Books 26 June 2017 Harry Potter Week Celebrating 20 years of Harry Potter. Sign UpGet the New Statesman\'s Morning Call email. Sign-up Do you know what day it is? Today is Monday 26 June 2017 – which means it’s 20 years since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published in the UK. That’s two decades of knowing and loving Harry Potter. Here at the New Statesman, a solid 90 per cent of the online staff live and breathe Harry Potter. So we thought now would be the perfect time to run a week of Potter-themed articles. We’ve got a mix of personal reflections, very (very) geeky analysis, cultural criticism, nostalgia, and some truly bizarre fan fiction. You have been warned. See below for the full list, which will be updated throughout the week: Jonn Elledge and the Young Hagrid Audition Amelia Tait: Harry Potter didn’t cure my depression – but for an hour a day, it helped Edinburgh in the time of Harry Potter: Julia Rampen on growing up in a city that became famous for a book The boy who lies: Lizzie Palmer on what the Daily Prophet can teach us about fake news Harry Potter and the Rift in Time: a Stephen Bush fanfic Forbidden forests: India Bourke explores how Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows saved the trees Bethany Rose Lamont on what we can learn from Harry Potter’s “mad women” Eleanor Margolis: At the age of 13, I’d never read any erotica – until I discovered Hermione/Ginny fan fiction Caroline Crampton: I loved rereading Harry Potter as an adult – until I got stuck Why the wizarding world is a dystopian, totalitarian nightmare, by Hannah Rose Woods Fudge, boarding schools and King's Cross station: how Harry Potter introduced me to British culture James Cooray Smith explains how to talk about Harry Potter if you’ve never read Harry Potter The Quizoner of Azkaban: Nick Hilton on his life trapped in Harry Potter trivia Anoosh Chakelian: the Harry Potter audiobooks have a magic of their own The Harry Potter generation: Anna Leszkiewicz on why The Boy Who Lived lives on The definitive list of the most underrated Harry Potter characters The (second) SRSLY Harry Potter Podcast! › Jonn Elledge and the Young Hagrid Audition Anna Leszkiewicz is culture editor of the New Statesman.