequence. No book deals, no speaking dates, and no podcasts because I refused to bend the knee to Potter fandom’s collective effort to cancel Rowling as a transphobic murderer for stating simple biological and psychological truths.

In 2025, though, as I hoped last December and January, we re-emerged as leaders of the Royal Society of Rowling Readers. I am still ostracised, of course, from Potter fandom conventions and the like as well as from Strike podcasts, but our conversations, Nick, have an ever growing following globally and locally and one participating in the best conversations anywhere about the artistry and meaning of Rowling’s work.

It’s been a great year and I am again hopeful, especially in light of our move east, that 2026 will be another break through year at Hogwarts Professor.

Nick and John share their highlights of 2025 -

2.) Non-Rowling HogPro Highlight

Nick - Suzanne Collins - Sunrise on the Reaping Elizabeth Baird-Hardy’s posts inspired me to not just read the Hunger Games series, but Gregor the Overlander as well.

John: The closing of ‘The Rowling Library’ magazine

3.) Highlight from the Lake:

Nick - Rowling’s blood disorder - von Willebrand Disease

John: Tough Call! High on my list were (1) Rowling’s legal fund for defending women discriminated against for gender critical beliefs and (2) Rowling in Greenland but I’m going to go with both Rowling’s 7 August ‘Lake and Shed’ Tweets and Rowling’s 12 September ‘Changes in Beliefs’ tweeting post Charlie Kirk.

4.) Highlight from the Shed:

Nick - the Golden Threads! We have shared “Pregnancy Traps” and “Lost Child” threads this year which join “Bad Dad” and “Ghosts” which feature front and centre in “Hallmarked Man”

John: Mythology – the forgotten Shed tool or more precisely the one neglected by even the most serious Strikers and Potter Pundits despite our efforts here really came to the fore in the wake of Rowling’s tweet post Hallmarked Man kerfuffle along with the advent of mythological mavin Dimitra Fimi’s into our conversations.

5.) Highlight from Rowling Inc:

Nick - The all-cast audio editions of Harry Potter

John: Casting decisions about Bronte Studios/Netflix casting decisions for the small screen teevee adaptations – Black Snape!

6.) Highlight from The Hallmarked Man release:

Nick - That first English language sneak peek from Germany and the Robin ectopic pregnancy reveal!

John: The realisation that for the first time Rowling wasn’t writing a self-contained Strike mystery with over-arching story details but the first of a three-part series-ending piece in which many of the players from the book will be returning in feature roles.

7.) Highlight book 9 and 10 tease:

John - Cupid and Psyche

Nick - J. K. Rowling’s fourth (or fifth) charm bracelet.

8.) John Introduces the Kanreki Project and its relationship to fourth generation potter scholarship….

· 55 total Substack posts 2023-2024

· 3 posts Jan-June 2025…

· 31 posts in July and 34 since (today #69)

The Goal: Shift the Rowling Reader focus from latest book to work as a whole with the three critical taxonomy categories of Lake springs, Shed tools, and Golden Thread as our guides or lenses

The Means: the Kanreki blitz of Lake, Shed, and Golden Thread highlights from all of Rowling’s work in celebration of Rowling’s 60th birthday (the old) and the follow-up engagement with Serious Strikers before and after the publication of Hallmarked Man (the new)

The Results:

We nowhere near the finish line or even, I think, the avalanche tipping point that an authorised critical biography will push us over, but we have cleared the forest and prepared the field for that event, work that we will take another quantum leap forward in 2026 with our Lake, Shed, and Golden Thread Rowling Studies 101 online class.

Which is to say that this is the year that the Substack Platform has really taken off, with an engaging and intelligent comments section that is really unparalleled, certainly J. K. Rowling fandom. I think much of this has been generated by our video conversations here. We have moved from the audio only Rowling Studies podcast; Nick, as the technical wizard, can you give us a peek behind the curtain? How have we done this, and what’s next?

9.) One of the reasons I’m exploring better quality audio and video, is that we can start creating content that can be used as a reference, potentially for many years. Once we can do this, then we can start offering online courses, can we say anything yet about our plans, John?

John: As soon as I’m settled in, we’ll finish the Hallmarked Man ring charting (I’ve been listening to the painful Part Five chapters while packing…) and then offer a free five part introduction to L/S/GT thinking and survey of what is known in those categories followed by a ten week course for those wanting a much deeper appreciation of Rowling, roots, branches, and leaves

10.) John and Nick Wish Fulfillment Predictions for 2026

John: Special guests on our shows – Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Beatrice Groves, Lindsey and Company from Strike Fans

Nick: A proper interview with Beatrice Groves, Dimitry Fimi or John Granger. I’m more than happy to be the impartial invigilator.

John: Critical Biography news, More Rowling Biographical Reveals

Nick: A biography! (Authorised)

John: Michael is Doorstepped and Tells All!

Nick: A book! We know Rowling has the plots for a further 5 books one of which is “futuristic” but not set in space. But not the WB television reboot, that is scheduled for 2027!

John: Rowling Confirms ‘Ending Trilogy Theory’

Nick: Rowling to talk about Fantastic Beasts – this will be difficult…

John: Rowling is Special Guest on Hogwarts Professor Show

Nick: A get together, with The HogPro team.

Apologies for limited commenting on threads and posting during my family relocation!

Thank you for your patience, support, and prayers since November and in the coming month!

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