Mereth Aderthad 2025

In July 2005, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild came to life as its original moderators, Dawn Felagund and ford_of_bruinen, invited their friends to a new group intended to serve as a writers' workshop for creators of fanfiction based on The Silmarillion.

This coming July marks the twentieth anniversary of the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, a group that has expanded well beyond its modest origins and now hosts all types of fanworks from hundreds of creators and serves as a resource for information and discussion about the complex work that is the "Silmarillion." As we commemorate twenty years, we seek to bring together the creative and research arms of our group's mission with a daylong hybrid event that celebrates the incredible creative and scholarly responses of our members and the broader "Silmarillion" community.

The event will feature presentations of research and scholarship alongside fiction, art, and other creative responses to the topics addressed. Ideally, each topic will have a research work, a poem or story, and a work of art that respond to the topic and dialogue with each other, along with opportunities for attendees to ask questions and converse with the various creators and presenters.

The Basics

Date: July 19, 2025

Location: South Burlington Library Community Room, Burlington, Vermont, United States and online via Zoom

How to Follow This Event:

• Subscribe to the SWG's weekly newsletter
• Join our Discord server and watch the #announcements channel for updates
• Follow us on Tumblr
• Follow us on Dreamwidth

All Tolkien fans are welcome to join us as presenters, creators, and attendees! You do not need to be a member of the SWG to participate. How do you want to get involved?

• I want to present my meta, research, or scholarship.
• I want to create art, write a poem or story, or create another type of fanwork.
• I want to attend.
• I want to volunteer.

Program 

We are pleased to share the program for presentations of meta and scholarship! Fanworks that will be shared as part of these sessions will be added soon as well. All times are in Eastern U.S. time.

9:00-9:15 Welcome!

9:15-9:45     
"Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol" by Stella Getreuer-Kostrouch

9:45-10:15     
"The Aromantic in Tolkien" by Shadow

10:15-10:45     
"The Design of Dragons and Doom of the Dwarves" by cloudyhymns

10:45-11:15     
"Gil-galad was an Elven King: Kingship and Personhood in the last High King of the Noldor" by Maglor

11:15-11:45     
"Exile, Ruin and Resistance: Beleriand as Postcolonial Palimpsest" by Dr. Zara Ashkenazi-Khan

11:45-12:15     
"By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf" by Savannah Horrell

1:00-1:30     
"Mythmakers vs. the made myths: Exploring a reader’s levels of religious alienation and connection in works about and by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis" by Acha Rezak (Quente)

1:30-2:00     
"Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium" by Paul D. Deane

2:00-2:30     
"Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation" by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates a.k.a. pandemonium_213

2:30-3:00     
"Twilight, Child Of: Comparisons Between Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel" by JazTheBard

3:00-3:30     
"How To Make a Star From a Tree: The Science of Telperion and Laurelin" by Zhie

3:30-4:00     
"'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium" by polutropos

Call for Presenters for Meta, Research, and Scholarship 

The call for presenters is now closed.

In the lead-up to Mereth Aderthad, we will be holding virtual sessions on how to write a proposal for and present at a Tolkien conference. These sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. If you need to change your display name before or during the event, learn how to do that here.

• So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Writing the Proposal. Learn what to expect from a Tolkien conference and how to turn your idea into a proposal.

• So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation. April 12, 2025 at 1:00PM Eastern Time (find this in my timezone). RSVP to have the date and session link emailed to you. Your proposal has been accepted and you have this block of empty time to ... do what exactly? Learn how to put together a polished, effective presentation.

• So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Actually Presenting! Date and time TBA. The day has come. You have your paper written, your slides and handouts ... and now you stand before your audience. Learn how to be an effective presenter.

Call for Fanworks 

Tolkien wrote eloquently of his desire to create a Secondary World that enticed readers beyond the words he placed on the page and into the "new vistas" that they imagined. Since at least the 1950s, Tolkien fans have been crafting stories, poems, art, music, crafts, and every other type of creative response imaginable as they seek these imaginative vistas. At the same time, fanworks creators have engaged with the deep questions and ideas that Tolkien's works provoke, using creative media instead of traditional scholarship to engage with the legendarium.

We are seeking creators interested in making fanworks for Mereth Aderthad 2025. These fanworks will match the topics and possibly respond to the research and scholarship being presented at the event. Ideally, each topic has a research/scholarly presentation, a story or poem, and a work of art, demonstrating the diverse ways that fans engage with the legendarium and the questions and ideas it poses.

Schedule/Timeline

• February 15: sign-ups for fanworks creators open
• April 15: progress check-in
• Fanwork Due Dates:
  • May 15: zine fanworks

Here is a more detailed breakdown of how the process will work:

• Read through the guidelines below; the sign-up link follows. You will choose to create a fanwork in one of the categories below for one of the Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentations.
  • Featured Art: a work of visual art related to the presentation it accompanies that will be displayed on the screen at Mereth Aderthad 2025 before the presentation begins and during the fanwork reading afterward.
  • Featured Writing: a written fanwork (ficlet, poem, or excerpt of a longer work) that will be presented at Mereth Aderthad 2025 following the presentation it accompanies. The work should be able to be presented in ten minutes or less.
  • Performing Art: a performing art (music, drama, dance, etc.) that will be performed at Mereth Aderthad 2025 following the presentation it accompanies.
  • Zine Art: a work of visual art in black-and-white/grayscale, created to accompany a presentation, that will be included in a zine available to Mereth Aderthad 2025 participants.
  • Zine Writing: a written fanwork, created to accompany a presentation, that will be included in a zine available to Mereth Aderthad 2025 participants.
• You will hear from an event volunteer after sign-ups close to confirm your assignment. This person will be your contact person as you work on your fanwork. You may also be put in touch with the person who will be doing the presentation your fanwork will accompany. (You will have this information available at sign-ups and should only sign up to create for presentations where you are comfortable with the level of collaboration requested by the presenter.)
• On April 15, your contact person will reach out to check in on the progress of your fanwork.

Attending Mereth Aderthad 2025 

Mereth Aderthad 2025 is open to both in-person and virtual attendees, and registration for both is free. Registration will remain open through the day of the event, so there is no deadline to register!

When you register for the event, you will be asked to provide a name and email address. While names will not be shared beyond a limited number of event organizers with access to the EventBrite account, we welcome attendees to register under a name they are comfortable using. Fannish pseudonyms are fine!

We will contact registrants only with updates about the event.

Please do not register for the event if you do not plan to attend. Ticketing services, online meeting platforms, and event amenities all cost money per attendee. We are happy to pay these costs to provide an opportunity for SWG members and friends to celebrate and participate in this event together! But we really cannot afford to pay for empty seats. Registration is open through the day of the event so if you realize you can join us last-minute, please do!

Likewise, if you register and something comes up that you cannot attend, please cancel your registration. Contact our moderators if you need help doing this.

Accessibility

• The virtual event will be held on Zoom with closed captioning enabled. Please note that closed captioning only works when you run Zoom off the app (mobile or desktop); it does not work when Zoom runs in the browser. If you are attending the live event and would like closed captioning on your device as well, register for both in-person and virtual tickets.
• COVID-19 Policy. Mereth Aderthad will follow all health and safety precautions recommended by the State of Vermont and the South Burlington Public Library. As of this writing, there are no COVID-19 restrictions in place. Masks and social distancing stickers will be provided at the event, and attendees are asked to please wear a mask if they are showing symptoms of or recovering from an illness.
• If you need an accommodation that is not detailed here, please reach out to the organizers and let us know!

Donation Policy

An event like this costs money to run, and some people have expressed that they would like to help offset the costs. When you register, you will have the option to register and donate to help cover costs of the event. This is optional, and we cannot stress enough that we would rather a person be able to attend than to have an extra few bucks toward the cost of the event!

Donations will be used as follows, in order of priority:

• First, any volunteers who made purchases toward Mereth Aderthad will be reimbursed.
• Next, donations will be used to provide benefits or offset costs for attendees, such as purchasing snacks or covering costs of the zine for contributors. The event's logistics committee will make decisions on how money will be spent to improve the event for attendees. Donations from virtual attendees will not be used to pay for any perks available only to in-person attendees.
• Finally, donations will be used to reimburse Dawn for costs associated with the event.

After the event, full disclosure of donations and what costs they were used to cover will be made publicly available.

Any remaining funds will be donated to the Abenaki Nation of the Missisquoi, the people upon whose stolen homeland our event will be held.

You can also donate to the event even if you are unable to attend.

Volunteer for Mereth Aderthad 2025 

We are seeking volunteers to both help plan Mereth Aderthad 2025 and help on the day of event, both in-person and remotely. If you are interested in volunteering, we recommend that you join our Discord and watch the #announcements channel for more information on how to get involved. You can also email the moderators or contact us via any of our social media platforms for more information.

Commitment to Inclusivity 

We highly value the diverse membership base that has made the SWG the group it is today. We want the SWG to be a place that not only welcomes but celebrates diversity and the various perspectives different fans bring both to reading Tolkien and the creation of Tolkien-based fanworks.

That said, we also recognize that Tolkien fandom has been both explicitly and structurally hostile and dismissive of fans from marginalized groups, especially fans who are Black, indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQIA+ fans; and fans with disabilities. As the SWG is part of the fandom and has benefited as an organization from the status quo, we therefore strongly feel that the SWG must be part of the solution, including governing events such that all participants not only feel safe but encouraged to participate.

• Use people's stated names and pronouns.
• Avoid discriminatory and biased language.
• Avoid making assumptions about other participants' identities.
• Create space for everyone to speak and be heard. We especially ask fans who come from typically privileged groups to be aware of not monopolizing conversations.

Being more inclusive is a learning process for all of us. Any space where we discuss ideas around popular culture, literature, and art has the potential to become uncomfortable for some participants. We ask that participants manage their comfort at the event by opting out of presentations and discussions that they find upsetting. At the same time, all participants are expected to:

• Give people space and pause communications if they ask for it. Do not follow, attempt to open conversations, or otherwise seek to engage with people who indicate that they do not want to engage. Unwanted, hostile, or threatening actions towards others is harassment and will not be tolerated.
• Respond to feedback from organizers around language or behaviors that are not acceptable for the event by refraining from that language or behavior going forward.

The organizers reserve the right to remove participants from the event who we believe are acting with intention to create a hostile environment for other participants or who do not demonstrate that they are willing to learn and change their behavior based on feedback from organizers.

Commitment to Sustainability and Social Responsibility 

The SWG is a small organization, and a core philosophy of our organization is the value of community-powered spaces, especially in the shadow of ever-growing large social and fandom platforms. With this comes a commitment to a sustainable and just world, where people have the capacity and empowerment to participate in critical and creative endeavors. In order that the SWG and Mereth Aderthad work to bolster the existence of small communities, environmental and economic sustainability, and social responsibility, we commit to the following:

• We will use locally sourced products and services whenever possible.
• When choosing products and services related to Mereth Aderthad, we will give priority to purchases that support businesses and individuals committed to environmental sustainability.
• Likewise, we will seek products and services from businesses and individuals that reflect social responsibility such as fair trade and fair labor practices.
• Recognizing that making sustainable or responsible choices is not necessarily straightforward, we will be intentional in our choices around these objectives and invite input from all members of the relevant committee before making a decision.

Mereth Aderthad Staff

The following volunteers are making Mereth Aderthad 2025 happen!

Event Organizer: Dawn "Felagund" Walls-Thumma 
Tech Lead: Grundy 
Social Media Manager: Shadow 
Graphics Design: Janeways 
Logistics Committee: Elleth, Grundy, Gryph, Independence1776, Janeways, Maglor, Quente, Shadow, Zhie 
Promotions Committee: Aprilertuile, Grundy, Himring, Janeways, Saelind, Shadow, Zhie 
Event Discord Moderation: Shadow and Maglor 
Event Photographer: Independence1776