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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!

Learn more about the Teitho contest guidelines here.

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.

Silvergifting Week 2024

Silvergifting Week will happen on August 5-11, 2024.

For the third time, Silvergifting week will happen on Tumblr, celebrating the relationship between Celebrimbor and Mairon | Sauron | Annatar. The purpose of this event is to encourage people to create works focused on this pairing (either romantic or queer-platonic). All kinds of fan works are welcome as long as they're created by you: fan art, fan fiction, headcanon, moodboard, fan craft, playlist, cosplay, meta, etc.

The tag of the event is #silvergiftingweek. When posting, use this tag and/or tag this blog @silvergiftingweek. Please respect general Tumblr content posting rules when participating in this event. Mature and potentially triggering content should be posted under cut.

Prompts

These prompts are not mandatory, they're just for inspiration.

Day 1: Beginnings First meeting. First time. Developing relationship. The past and the present.

Day 2: Desire Falling in love. Soulmates. Desire and passion.

Day 3: Larger circle Gwaith-i-Mírdain. Friends. Celebrating together. Other relationships.

Day 4: Crafting Forge work. Collaboration. Ambition. Rings of Power.

Day 5: Darkness Betrayal. Sauron’s darker side. War. Captured. Dark ending.

Day 6: AU Canon divergence. Meeting in a different time. Meeting in a different universe.

Day 7: Post-canon New beginning. Valinor. Reconciliation. Recovery. Remembering the past.

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 the1^st 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!

Tolkien of Colour Week 2024

Tolkien of Colour Week celebrates characters of color in Tolkien's works by encouraging fanworks about them. This year's Tolkien of Colour Week runs 29 July to 4 August 2024 on Tumblr. Tag fanworks with #tocweek2024.

Prompts

Day 1: Land, Water, Environment

Day 2: Language, Music, Stories

Day 3: Friendship, Family, Love

Day 4: Home, Cultural Identity, Growing Up

Day 5: Change, Migration, Time

Day 6: Intersectionality

Day 7: Freeform

Recordings of Tolkien Society Seminar "Romantic Resonances" Now Available

As early as The Book of Lost Tales (1910s-1930s) Tolkien’s prose and poetry was infused with elements of the stylistics, aesthetics, and philosophies of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Romantics. Although it has been shown that Tolkien learnt about and read a range of Romantic works, his dialogue with Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief” in ‘On Fairy-stories’ has dominated the intersections between Romantic and Tolkien studies. This has overshadowed the role that Romantic influences played in the shaping of Middle-earth, as well as the Romantic legacies in Victorian literature and art that had a significant impact on Tolkien’s writing. While Tolkien clearly rejected certain forms of Romanticism, he worked within a literary tradition that was partially shaped by the Romantics.

This seminar seeks fresh and innovative readings of Tolkien’s Romantic Resonances that are in dialogue with modern scholarship on Romanticisms, Romantic aesthetics and Romantic-period histories. The seminar understands ‘Romanticism’ and the ‘Romantic’ as complex, nuanced terms that elude simplification, traditional historical markers, and solely Anglocentric readings.

You can find recordings of the Seminar presentations here.

Fellowship of the Fics: Summer Stories 2024

For four weeks in July, we have assigned various summer themed prompts for you to do with however you please! You could smash them all together into one project, do all of them separately, or you can call out to your followers to send you prompts they want to see!

Don’t limit yourself to the suggestions above, we want to see your creativity, which comes in a variety of forms! Whether you write 100 words, or 1000+ words, we want to see it, so be sure to tag #fotfics and drop your stories into our queue via this form!

Prompts

Week 1

• reflections
• splash
• camping
• heatwave
• unexpected

Week 2

• storms
• exploration
• ice
• waterside
• dreams

Week 3

• fields
• lost
• starlight
• gathering
• feast

Week 4

• music
• garden
• sweets
• critters
• love

Elrond Week 2024

Welcome to Elrond Week, a fandom event dedicated to Elrond Peredhel, a beloved character in the Tolkien legendarium! This event will run from July 10th to July 16th on Tumblr. Any kind of fanwork is welcome, be it art, writing, headcanons, playlists, moodboards, gifs, and whatever else you can think of—get creative and have fun!

Rules

• Be respectful and kind to others. Discrimination, bullying, and harassment will not be condoned.
• NSFW will not be allowed. Please keep your entries clean and SFW! I won't reblog NSFW works.
• The prompts are just suggestions - if you don't like some of them, feel free to create something of your own!
• Tag your entries as #elrondweek and @elrondweek, so I can see and reblog your works!
• Any kind of medium is welcome (except NSFW works, as mentioned above), so get creative!
• Have fun!!

The Elrond Week FAQ is here.

Prompts

Day 1: Childhood and Peace - Sirion, Family, Lifestyle, Elros, Elwing and Earendil

Day 2: Grief and Growth -Sack of Sirion, Maglor and Maedhros, Abandonment, Forgiveness

Day 3: Mortality and Immortality -Lindon, The Choice, Learning, Separation from Elros

Day 4: War and Leadership -Sauron, The Rings of Power, Leadership, Battle, Establishing Imladris

Day 5: Family and Love -Marriage, Fatherhood, Celebrian, Elladan and Elrohir, Arwen, Rivendell

Day 6: Darkness and Loss -Siege of Imladris, The Necromancer, Losing Celebrian

Day 7: Sanctuary and Departure -Third Age, The Hobbit, The One Ring, Legacy, The Undying Lands

Bonus Prompts:

• Relations with Men vs Elves
• Artifacts
• Healing
• Home