Citizen Moore: The Making of An American Iconoclast wins ForeWord Magazine's Gold Award for Biography.

Here is what author William Least-Heat Moon, author of Blue Highways and River Horse has to say about Steven Faulkner's Waterwalk: "Thank you so much for sending along Steve Faulkner's Waterwalk, and please pass along to him my admiration for his long voyage and for setting down his account in a most capable prose style. Well done on both counts."

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PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT/CONCLUSIONS OF LAW SUBMITTED IN HARRY POTTER LEXICON CASE Attorneys defending RDR Books and the Harry Potter Lexicon submitted their findings of fact and conclusions of law to New York Federal District Court Judge Robert Patterson Jr. on May 9. Judge Patterson heard the lawsuit brought by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment in a three day trial ending April 16. He will now rule whether or not the Muskegon, Michigan publisher can publish author Steve Vander Ark's 400 page reference book based on a popular seven year-old fan website that reaches more than 25 million people annually. At the New York trial RDR attorneys David Hammer, Lizbeth Hasse, Anthony Falzone and Julie Ahrens argued that the Lexicon, with a projected first printing of just 10,000 copies, would not harm a similar work planned by Rowling who has sold over 300 million copies of her Harry Potter novels worldwide. "We do not think we are a threat to J.K. Rowling," said RDR Books publisher Roger Rapoport. The Stanford University Law School Fair Use Project is also defending the right to publish the Lexicon. The Right to Write Fund, an activity of the Center for Ethics in Action, a public nonprofit 501C3, is supporting defendant RDR Books.

ROWLING v. RDR BOOKS TRIAL CONCLUDES UNDER MEDIA SPOTLIGHT The trial of J.K. Rowling's copyright claims against RDR Books and the Harry Potter Lexicon concluded April 16 after three days of testimony. Full transcripts of each day's proceedings are attached below. The Hon. Robert P. Patterson will decide the case following post-trial submissions from the parties on May 9. RDR books gratefully acknowledges the work of our legal team, David Hammer, Lizbeth Hasse, Anthony Falzone, Julie Ahrens, the Stanford University Law School Fair Use Project and the additional work of Robert Handelsman and Craig Monette. We also appreciate the many contributions made to the Center for Ethics in Action's Right to Write Fund which has helped to underwrite some of the cost of defending the Lexicon during this six month legal process. We also want to thank those of you who have taken the time to write in support of the Lexicon and author Steve Vander Ark. Your articulate letters and emails mean a great deal to all of us.

The trial generated a flurry of interest from press and public alike, and was covered extensively by the New York Times as well as the Wall Street Journal and other major news outlets. Here are links to what writers are saying about the case in the London Times, the Guardian, MSNBC, the Financial Times, the Ottawa Citizen and the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Muskegon Chronicle, Newsweek as well as at Neil Gaiman's Techdirt, ken-jennings.com, Stanford Professor John Willinsky and Orson Scott Card's Rhino Times.

In the New York Times:
Rowling to Testify in Trial Over Potter Lexicon, April 14, 2008.
Rowling Testifies Against Lexicon Author, April 15, 2008.
Sued by Harry Potter's Creator, Lexicographer Breaks Down on the Stand, April 16, 2008.
Trial Over Potter Lexicon Ends With an Olive Branch, April 17, 2008.

Dan Slater at the Wall Street Journal Law Blog attended the trial and provided particularly detailed coverage and observations. Read his coverage here as well as here.

Full trial transcripts: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

More details about the case can be found on Anthony Falzone's blog. All available background information on the Harry Potter Lexicon lawsuit is available here.

RDR Books appreciates the many expression of enthusiastic support for our author Steve Vander Ark and his Harry Potter Lexicon. To each and every one of you that has taken the time and trouble to write to us we say, thank you. It is heartening to know that you share our concern for the first amendment rights of authors.

Media contacts for the Harry Potter Lexicon case.

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WELCOME TO RDR BOOKS, an independent book publisher in the Muskegon, Michigan area. For fifteen years RDR has been publishing travel literature, Judaica, guidebooks, history, biography, education, sports, guidebooks and children's literature. Our books are sold throughout the Americas and in translation around the world. Click here to view all of RDR's books in our online store. Questions? Contact us.

NOW CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF BOOK PUBLISHING, RDR Books is proud to honor the authors, editors, booksellers and librarians who have been central to our success. With more than a million copies of RDR Books in print here in America and in translation around the world, we are grateful to you the reader. Please join with us in the months ahead as we share some of the stories behind our company.
• IN THE BEGINNING
•RDR BOOKS PHOTO GALLERY  Updated 3/24/08