Divergent as YA Wednesday Weekend Pick, The Harry Potter Academic Conference and Author Chat on The Running Grave

 I'm still hard at work on my cratylic names post, which is taking a while, given the number of names in The Running Grave, but I wanted to share a few bits of news that I am excited about. First, although The Running Grave and other Strike posts have understandably dominated here for the last few weeks, I never intended this blog to center exclusively on Strike, or Strike/Harry Potter connections. My first love is young adult literature and, while my scholarship into psychological themes in YA literature was triggered by Harry Potter, my interests spread well beyond that series. 

I was delighted to see on Facebook that Veronica Roth's Divergent was the featured weekend pick on Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday page. If you teach YA literature or, like me, simply enjoy reading it, this page is well worth following. For Divergent enthusiasts out there, here are some links to some of my earlier posts on that series, as well as to some talks and podcasts I have done on the topic. 

Two key posts on the Divergent Factions and their connections to Five Factor Personality theory. Part I and Part II. 

Those posts became my first Hogpro material ever cited in in a scientific conference paper.  That research was eventually published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I wrote about a few other Divergent-based topics, too:

The use of mirror neurons. 

The significance of the zip-lining adventure,

The movie screening with the Mary Baldwin psychology department. 

Why Allegiant might have worked better with epigenetic rather than genetic experimentation. 

Finally, for those interested in Divergent-Harry Potter connections, I will point you to:

My Mugglenet Academia appearance:  Tris Transfigured!

And 

My Chestnut Hill presentation on Tris Prior and Hermione Granger as twin personalities. 

Speaking of the Harry Potter Academic Conference, we are only a week away!  It is all online this year and, though I will miss seeing all my favorite Potter buddies in person, it is a great opportunity for anyone to attend, without the expense of travel. For $15, you can get two days of amazing Potter and Rowling scholarship. My own talk, which, I believe, will be the first-ever academic presentation on The Running Grave, is Friday morning. 

Finally, speaking of TRG, there will be a Facebook discussion with the author on Thursday, October 19th, at 7 PM BST, (2 PM EST, for those of us in the US).  I may well be on the road from Tennessee to Virginia then, but maybe I can time lunch at a fast food joint with Wifi and tune in then, 

That's it for now; back to the name game.