THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS - the case against J.K.Rowling.

These pages concern the similiarities in content and style between Harry
Potter and the series built around him and another little book written for
children that precedes the first Harry Potter novel by several years.
That book is called Travels with Li Po. It was written by William Kelly, one of
The Bogside Artists of Derry, Northern Ireland who have gained fame for their
political commemorative murals in their hometown. The People's Gallery that
they created contains twelve large-scale murals that tell the story of the
Anglo-Irish conflict from 1968-98. These murals are visited by thousands of
people each year from all over the world.

This document has been put together by us, not in a spirit of revenge or ill-will
towards J.K Rowling and her associates, nor to get publicity for ourselves, least
of all to make a 'quick killing' at somebody else's expense. It is put together as
a clarion call for the protection of artists' rights to the fruitage of their own
mental and spiritual labours and in defense of their God-given right to freedom
of expression. For Rowling herself, who is not acting alone, we feel nothing but
commiseration, as the facts will out sooner or later, as they always do, and
history will be the judge, as it always is. Those who are sceptical of Harry Potter
and his origins have every right to be so and what is presented here will provide
more than enough grounds for that scepticism. If, that is, you can break through
the barrier of the 'incredible', or are strong enough to draw your own
conclusions and express them when beset by the legal hounds and spin doctors
arrayed against you who are dedicated to making sure you keep your scepticism
to yourself unless you have proof to 'substantiate' them, to use one of their
favourite words. This is the avoidance of scrutiny, nothing more, nothing less.

The book TRAVELS WITH LI PO was written in 1990, years before the
appearance of the first Harry Potter book and in the year Rowling claims she
was writing hers. J.K Rowling came across Travels with Li Po while she was
working at Amnesty where William had sent his book for consideration.
Rowling read his book and entered into a correspondence with him concerning
it before informing him that Amnesty would not be publishing his work. You
can find out more about this from The Bogside Artists blog.

Travels with Li Po was born out of a period of intense, political upheaval and
directly reflects the struggle of a people towards freedom and of an individual
towards enlightenment. It mirrors the sixties and the prevailing spiritual
concerns of that turbulent period and uses Jungian ideas as the foundation for
some of its themes. It is ironic indeed that a book that was born out of a
struggle for human rights, freedom of speech being one of them, should become
the focus of an attempt by certain people to negate that very right by the use of
legal intimidation to prevent any public scrutiny of Rowling's claims. It's
hero is Owen Muldoon, an orphaned boy caught up in a parallel world
where he is in training to be the person he doesn't as yet know himself to
be - a sorcerer.