wow...THAT's a book reading

[jenk]

Authors: J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and John Irving.

Venue? Radio City Music Hall, which seats 6,000.

Source: New York Times.

Harry Potter may not be making another appearance yet, but his creator, J. K. Rowling, will be coming to New York in August, when she joins Stephen King and John Irving at a charity reading at Radio City Music Hall. It will be Ms. Rowling's first visit to the United States in six years.

The writers will raise money for the Haven Foundation, Mr. King's newly founded charity to help performing artists who have suffered illnesses or debilitating accidents that prevent them from working, and for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, an international medical group that brings emergency aid to people in disaster zones.

Tickets will range from $12.50 to $100 apiece, with $1,000 family packages including four orchestra seats and a signed book from each of the authors. All proceeds will go to the charities. Simon & Schuster and Scholastic are sponsoring the event.

Ms. Rowling, who last visited the United States in 2000, was wooed by Mr. King, a fan of the Potter series. The two have never met, though after Mr. King's 1999 car accident, Ms. Rowling sent him a copy of one of her books. Last October he wrote her a letter asking her to come and read.

"I loved the stuff that she does, and I thought if we had her, we could actually make a huge amount of money for charities," Mr. King said in an interview. "I thought that we could actually fill a really, really large venue." (Radio City seats close to 6,000 people. )

In a statement Ms. Rowling said: "Stephen pretended to be in suspense about my answer, but frankly, this was easily one of the most enticing propositions ever put to me in an envelope."

Mr. King said he wanted to raise money for artists who suffered from illness or accidents after getting involved with fund-raising efforts for Frank Muller, a well-known audiobook reader who was in a debilitating accident in 2001. Mr. King also worked with Mr. Irving when Mr. Irving organized a series of readings to raise money for Andre Dubus, the short-story writer. Mr. Dubus, who died in 1999, was hit by a car in 1986 while helping a fallen motorcyclist.

In a statement Mr. Irving said he was looking forward to meeting Ms. Rowling, whom he credited with "introducing an entire generation of readers to long, complicated plotted novels."