Lana A. Whited edited the first collection of essays on the Harry Potter series, The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter (Missouri, 2002) as well as Critical Insights series volumes on the Harry Potter novels (2015, with M. Katherine Grimes) and the Hunger Games trilogy (2016). She is currently preparing the manuscript of The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond, a volume featuring essays on all Rowling’s published novels and the Fantastic Beasts series. Dr. Whited is director of the Boone Honors Program and professor of English at Ferrum College in Virginia and earned degrees at Emory & Henry College (BA), College of William & Mary (MA), Hollins (MA), and UNC Greensboro (PhD). She has received the Exemplary Teaching Award from the Council of Higher Education of the United Methodist Church and was a 2016 nominee for the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Awards. Her most recent book is Murder, in Fact: Death and Disillusionment in the American True Crime Novel (McFarland, 2020).