CHESTERTOWN, MD—Janet Sorrentino, associate professor of history at Washington College, will apply her scholarly expertise in the Renaissance period to the teachings of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as part of Chestertown’s first Harry Potter Festival on Friday, September 26. Her talk will take place at 4:30 pm at The Bookplate, 112 S. Cross Street, in Chestertown’s historic downtown. 

In creating Harry Potter’s world for books, author J.K. Rowling drew on a culture of books and magic that would have been very familiar to scholars and savants in the Renaissance. Sorrentino’s lecture will highlight themes such as herbalogy, alchemy, and secret societies, with illustrations from surviving Renaissance texts. 

The Harry Potter Festival runs Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27, 2014. For more information visit www.chestertownhpfest.org. Professor Sorrentino’s talk is sponsored in part by the Chestertown Book Festival.