In literary news:

1. Final Harry Potter book to be released on July 21

The fate of fictional boy wizard Harry Potter will finally be revealed on July 21, the publication day for the seventh and last installment of J.K. Rowling's hugely successful book series.

In what promises to be one of the biggest publishing events in recent years, book stores and online retailers are bracing for another outbreak of Pottermania as fans across the world snap up copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Adding to Harry hype this summer will be the release just over a week earlier of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth Hollywood blockbuster based on the books.

... Speculation has been rife that Rowling, who became the world's first billion-dollar author on the back of the success of the Harry Potter books and spin-off movies, may kill Harry off at the end of book seven.

She said last year that at least two characters would die in the final book, and that she understood authors' desire to kill off the main character of a successful series.

My guess on the ending of the series is that Harry will sacrifice himself to defeat Voldemort. Whether this kills him or not, it would be a fantastic ending for a very good story.

2. Vatican defends choice of Doubleday as pope's publisher

The Vatican on Wednesday defended the choice of Doubleday to publish Pope Benedict's XVI new book, "Jesus of Nazareth", in North America. It underlined that Doubleday has previously published works by Popes John XXIII and John Paul II as well as "The Catechism of the Catholic Church."

The Vatican issued the statement in response to an article in an Italian newspaper, which pointed out that Doubleday is an imprint of Random House, which owns the rights to the controversial book "The Da Vinci Code."

... Benedict has said the book is a personal work about Jesus that is meant for general Catholic readers.

I have no doubt that this book will be awesome. The man is brilliant. He is also pretty funny:

In the preface to the Italian translation, Benedict said the book is "absolutely not an act" of Church authority and "therefore, everyone is free to contradict me."