Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Eönwë Week 2024
We are pleased to announce the coming of Eönwë Week, a fandom event dedicated to our favourite Herald. The event will run from August 12th to 18th 2024 on Tumblr.
Prompts
August 12th: Genesis | Air | Almaren
August 13th: Friendships | Herald | Valinor
August 14th: War | Celeg Aithorn | Beleriand
August 15th: Romance | Mercy | Taniquetil
August 16th: Lost Tales | He Of The Sun | Son of Manwë
August 17th: Eagles | Duty | Noldor
August 18th: Freeform
Rules
- Have fun!
- This event should not be the vehicle to characters hate, bigotry, racism, transphobia and other less savoury behaviours. This is a safe event for lgbtqia+ people and behaviours reflecting any type of threats against this community will be blocked without any tolerance. it’s 2024, get over yourself.
The mods hold the rights to arbitrarily refuse someone’s participation to the event following that user’s behaviour toward others in the fandom. - Nsfw / dark content / dead dove are accepted but should be tagged properly.
- No AI generated works will be accepted, including ai generated art, writing, photo manipulation etc.
- Prompts are here as a general guidance, you are free to interpret them as you want.
- Respect other users’ entries. If something is not to your liking you are not entitled to let it known. Simply scroll down. it is that easy.
- Tag your entry with #eonweweek or mention this blog in your post to be reblogged.
Teitho August/September Contest: Do you remember ...?
Our prompt for August/September is “Do you remember . . .”
This prompt can be used for any character, any book, any timeframe in Tolkien’s work! We can’t wait to see what memories you will use for your stories and art this month!
Will you have your characters think back on good times or bad? Difficult days or ones of joy? A simple day or a fraught one?
Is it a thought going back to the Light of the Two Trees? The first sunrise over Beleriand?
The shadows of Menegroth? The caves of Nargothrond? The Halls of Theoden? Sunlight on a river?
Or perhaps three stone Trolls? A raven? Or the taste of strawberries on a spring day in the Shire?
Please do remember to submit your story/art for this prompt to teitho.contest@gmail.com by September 30, 2024!
August challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth
The August challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth.
The thematic challenge is: magic trees.
This could be any variety and degree of enchantment, powers or sentience: the Trees of Valinor, the White Tree, Old Man Willow, Huorns, Mirkwood, etc.
The formal challenge is: call and response.
This is essentially the idea that there is a leader or lead voice that makes the calls and a group that responds, whether in music and song, in poetry, or in dialogue and maybe other forms of prose.
Typical for call and response are all kinds of working songs from all over the world, choral music with solo voices, and some religious traditions. Think also of cheerleading and political speech-making and any kind of gathering where someone is trying to whip up a mood.
But feel free to adapt in any way you like. At a pinch, your chorus doing responses can be a group of one and you could have just two participants!
Either prompt can be filled independently of each other and combined with other challenges that allow that, such as the SWG monthly challenges.
More details at the linked post.
New participants welcome.
August 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Journal of Tolkien Research Special Issue: Asexuality and Aromanticism in Tolkien’s Legendarium
Queer scholarship in Tolkien studies has made great strides in recent years, from David Craig’s “‘Queer Lodgings’: Gender and Sexuality in ‘The Lord of the Rings’” (2001) to Jane Chance’s Tolkien, Self and Other (2016) and Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor’s Tolkien and Alterity (2017). At a critical juncture of growth, this sub-field is poised to evaluate and address any gaps that exist as the field moves forward. One such gap, in both Tolkien studies and queer studies, is asexuality and aromanticism, which, while part of the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, are significantly underrepresented in scholarship and interpretation.
Asexuality, defined broadly as not experiencing sexual attraction to other people, and aromanticism, not experiencing romantic attraction to other people, convey a spectrum of individual experiences (ace-spectrum, or aspec). Aspec perspectives not only represent these individual identities and experiences but also illuminate and refresh understandings of love, desire, relationships, communities, and culture. Implemented within literary interpretation, an aspec lens offers insights into characters, plots, themes, narrative structures, and much more.
In order to address a gap in queer scholarship in Tolkien studies and to solicit new perspectives that can deepen understandings of Tolkien’s work, we invite submissions for a proposed special issue in Journal of Tolkien Research that focuses on asexuality and aromanticism in Tolkien’s work.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
- Aspec readings of individual characters
- Interpretations of love/relationships beyond (but not necessarily excluding) romantic, sexual, and/or platonic love
- Intersections between aspec theory and gender, disability, race, or other critical theory
- Comparative readings between Tolkien’s work and other fiction
- Amatonormativity or aspec aspects in Tolkien’s work, life, and historical context
- Reception of Tolkien’s work by aspec readers
- Aspec interpretations within adaptations of Tolkien’s work
- Interpretations focused on specific identities within the ace-spectrum, including demi-
- sexual/romantic, grey-sexual/romantic, etc.
Proposals/abstracts of a maximum of 300 words, along with a short bio and working bibliography (not included in word count), should be sent via email to aspectolkien@gmail.com no later than midnight Eastern Time on August 31, 2024.
Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2025
Hosted by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, the International Congress on Medieval Studies is an annual gathering of thousands of scholars interested in medieval studies. The Congress embraces the study of all aspects of the Middle Ages, extending into late antiquity and the early modern period, including—but not limited to—history, language, literature, linguistics, art, archaeology, religion, science, medicine, music, drama, philosophy, gender, sexuality, mysticism and technology, as well as medievalism. The 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies takes place Thursday, May 8, through Saturday, May 10, 2025. Find more at the conference website.
Tolkien at Kalamazoo will be offering a total of eight sessions (paper sessions and roundtables), two of which are co-sponsored. The sessions are a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid as identified below. Send 100-word abstracts or complete papers to Christopher Vaccaro (cvaccaro@uvm.edu) and Yvette Kisor (ykisor@ramapo.edu) by the1st of September.
Tolkien and Medieval Conceptions of the Sea (in-person paper session): HYBRID
The Medieval Roots of the Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien (in-person roundtable): HYBRID
Tolkien and Old Norse (hybrid / in-person paper session): HYBRID
Tolkien and Medieval Feminisms (in-person paper session)
Medieval Languages and Tolkien's Language Invention (in-person paper session)
Medieval Resonances in Tolkien's Letters (in-person roundtable)
Fire, Dragons, & Jewels, O My!: Medieval Poems & J.R.R. Tolkien (co-sponsored with the Pearl-Poet Society, virtual paper session)
Return of the Franchise: The Ongoing Reception and Interpretation of Tolkien's Medievalism (co-sponsored with the Tales after Tolkien Society, virtual paper session): HYBRID
Coming Soon: Call for Proposals for McFarland's Critical Explorations in Tolkien Studies Series
We are sharing this information on behalf of Robin Anne Reid:
I recently signed a Letter of Agreement with McFarland Publishers to become the series editor for a new series, Critical Explorations in Tolkien Studies. The series will open for proposals in 2025 after I assemble an advisory board.
Scholars can submit proposals in either of two tracks. The first track is for single-author or collaborative monographs and edited collections written for academic experts that should be between 70-100K words long. The second track is for shorter Critical Companions, between 40-50K words long, written for a general audience including but not limited to students and fans. Submissions for both tracks will go through a double-blind peer review process.
Proposals on topics relating to Tolkien's published works as well as to the edited posthumous publications; the adaptations for film, television, and games; the translations; and fan transformative works (textual and visual) or other reception studies may be submitted to either track.
While peer-reviewed scholarship is a professional necessity for tenure-track and tenured academics, there is also value in shorter works, informed by critical theories, that focus on an aspect of single work or a thematic group of works, especially ones that have received less critical attention than The Lord of the Rings. The Critical Companions are designed to introduce a more general audience to analytical approaches and the scholarship in Tolkien studies by situating works in their socio-historical contexts; explaining how the text or texts fit into the field of Tolkien studies; and modelling how to apply critical theories to analyze primary texts.
The primary goals of the series are to add significant original contributions to Tolkien scholarship by developing and to create and support greater diversity in the field by embracing a wide definition of what Tolkien studies includes in relation to authors, texts, topics, theories, and methods.
Both single author and collaborative works, especially those foregrounding intersectionality, are explicitly welcome from authors without regard to ability status, age, caste, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, or sexuality. Approaches can include but are not limited to theories and methods from class studies, cultural studies, critical race studies; digital and new media studies; fan and reception studies; feminist, gender, and queer studies; film studies, languages and linguistics, literary studies (any period); medieval and medievalist studies; pedagogical studies, modernist and postmodernist studies, media and marketing studies; religious and theological studies; source studies; stylistics, and tourism studies.
Contingent faculty, early-career faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, tenure-track and tenured faculty in the Americas and worldwide who are trained in any discipline and period specialization are invited to submit proposals in either track and to consider applying to become m become a member of the advisory board.
The call for applications to the advisory board will be circulated shortly. Please email robinareid@fastmail with any questions you may have.
Tolkien at UVM 2025: Tolkien and War
The theme for the 2025 Tolkien at UVM conference will be Tolkien and War. The conference will be held on April 5, 2025, at the University of Vermont. Recent conferences have been hybrid and welcomed presentations and attendees online as well.
Signum University Regional Moots
These small, regional conferences are held at various dates and locations. See the Regional Moots page for more details.
Many thanks to Robin Anne Reid and her Online Conference Project for handily compiling this information on a regular basis!
Innumerable Stars 2024
Innumerable Stars is a Tolkien fandom gift exchange for all works by Tolkien or associated with Middle-earth.
People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars are:
- Interested in and excited about multiple Tolkien-based canons.
- Interested in their fellow fans’ creativity in fanfiction and fanart, and excited to explore their own.
- Open to creating and receiving any one of a number of different prompts or ideas.
- Happy to read and comment on the fanwork(s) they receive with thanks first of all, but also to read and comment on other fanworks in the exchange.
People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars will:
- Generally read and create for a variety of slash, gen, het, adventures, fluff, dark, erotica, worldbuilding, etc.
- Create their fanwork following their recipient’s prompts in good faith, and receive the fanwork(s) that have been given to them in good faith also.
- Also write or draw “treats” for others in the exchange, if their own time and inspiration permits after they have completed their assignment,. These are not required but they add to the fun and excitement of the exchange!
- Create their fanwork without the use of AI, be it in writing or art.
What Innumerable Stars is NOT:
You do not have to be open to or interested in every type of fanwork to participate. However, Innumerable Stars is not for anyone interested in just one character, pairing, or scenario. Nor is it for people who find stories or art containing material they are not interested in offensive because it exists. If either of these apply, we wish you well, but this is not the exchange for you.
Schedule
Nominations Open: Sunday, 04 August 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Nominations Close: Sunday, 18 August 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Sign-ups Open: Sunday, 18 August 2024, 11:59 PM UTC
Sign-ups Close: Sunday, 01 September 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Assignments Out: Monday, 02 September 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Assignments Due: Sunday, 6 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Works Revealed: Sunday, 13 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Authors Revealed: Sunday, 20 October 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
Tolkien Pinup Calendar 2025 Sign-Ups Open
The Tolkien Pinup Calendar compiles a calendar of risque fan art of your favorite Tolkien characters! The majority of the art is commissioned, and in that way, we are helping to support fan artists. In addition to the calendar, Commissioners can also submit fics inspired by the art! There will be an AO3 collection with the fics revealed at the end of the event. Because of the nature and content of the art, the event itself is an 18+ event. More details and rules can be found on the event's FAQ page.
If you are interested in signing up to be a Main Commissioner, click here.
If you are interested in signing up to be an Artist, click here.
If you are interested in being a Pinch Hitter, click here.
To submit any ideas or view those others suggested, take a look at our Ideas Form! Or submit your own idea!
Forgotten Ground Regained: Call for Submissions
The Fall issue of Forgotten Ground Regained is open for submissions. I am especially interested in poetry that explores themes of love, devotion, and desire – themes that are, thus far, relatively sparsely represented in modern English alliterative verse. Submissions should be sent to Paul D. Deane at the following email address: pdeane [at] alliteration.net.
Requirements
- Submissions must be in modern English, but authors should feel free to submit poems that take advantage of the diction, rhythms, and syntax of particular language varieties and communities. I do not discriminate against Scots, Appalachian English, Black English Vernacular, Indian English, or any other language variety, though I do ask that authors be prepared to supply notes to explain any terms or expressions that outsiders to their communities may not readily understand.
- Submissions should make skillful, systematic use of alliteration in ways that use alliteration to reinforce the rhythm and connect important ideas. Overall, I prefer poems that have the strongest impact on readers when they are read aloud. I therefore encourage authors to include links to audio or video versions of their poems in their submissions.
- I would love to see people experimenting with modern English versions of Old and Middle English alliterative verse, with Old Norse forms like ljoòahattr and drottkvætt or modern Icelandic rimur, or with new alliterative forms designed to highlight modern English rhythms and speech patterns. While my first preference is what traditional scholarship calls alliterative-accentual verse, I am also open to alliterative free verse or to alliterative versions of traditional forms, such as the ballad, as long as the alliteration is clearly a structural rather than a decorative feature of the form.
- I am open to work both by contemporary poets and to projects that would normally be considered to fall outside the literary mainstream, such as speculative poetry, SCA Bardic Arts projects, and fan fiction.
- There is no hard upper length limit, though poems more than five to six pages in length are likely to be published separately on the website, with links provided from the Fall issue, rather than being included directly in the pdf magazine. Note that I love both both the lyrical and the narrative turns in poetry, so longer narratives will be given careful consideration.
- Please submit your poem in the body of your email. I will not open attachments.
Submissions for the Fall Issue must be received by September 15th, 2024.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) 2024
First conceived in 2018, the Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (or TRSB!) is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event celebrating the talent of our fanwork creators. At its core, the event is about bringing together the artistic side of our fandom with the literary talents it possesses, creating bridges between the separate areas of fandom experience for the enjoyment of all. During the late spring, signed up artists submit fan art pieces in progress or finished, which is then posted anonymously in our Gallery. The Gallery is open to the pool of writers who have signed up for the event only. Each writer is then invited to claim a piece of art to write for; the minimum word count is 5000.
We are open to all characters, genres, ships and ratings, and all canons that fall under the Tolkien fandom umbrella. This includes movieverse (i.e. the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies), lesser known works by Tolkien (such as The Father Christmas Letters), and/or other works with a clear link to his life or creative output (for example, Tolkien’s translations and academic texts, the 2019 Tolkien biopic, fan-made films like Born of Hope, and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online). Crossovers between two or more Tolkien canons are permitted.
When we started this event, one thing we absolutely agreed on was our desire for maximum inclusivity. In practice this means that:
- We encourage participation from all sections of the Tolkien fandom, whether you prefer bookverse, movieverse, game canon, smaller canons, or Tolkien’s academic papers.
- Fan creators should ALL feel safe and able to join in, regardless of experience levels or perceived ability. This means that everybody is welcome, whether they’re a professional artist/writer or a complete beginner, whether they’ve been a fan for decades or fell in love with the films last weekend.
- As far as practically possible, all styles of art and all types of fic are permitted. We do not set restrictions on genre, style, rating or ship, although we do keep NSFW art submissions behind a lock, for the safety of our younger participants.
Above all, the event is supposed to be fun. Fandom should not be a place of difficulty, conflict and stress. With this in mind, we ask participants to be kind, inclusive, respectful and welcoming at all times.
Schedule
March 17 – 2023 Gallery Opens
The Gallery for 2023 is live at last! Enjoy all the beautiful pieces created for last year’s TRSB!
March 24 – Suggestion Form Opens
This form gives potential authors (or anyone else who wants to play!) the opportunity to suggest characters, places and scenarios they would like to see in the submitted art. We will post a link to the form on our Tumblr blog and here on the website. The answers will feed into a publicly available spreadsheet listing the ideas submitted; artists can peruse this to get inspired!
April 14 – Sign-ups Open
We post links to our sign up form on all the usual platforms. You can then sign up as an artist, an author, a beta, a cheerleader, a pinch hitter, or as two or more of these. Please see the ‘Signing Up’ section of the FAQ for more details on what these terms mean.
May 5 – Artist Sign-up Deadline
May 10 – Discord Server Opens
May 13 – Art Draft Due
Participating art submissions must be sent to the mods by this date to be eligible for the Claims Gallery.
For more details on how to do this, see the ‘Art Submissions’ section of the FAQ. Artists may submit up to two pieces of art, for claiming by two separate authors.
May 17 – Art Preview Opens
Our online gallery will be visible to signed up participants only. Signed up authors can browse the artworks and see which pieces appeal to their muses!
May 18-19 Discord Art Talks
Repeating the fun from last year, these will be live chats on discord with mod presence – start times to be announced – where we go through the beautiful gallery and admire the work of our artists.
May 20 – Author Signups Deadline
May 25 – CLAIMS – 17:00 UTC
Authors submit a ranked list of the artworks they would like to claim to write fic for. Claims are on a first come, first served basis. One artwork will be allocated to each claiming author in the first instance; the mods will email you to confirm which piece you have successfully claimed and how to get in touch with your artist. See the ‘Claims’ section of the FAQ for more information.
TBA – Additional Claims
If a number of artworks are left unclaimed, we may allow authors to claim second and third pieces of art to write for. However, we don’t know until after claims night whether this will be needed, so this is likely to be announced at short notice – keep an eye on the blog and on your emails to avoid missing out.
June 7 – Post-Claims Check-in
The mods will email each artist/author pair to ensure that you have successfully established contact – even if you are not planning on a close collaboration, it is polite to check in with your partner, say hello, and make sure you’re both clear on must-haves and do-not-wants. One person from your pair must respond and confirm that you have done this!
June 16 – Free Rein Art Due
We know some artists like to give their authors as much creative freedom as possible and we have a dedicated collaboration option for this (see ‘Art Submissions’ FAQs). However, this means we require these artists to provide finished art to their authors much earlier than artists who are prepared to be more involved. See ‘Completing the Artwork’ in the FAQs for more details on how this works.
June 28 – Check-in #2
The mods will email each pair to ensure everything is on track. One person from your pair must respond – see ‘Check Ins’ in the FAQ.
June 26 – Check-in #3
The mods will email each pair to ensure everything is on track. One person from your pair must respond – see ‘Check Ins’ in the FAQs.
August 9 – Final Art Due
Artists should share a copy of the final art to their authors – but don’t post it yet!
Don’t email it to the mods.
August 16 – Final Check-in (#4)
Deadline to abandon your fic to a pinch hitter. There will be no penalty for dropping out on or before this date.
As per other check ins, except the mods will be providing instructions about promotional posts (see ‘Promotional Posts’ FAQ for more information). We will also ask you:
- Whether you have discussed posting logistics with your artist (if you’re embedding art in your AO3 story, for example)
- Whether you have specific posting needs re publicizing date/time frame (e.g. not wanting us to reblog your art/fic on Shabbat as you will be unable to respond)
August 26 – Art Can Be Posted
August 30 – Final Fic Due In Collection
Authors should post their stories in our AO3 collection with the artwork embedded or linked. (If you are writing a last minute pinch hit we can be a bit flexible with this deadline.)
TBA – Discord Art Reveals Event
September 6 – COLLECTION REVEALS
September 13 – Staggered Tumblr Reblogs Begin
September 20 – Gallery Submission
October 6 – Discord Server Closes
Other Links
- Rules
- Sign-Ups
- Frequently Asked Questions
- TRSB on Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram | Dreamwidth
Acorns and Oak Leaves: A Year of Bagginshield
Throughout 2024, the Bagginshield community Acorns and Oak Leaves offers monthly prompts to encourage new creations of all kinds (i.e. art, fics, gifs, etc) - but don't worry, there are no deadlines. Pick and choose whatever prompts you like, and be sure to tag the @acorns-and-oakleaves blog on Tumblr so we can share your Bagginshield creations!
Monthly prompts for the Year of Bagginshield can be found here.
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
19th Annual Tolkien at UVM Conference: CFP Deadline Extended
The 19th annual Tolkien @ UVM conference will be held on April 1st 2023. Abstracts are due by January 15th 2023 March 1st 2023. Please keep them to about 200 words. And send them to Chris Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu We are accepting papers on all things concerning the Second Age of Middle-earth. Topics will vary and some papers not on this theme will also be accepted. Priority will be given to enquiries into history, historiography, and the historicity of race, gender, sexuality. This is a hybrid conference, so presenters can attend in person (preferred) or virtually. Our keynote will be the amazing Gergely Nagy!
Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2023
The Hurt/Comfort Exchange is a pairing- and freeform-matching multifandom gift exchange run on AO3.
The schedule for this year is:
Nominations: 10 - 24 Feb
Signups: 1 - 15 March
Posting deadline: 13 May
Story reveal: 20 May
Author reveal: 27 May
All deadlines are at 23:59 UTC What Time Is That For Me?
Collection
Nomination Guidelines for Tagset
Tagset
Rules and Guidelines
The mod e-mail is hurtcomfortexmod@gmail.com
Work requirements are a story of at least 1000 words, or a piece of artwork that is not on lined paper and is at minimum clean linework that is at least 500x500 pixels.
International Fanworks Day 2023
Save the date: it’s almost International Fanworks Day!
Celebrated on February 15th, International Fanworks Day (IFD) was created by the OTW in 2014 in honor of the one millionth fanwork published on AO3. It’s a recognition of fanworks in all their forms—fics, art, vids, zines, and more—and of their awesomeness and importance for fans across the world.
This year, the OTW will be observing the ninth annual IFD. Our theme for the year is "When Fandoms Collide." You can participate however you want, but here are a few suggestions:
- Create rec lists of your favorite crossovers to share as part of our Feedback Fest, starting February 12
- Post your own crossover fics, fanart, and more on AO3 using our International Fanworks Day 2023 tag
- Share crossover headcanons on social media using the tag #IFD2023 or #IFDChallenge2023
Follow OTW News on social media to find out in a few weeks what we’re doing to celebrate IFD 2023. If you or your fandom communities will be hosting your own activities, let us know so we can signal boost them!
Hidden Paths 2023
Hidden Paths us a fortnight-long event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons.
We all know and love the tales of Tolkien's Middle-earth, but the Professor's creative and academic endeavours didn't stop there. However, fanworks for smaller Tolkien canons (such as Farmer Giles of Ham, Mr. Bliss, Leaf by Niggle and more) are much rarer than works inspired by their Middle-earth counterparts. This event was created to be a low-pressure, low-commitment opportunity to explore those lesser known works, and create and share fanworks based on them.
Define “smaller Tolkien fandoms”.
Basically, any Tolkien canon or text (including academic works and translations) that is not explicitly set in Middle-earth and is not based on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Silmarillion and closely related histories. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Beowulf/Sellic Spell
- Farmer Giles of Ham
- The Fall of Arthur
- The Father Christmas Letters
- Finn and Hengest
- The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
- The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
- Leaf by Niggle
- The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
- Mr. Bliss
- Mythopoeia
- The Notion Club Papers
- Pearl
- Roverandom
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Sir Orfeo
- Songs for the Philologists
- Smith of Wootton Major
- The Story of Kullervo
- Tolkien (2019 film)
- Tolkien's essays, poems, letters and non-ME artwork
We also accept fanworks based on The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (because it collects a number of poems that were not originally intended as part of the Middle-earth canon) and The Book of Lost Tales (because it differs so significantly from later versions of the legendarium), and/or centring characters or concepts that only appear in extremely early drafts of The Lord of the Rings (e.g. Trotter).
We know that this leaves a bit of a grey area, but ultimately, we will trust and accept the judgement of fanwork creators. Act in good faith, and assume that others have done the same.
How does it work?
At the start of the event (14th February) the mod will post seven optional prompts to inspire you. There will be a thematic prompt, a character-based prompt, a setting-based prompt, a text prompt, a visual prompt, an audio prompt, and a wildcard prompt. A second batch of prompts will be posted on the 21st.
If you like the prompts, then use any or all of them to create and share a fanwork based on one or more small Tolkien canons. If they don't speak to you, then please feel free to do your own thing – the prompts are there to spark creativity, not impede it!
What types of fanworks do you accept?
Anything you like. Fic, poetry, meta, art, edits, vids, podfic, craft, cosplay, rec lists, playlists, compositions, interviews with fellow fans...it's all good.
Are there any minimum requirements?
No, none. Want to write a six-word story? Be our guest.
Are crossovers permitted?
Yes! We accept crossovers with the Middle-earth canons, and with non-Tolkien fandoms. We only ask that one of the smaller Tolkien canons plays a significant role in your fanwork.
What do you consider a significant role?
We don't. The event is intended to be low commitment and low stress for both participants and the moderator, and we trust that people will act in good faith. We are not going to police fanworks or apply an arbitrary definition of “significant” - we leave that up to the creator to decide.
Does actor RPF count?
For the purposes of this event, no it doesn't, unless you are also drawing on elements from a smaller canon (e.g. Liv Tyler encountering the Shadow-Bride).
Where do I post my fanworks?
We have an AO3 collection, but you may post your fanworks anywhere you like. We'd appreciate a link back to our Dreamwidth or Tumblr page, though, to spread the word about the event!
Are there any restrictions on rating or content?
Nope. Tag and warn appropriately, as you normally would, but make whatever your heart desires.
Can I post fanworks that were inspired by or created for another event, or created prior to the event's inception?
Yes! The goal is to celebrate and increase content for the smaller Tolkien fandoms. Please feel free to share your creations and add them to the collection, regardless of whether they were created specifically for this event.
I want to take part but I don't know anything about the smaller canons. Help!?
- Tolkien Gateway has helpfully collated a list of Tolkien's writings, and some of the articles reproduce or link to the actual text. This is a great place to start browsing, and to find out more about a text before you invest in your own copy.
- Have a look at fanworks for some of the smaller canons and see what appeals. Innumerable Stars and TRSB both have several works for the smaller canons in their collections, and many of them can be understood with no prior knowledge of the source material.
- Lists of characters appearing in the various texts and canons can also be a useful jumping off point - like this one for The Book of Lost Tales.
- Many of the smaller canons are just that - small! If you can get hold of a copy from your local library, book store or from a fellow fan, they are generally quick to read and digest.
If anyone has any other ideas and resources for folks wanting to dip a toe into the smaller canons, please get in touch so they can be added to this list.
When does the event run?
Officially, February 14th-28th. Unofficially, as long as you like; the prompts will stay up and the AO3 collection won't close.
Smut 4 Smut 2023: Nominations and Sign-Ups
Welcome to Smut 4 Smut, a multifandom gift exchange for smutty fic and art! Our schedule for 2023:
Feb 3-10, 8pm: nominations (nomination rules can be found here)
Feb 11-12: tagset cleanup
Feb 13: sign-ups open
Feb 23, 8pm: sign-ups close
Feb 26: assignments out by this date
Apr 8, 8pm: works due
Apr 15, 8pm: work reveals
Apr 22, 8pm: creator reveals
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2023 Collection | 2023 Ships Tag Set | S4S Permanent Kink Tagset
Oxonmoot 2023
Oxonmoot is an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society which brings together over 500 Tolkien fans, scholars, students and Society members from across the world. Oxonmoot 2023 is our Fiftieth Oxonmoot and will be held over four days from Thursday, 31 August, until Sunday, 3 September, at St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, Oxford and online.
Oxonmoot hosts a variety of presentations and activities across the weekend.
Quick Links:
- Register for in-person attendance at Oxford University
- Register for online attendance
- Event information
- Call for papers
- Information on how to submit a proposal for an activity, entertainment, the masquerade, or the poetry reading will be forthcoming
February challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community (Dreamwidth)
This month, for our tolkienshortfanworks challenge, we have been inspired by A Fandom Tribute to Keiliss, a collection on AO3 for tributes to Keiliss, a well-known and beloved fandom writer who died last year, due to be revealed on 19 February, which would have been her birthday. So we have chosen prompts in honour of Kei, although this is an entirely independent challenge that can also be filled if you should happen not to have encountered Kei's work at all (although, if so, please consider this a rec).
So here is our thematic prompt and our formal challenge for February:
The thematic prompt is: a piece featuring Glorfindel or Erestor or both Glorfindel and Erestor. (Kei often wrote these as a ship, but you do not have to write them as a pairing, unless you wish, and the piece does not have to be shippy, unless you want it to be.)
Optional bonus prompt element: in honour of Kei's last, sadly uncompleted but very substantial WIP, The Pink Flamingo: include a flamingo or something pink or red, especially if it is a bird.
The formal challenge is to write something involving the number 19: nineteen words, nineteen sentences, nineteen lines, nineteen paragraphs--or any other idea you can come up with.
As always, the two prompts can be filled entirely independently or combined with prompts from other challenges (in this case, obviously, especially A Fandom Tribute to Keiliss).
More details about the tolkienshortfanworks challenges at the linked post.
Tolkien Reading Day 2023
Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year. The date of the 25th of March was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo’s quest and vanquishing Sauron.
It has been organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages. We particularly encourage schools, museums and libraries to host their own Tolkien Reading Day events. Check the Tolkien Society website for more information on their event.
Tolkien Society Seminar: Númenor, the Mighty and Frail
The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship.The Society held three seminars in 2021 (Twenty-first Century Receptions of Tolkien, Tolkien and Diversity, and Translating and Illustrating Tolkien) and their online setting has seen increased interest with over 700 attendees from 52 countries at ‘Tolkien and Diversity’. After the seminar, all paper recordings from the seminars are uploaded onto the Tolkien Society’s YouTube channel. We are delighted to run hybrid seminars where delegates can enjoy discussions on Tolkien in person and online.
This year's event, "Númenor, the Mighty and Frail," will be held both online and in-person at The Hilton, Leeds on 2 July 2023. Both events are free.
The seminar aims to examine the role that Númenor plays in Tolkien’s legendarium. Although the island was pivotal to the secondary world narrative of the Second Age, it also re-emerged consistently in Tolkien’s writing and thinking from The Lost Road (1936-37), through The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) and The Notion Club Papers (1945), to ‘Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner’s Wife’ (1965) and other late essays. Númenor, then, is central to the growth of Tolkien’s legendarium and is a catalyst for seismic change in Arda.
Although Tolkien consistently refers to Númenor as the greatest human kingdom, its overwhelming military splendour and grand civilisation mask its frailty, which only grows over time. As is seen with the fractions of the King’s Men and the Faithful, Númenor’s fall may have been inevitable from its conception. However, its legacy in the Black Númenóeans and the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor evince that its legacy is still somewhat alive after its downfall.
Register to attend the event on the Tolkien Society's website.
The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth is the first ever standalone edition of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most important poetic dramas, that explores timely themes such as the nature of heroism and chivalry during war, and which features unpublished and never-before-seen texts and drafts. Leading Tolkien scholar, Peter Grybauskas, presents for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s own prose translation of The Battle of Maldon together with the definitive treatment of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and its accompanying essays; also included and never before published is Tolkien’s bravura lecture, ‘The Tradition of Versification in Old English’, a wide-ranging essay on the nature of poetic tradition. Illuminated with insightful notes and commentary, he has produced a definitive critical edition of these works, and argues compellingly that, Beowulf excepted, The Battle of Maldon may well have been ‘the Old English poem that most influenced Tolkien’s fiction’, most dramatically within the pages of The Lord of the Rings. The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth goes on sale 30 March 2023.