J.K. Rowling grants open license for teachers reading 'Harry Potter' online during coronavirus pandemic

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by grepnork
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J.K. Rowling granted an open license for teachers to post videos of themselves reading aloud from the “Harry Potter” books while students are cooped up at home and schools are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The bestselling author and her agents The Blair Partnership announced in a Friday post that they are relaxing the usual copyright permissions.

Educators can upload videos of them reading the texts from the seven “Harry Potter” books onto schools’ secure networks or closed educational platforms until the end of the school year.

“Delighted to help teachers reach kids at home by relaxing the usual licence required to post videos of themselves reading Harry Potter books,” Rowling posted on Twitter.

“Be well, everyone,” she wrote before adding the hashtag #HarryPotterAtHome.

Delighted to help teachers reach kids at home by relaxing the usual licence required to post videos of themselves reading Harry Potter books. Go to https://t.co/77d90pkiYK to find the guidelines. Be well, everyone. More soon! #HarryPotterAtHome — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 20, 2020

Schools across the globe are closed during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 284,566 people as of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.

There are more than 4,000 confirmed cases in the United Kingdom and 177 deaths from the contagious disease.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister in Rowling’s home country of Britain, announced this week that all schools would be closed indefinitely.

Brisan7 on March 21st, 2020 at 16:41 UTC »

Or else it would have been Expecto Cease and Desistum.

erikeu4account on March 21st, 2020 at 16:32 UTC »

In before Warner makes automated strikes against them anyways

true_spokes on March 21st, 2020 at 16:01 UTC »

As a teacher I really feel this. I’m currently making YouTube videos of myself reading a novel for my kids who are reading from home. If YouTube were to take down the videos I’m not sure what I’d do.