On the morning of July 31, the launch of latest Harry Potter book enthralled Asia like never before. Hordes of fans dressed as witches and wizards headed towards bookstores to get their copies of the eighth book of the "Harry Potter" series. Between its two covers, the latest book has the script of the two-part play written by J.K. Rowling in collaboration with two unknown writers.
The launch parties of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" began a little while after the world premiere of the play in London. The event set the stage for the series' return which captured the imagination of readers and movie audiences all over the world with every book. Rowling said, "Harry is done now," Reuters reported.
In Singapore, some 300 fans crowded the Kinokuniya bookstore at Orchard Road around 7:01 am to become one of the world's first people to get their hands on the copies of the new script.
Student Samantha Chua, 24, along with her boyfriend, wearing a Harry Potter-themed sweater was first in line. She had been waiting outside the fourth-floor bookstore since 5 in the morning, AFP reported. "We were here so early that the mall wasn't even open," she told AFP, "Yet so we had to come up through the cargo lifts."
"I grew up reading the books and I have a special place for them on my shelves but this will be my crowning glory," Chua added.
The play is set 19 years apart from where the last book ends and features a grown-up hero who is employed at the Ministry of Magic. And like many of his fans who grew up reading the books, Potter now an adult, is married to Ginny Weasley and has three children. He still wears his trademark round-rimmed glasses and has the scar on his head. In the book, he is helping his youngest son Albus, deal with his family's dark past.
The script's global kickoff on July 31 (the day which is also J. K. Rowling's birthday) happened concurrently with its launch at midnight in London, right after the play's premiere at the Palace Theatre earlier in the evening.
Hundreds of fans thronged London's famous Picadilly street to get their hands on a copy of the book. Elsewhere, in Portugal, anxious fans queued outside Porto's historic center Lello, the Gothic Revival-style bookstore. In Bangkok, around 40 Potter fans, gathered outside a large downtown mall overnight. The first in the line which started queuing at 6:30 pm on Saturday evening was 29-year old Sanpipat Huangsawat. He managed to finally get his hand on the book after waiting 11 hours."I feel very excited and it's great to be the first owner of this book in Thailand," he told AFP.
At a downtown bookstore in Hong Kong, dozens gathered to get their copies of the arguably the most awaited book of the year.