Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for BusinessWeek. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. It was released this week.

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A Blog on Russia, Central Asia and
the Caucasus

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Harry Potter in Kazakhstan


When the final volume in the Harry Potter series went on sale last Saturday, an 18-year-old college student named Sabila Baimukhamedova was one of the first to snag a copy in Almaty, the Kazakh business capital. The price at the Turkish grocery Ramstore -- a whopping $56 in tenge, compared with $17.99 charged by Amazon.



Her mother, Dilda, bought it for her. "It was ridiculously expensive, but I drove my mom crazy for about two weeks before it came out, and she knows that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan," Sabila says. The actor who plays Harry in the movies, Daniel Radcliffe, says that Sabila is not his only Kazakh fan.

Sabila, an engineering student who will start at Coopers Union in New York in the Fall, says she finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in seven hours, reading all night.



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posted by Steve at 3:05 PM

3 Comments:

Anonymous Mike said...

In other news:

Blogger Alison Hansel just released the book "Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter" (Wiley). Hansel's publishers have partnered with Warm Woolies to donate Potter-themed hats to children in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal reservations in South Dakota.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuar/.artsmain/article/1/1083/1114005/Columns/Counting.the.days.til.the.'Deathly.Hallows'/

Those hats should come in handy in winter. I wonder if they are warm enough for the climate, though.

July 24, 2007 9:40 PM  
Blogger Steve said...

If they go to the orphanages, that would be great, whatever time of year.

July 25, 2007 7:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tell them they should go to orphanages. I'm sure they will like the idea. The scope of their work goes well beyond Harry Potter. Their website: http://www.warmwoolies.org/
If you know how they can get in touch with orphanages, they will undoubtedly welcome your suggestion(s).

July 26, 2007 6:57 AM  

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