Last Harry Potter conjures mania in three Romanian cities

Children in Romania gathered in the main book stores in the country to be one of the first to buy the book and events were organized in Bucharest, Iasi and Timisoara. The launch was organized by the Carturesti bookshop in the three cities. According to Stefan Nita from the Carturesti public relations department, the launch brought around 500-600 Harry Potter fans to Carturesti in Bucharest, both adults and children.
The celebrations moved to the Patria cinema. Two “magic schools” of 20 children each performed charms and competed for prizes which consisted of Harry Potter audiobooks or movies, as well as the grand prize: the latest edition of Harry Potter.
Carrefour Militari also organized a launch celebration. Children took part in a session of body painting and drawing competitions and received books from the Harry Potter series.
The Humanitas Kretzulescu bookshop was another meeting place for impatient fans who wanted to get possession of the volume as soon as possible, welcoming them with torches and candles, magicians, games, prize competitions and sweets.
So far, a week since the launch, Carturesti has sold around 1,000 copies, even though they are in English. The Romanian translation of the volume will be launched in December. “This is a positive trend but this has always happened with the books from the Harry Potter series,” said Nitu. The launch of the seventh volume coincided with the premiere of the fifth movie “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
Carturesti invested EUR 15,000 in the entire launch event. This is not the first time the store has organized a Harry Potter event. The previous volume, launched two years ago, benefited from the same treatment as Romania joined the wizard mania and aligned with launch celebrations organized all over the world. “Two years ago we organized the launch of the sixth Harry Potter volume in Bucharest and Iasi and it enjoyed greater animation,” said Nita, who explained that this year the Harry Potter fans had more options to choose from to celebrate.

Otilia Haraga