Press Release issued: 19 October 2012.
A group of blind and partially sighted young Harry Potter fans will today celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Hogwarts wizard's last adventure in the hotel suite where author JK Rowling penned it.
Eight members of the Haggeye youth forum for young people with sight loss are holding the event in Room 552 of the landmark Edinburgh hotel, The Balmoral. They aim to help highlight the shortage of books available in audio, braille and large print.
The hotel-room, overlooking the capital's Princes Street, occupies a magical place in the annals of Potterdom. Spellbound fans from all over the world have flocked to the five-star hotel asking to stay or just peek inside it.
The room already boasts a bookcase containing all seven Harry Potter novels, and an ornamental bust that was autographed by JK Rowling when she finished writing 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' there in early 2007. This afternoon, the Haggeye members will present the hotel with a framed cover of the audio version of the novel.
Tuesday Berry (21) from Glasgow, who has optic nerve hypoplasia, said: "I have the Harry Potter audio-books which means I can enjoy them in a whole other way! Having these come out at the same time as standard print meant I was able to discuss the books with my sighted peers. It's very important when you're young not to feel excluded from the things your friends are talking about. By supporting Read for RNIB Day, more young people will get the same chance to enjoy books at the same time as their friends."
Hussein Patwa (25) from Aberdeen said: "It's a real thrill to actually be in the room where the last Harry Potter novel was written. We all grew up with the books so to be here, in a place with such strong connections to the author and the characters, is magic. It was very good of The Balmoral to 'donate' the room to us for a spell this afternoon.
"It was wonderful to be able to read the books at the same time as our sighted friends, without the inconvenience of depending on other people, thanks to the books being transcribed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People. That's why we are holding this event to help highlight 'Read for RNIB Day' today."
Ken Reid, chair of RNIB Scotland, who lost his own sight in his twenties, said: "While most people don't think twice about what books are available to them in stark contrast, the choice for blind and partially sighted readers is very limited. Many of the titles most people take for granted just don't exist for us. Only seven per cent of books published in the UK ever make it into any alternative format."
RNIB sends out 1.5 million talking books each year and almost 34,000 braille and giant print books. The youngest reader is six years old and the oldest over 100. It takes five days on average to record a RNIB Talking Book and costs £2,500, and £1,500 to produce a book in braille. Last year only 2,600 new titles were added to the RNIB National Library, compared with around 150,000 new titles in standard print.