Potter, Past and Present is a literary conference with added oak matured mead

Crack open a butterbeer, don your dress robes and set off some of Fred and George’s Exploding Whizz Poppers. The Harry Potter series turns 20 this year and everyone is celebrating.

What better way to celebrate than to get together with other fans and discuss the minutia of the wizarding world?

A two day Harry Potter conference is coming to the Book Club in Shoreditch next weekend, with presentations, panel discussions and a pop up Chamber of Secrets cocktail bar.

Potter, Past and Present is a literary conference with added oak matured mead, considering the impact the series has had and the legacy J.K. Rowling has created. Writers, academics, journalists and fans are bringing their appreciation of the books through a series of talks and discussions ranging from whether Harry Potter legitimised fanfiction to Dumbledore: Champ or Chump.

Find out how many people agree on whether Snape was a hero or a villain and how well the movies did the books justice (or not) - led by Percy Weasley himself (actor Chris Rankin).

Academics from the Universities of Oxford, Exeter, Kent, Roehampton and UCL talk subjects including: “The Patil Twins as a study in race in Harry Potter World”, “Death and Consolation: Modelling positive attitudes to loss in Harry Potter”, and “Will the Wizarding World Ever Learn? Circularity and mirroring in Harry Potter”.

There’s also a devilishly difficult quiz that’s strictly for the true connoisseurs.

Tickets are available from eventbrite and can be found at ldnpottercon.com, or wearetbc.com. A weekend pass is £15 and includes tickets to all talks, access to the Chamber of Secrets bar and free entry to the Book Club’s club night in the evening.

If it’s the quiz you’re into, Spectacular Pub Quizzes host their monthly Hogwhats Quiz at Concrete on Shoreditch High Street. Raising money for child.org, this is more than just a quiz – fancy dress isn’t compulsory but it is rewarded and there are potions, quidditch, owl post and all your favourite (and least favourite) Hogwarts teachers. spectacularpubquizzes.com/hogwhats.

People often ask: Do you still love Harry Potter after all this time? And we reply: Always.