Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Relief Group To Reprint Harry Potter Books

By Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Washington
02 June 2009


A US-Japan aid group has received permission from the author of the Harry Potter book series to translate her second book royalty-free and sell it in Cambodia.

Bernie Krisher, head of American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia, and Neou Ty, his assistant, told “Hello VOA” Thursday that they had recently received permission from the Christopher Little Literary Agency, agents to JK Rowling, to publish her second book, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

Several years ago, Krisher received permission to translate and publish her first book, "Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone." The first book cost $2 per copy to print but sell at a loss for only $0.60 to make it more affordable for Cambodian children.

“I would like to urge parents to encourage their children to read more books to continue our reading culture,” Neou Ty said Thursday.

The group is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving opportunities for the youth and rural poor in Cambodia.

Founded in 1993 by American journalist Bernie Krisher, the organization operates interlinked programs across Cambodia in the areas of education, health, rural development, and technology.

One “Hello VOA” listener wanted to know if he can buy the book in his hometown.

Unfortunately, Neou Ty said, the books are currently only being sold in Phnom Penh. He was looking for a way to distribute them in the provinces, he said.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Harry Potter in Cambodia

May 5, 2009
By Nicholas Kristof
New York Times


I’ve written occasionally about Bernard Krisher’s work in Cambodia, building schools and keeping girls in school through American Assistance for Cambodia. Bernie is a former journalist who developed a passion for Cambodia and has devoted his life to raising living standards there. Late last year, my own family visited Cambodia to see the opening of a school that we donated through Bernie.

One of the frustrations in trying to teach kids to read there is that, frankly, there aren’t a lot of great books to teach with. And exciting stories that might entice young people to read often aren’t translated into Khmer, the Cambodian language. So a few years ago, Bernie convinced J.K. Rowling to donate the rights to the first book so that a low-priced Khmer version could be published, so as to hook young people into reading. Now J.K. Rowling has agreed to donate the rights to the second book in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so that it can be published in Khmer as well. The upshot will be another cheap page-turner to get young Cambodians to read more — and kids in huts around the country will be starry-eyed about broomsticks and owls and Harry’s adventures. So, thank you, J.K. Rowling and Bernie Krisher!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Hurry for Harry Potter in Phnom Penh

A Western woman and a girl walk through a bookstore door decorated with a poster of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' book in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 20, 2007. Quick sellout is expected in Cambodia for the small stock of the final version of Harry Potter book following its official release this weekend, a book dealer said Friday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)