Around the World and Web

Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.

June challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The June challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. 

The thematic challenge for this month is: Reward - Regard.
Did you know that these two words, "reward" and "regard" were originally borrowed into English from two different forms of the same French verb (regarder) and, furthermore. that the second element is etymologically related to "guard"?
Your piece should either simply contain the word pair (regard - reward, as nouns or verbs) or somehow make a connection between rewarding and regarding, in any way you like.
Bonus points if you bring in "guard" as well.

The formal challenge this time is: your piece should make use of alliteration in some significant way.
"Reward" and "regard" both start with r-, so you could achieve alliteration just by using the thematic prompt.
But this can be any form of alliteration, in prose and verse.
Side note: in the most strict form of traditional alliterative verse, alliteration would have to be on stressed syllables, so "reward" and "reward" would alliterate on w- and g-. This is not required for this challenge.

More details on these challenges at the linked post.

As always, these prompts can be filled separately or combined freely with other challenges that allow this. 

New participants welcome; a Dreamwidth account is required.

Joyful June 2025

Welcome to Joyful June: a fanworks event where the goal is to let our favourite characters be happy!

The prompt calendar above is designed for maximum flexibility: if you can't do something for every single day in a week, you can still do one thing based around that week's theme!

(Or you can just do as much as you can anyway, whatever, the point is also for us to have some fun, but the completionism urge is strong)

Tag #JoyfulJune and #JoyfulJune25!

AO3 collection: joyfuljune25

Rules/FAQ

What sorts of works?

Fanart, fanfic, music, anything that you would normally consider fanwork.

What fandoms are allowed?

This event originated on the Linked Universe discord, but any fandom is welcome! Be sure to tag the fandom clearly and if you're creating for something in a nested fandom make sure you tag the right one (Linked Universe rather than Legend of Zelda; Rings of Power rather than Lord of the Rings, etc.).

Will you be reblogging work?

I'll be following the tag and will do some reblogging, but I am but one person and can't guarantee I'll get everything, especially if a lot of people take part.

Do I have to do/post work on the day listed in the calendar?

Nope!

Is NSFW allowed?

Sure, but please tag it #NSFW and note that it won't get reblogged here (I'm keeping this blog PG).

Can I use GenAI?

No.

Any other rules?

Don't be a jerk.

Prompts

Week 1: Seasons

1: New Year

2: Spring

3: Summer

4: Autumn

5: Winter

6: Birthday

7: Anniversary

Week 2: Nature

8: Sun

9: Moon

10: Stars

11: Animal

12: Sea

13: Sky

14: Mountain

Week 3: Comfort

15: Warmth

16: (Found) Family

17: Bath

18: Hugs

19: Sleep

20: Home

21: Quiet

Week 4: Fun

22: Dance

23: Games

24: Pets

25: Reading

26: Friends

27: Snacks

28: Music

Week 5: Time

29: Meetings

30: Memories

Numenor Week 2025

Welcome to the Numenor Week! This is a Tumblr event created for fans of the tragic and beautiful story of the Land of the Gift, from its birth to its downfall.

The event will run from May 26 to June 1, and will accept all the type of fanworks (fanarts, fanfictions, edits, gifsets, remix, etc etc). please remember to tag @numenorweek and to add #numenorweek and #numenorweek2025 in the first 10 tags of your post. NSFW contents are welcomed, but mind to tag them or to put them under a cut. It's ok to submit Rings of Power contents because the show follows the events of the Akallabeth, but only if said content is about the Numenorean characters.

Prompts

Day 1: Elros Tar-Minyatur | The Line of Elros || Characters: Elros, Elwing, Eärendil, Vardamir Nólimon, Tindómiel, Manwendil, Atanalcar || Prompts: The Choice of the Peredhili - Mortality & Immortality - Rites at the Meneltarma - Kingship - The Legacy of Eärendil

Day 2: The Mariner's Wife | Aldarion and Erendis || Characters: Tar-Aldarion, Erendis, Tar-Ancalimë, Hallacar, Tar-Meneldur, Almarian, Ailinel & Almiel || Prompts: Costumes and traditions of the Numenoreans, the Guild of the Venturers, laws of succession, expansion of the Numenoreans in Middle Earth, Uinen and the Uinendili

Day 3: Daughters of the Great | The Ruling Queens of Numenor || Characters: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Vanimeldë, Tar-Míriel, Silmariën || Prompts: the role of women in Númenor, usurpation, Queenship, the known and the forgotten women of the line of Elros

Day 4: The Faithful | Lords of Andunie || Characters: Inzilbeth, Amandil, Elendil, Tar-Palantir, Eärendur, Lindórië || Prompts: Secrecy, worship of the Valar, the White Tree, Pelargir, Strife between kin

Day 5: The King's Men | The Ban of the Valar || Characters: Tar- Atanamir the Great, Ar-Adûnakhôr, Ar-Gimilzôr, Gimilkhâd, the Witch King of Angmar || Prompts: Cult of the Dead, Fear of the unknown, Umbar, Pride, Ban of the Quenya, Nazgûl

Day 6: Akallabeth | The Downfall || Characters: Tar-Míriel, Ar-Pharazôn, Sauron, Amandil, Elendil, Elentir, Sauron/Tar-Mairon. || Prompts: Hybris, the cutting of the White Tree, the imprisonment of Sauron, Worship of Melkor, War against the Valar

Day 7: The Realms in Exile | The Line of Isildur and Anarion ||Characters: Elendil, Isildur, Anarion, Valandil, Meneldil, Ohtar ||Prompts: Exile, Gondor and Arnor, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Estel

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask in my askbox!

Teitho May/June Challenge: Weddings

Spring is a common time for weddings and it may be so for Middle-earth as well. For example, Aragorn and Arwen married in the spring.

Wedding rites may vary among the races of Arda. Will you give us stories of Elven weddings, the rituals of Dwarves, or the ceremonies of Men. What about Hobbits?

Weddings bring joy, they can unite families, they can also bring alliances.

How will you weave a wedding tale for us? Will it be a story of Fëanor and Nerdanel? Or Beren and Luthien?

The courtship of Sam and Rosie? Or a deeper look at Faramir and Eowyn?

We look forward to your wedding stories and art for this prompt!

Please submit your fic or art by June 30 to teitho.contest@gmail.com

Find more information about Teitho here.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2025

Ekphrasis: the description or interpretation of a piece of art, usually visual, in a different artistic medium.

Material culture and art add vibrancy to our lives, and it seems that there are so many options in Middle Earth ripe for interpretation! A poem on Nerdanel's statues, a tapestry capturing Nessa's dance, a prose fic describing the impact of seeing Númenor's frescoes, a painting exploring the beautiful quotidian architecture of a Hobbit hole…

This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds. Its goal is to illuminate the artistic surroundings of the places, people, and stories we love, in as many media as possible. As such, fanworks are welcome to take almost any form: see the FAQ for the full list!

The prompts are multi-part. The first part of the prompt is mandatory, describing the kind of art to be interpreted. The subsequent parts are optional thematic, formal, or visual add-ons that people may choose to incorporate or not.

In short, the timeline is:

  1. Read prompts starting March 17.
  2. Create!
  3. Post tagged work to AO3 before June 9 deadline.
  4. Enjoy daily reveals between June 10 and June 16.
  5. Amnesty day June 17 for late posters.

Inclusion

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week is open to all characters, genres, and ratings, and all Tolkien canons. This includes books, movies both live-action and animated, fan-made films like Born of Hope, TV shows, and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online. It also includes Tolkien's non-Arda fictional works, such as Roverandom. Crossovers between two or more Tolkien canons are welcome.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week wants to be as inclusive as possible. As such:

  • All canons and versions of canon are equally welcome and encouraged to participate.
  • Fan creators of all levels of experience should feel more than welcome to join in the fun.
  • All languages are welcomed, and works in languages other than English are actively encouraged.
  • All styles of art and all types of fic are permitted. Apart from following the Art Form content prompt for each day, there are no restrictions on genre, style, rating, or ship. There are two exceptions: first, no character bashing; second, no AI-generated writing or art.

Above all, this event is supposed to get us thinking and feeling about art, which is for everyone. With this in mind, TEW asks participants to be respectful and inclusive at all times. In particular, TEW values its queer and trans participants and participants of color and will moderate as necessary to ensure that this event remains a welcoming space.

Please see the FAQ for all rules and full instructions on how to post and tag.

Calendar

June 9, 2025: Submit all works to the AO3 Collection by this date

June 10-16, 2025: Reveals

March 17, 2026: 2025 AO3 Collection and DW community close to posting.

Housekeeping

The DW site is the primary home of Tolkien Ekphrasis Week: that is where to check first for dates, news, FAQs, links, and prompts!

Prompts will also be posted here on Tumblr. The Tumblr blog will be used for event promotion ahead of the event, answering questions via the ask function, and reblogging your creations, if they are posted and tagged on Tumblr.

This event does not and will not exist on any other form of social media other than Tumblr and DW, though I encourage you to spread the word in your other online communities.

If you have any questions, you can get in touch with the mod, @chestnut_pod, via Tumblr ask or comments on the Dreamwidth community's equivalent post.

Links

Around the World and Web Archive

Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.

"In Memoriam: Richard C. West" by Janet Brennan Croft

A pioneer in the field of Tolkien studies, Richard C. West died in late 2020 of COVID-related causes. Croft's essay reviews West's contributions to the field of Tolkien studies.

Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature with Guy Gavriel Kay

The eighth annual J.R.R Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature, broadcast online from Pembroke College, Oxford on Tuesday May 11th 2021, features fantasy author and Silmarillion collaborator Guy Gavriel Kay with his lecture "Just Enough Light: Some Thoughts on Fantasy and Literature."

(If you didn't know, Kay was instrumental in assisting Christopher Tolkien in compiling the published Silmarillion!)

Tolkien Short Fanworks: May Challenge

The thematic prompt for May is: The old custom of Maying

Associated quotation prompt:
There's not a budding boy or girl this day / But is got up and to bring in May. / A deal of youth ere this come / Back, and with white-thorn laden home. (Robert Herrick Corinna's Going a-Maying)

Associated picture prompt: Arthur Rackham - How Queen Guenevere rode a-maying into the woods and fields beside Westminster.

The formal challenge is to write a zejel.

(You can find a link to the picture and explanation of the zejel form in the linked challenge post.)

Athough you can fill the thematic prompt any way you like, in order to post the fill to the Dreamwidth community or to the related collection on AO3, the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.

The next challenge will be posted at the beginning of June, but the prompts don't expire and late fills are always welcome!

Gondolin Week Runs May 16-23

From May 16-23, Gondolin Week will post Gondolin-related location and character prompts to inspire fanworks about the Hidden City. The goal of this event is to inspire creators to make and share art with the world, to show their appreciation for the works of Tolkien, and for the continued efforts of their peers to keep these worlds alive.

To post your content:

A preview of this year's Gondolin Week prompts can be found here.

Multifandom Poetry Fest 2021

This year brings the fifth annual Multifandom Poetry Fest, a prompt fest for poetry for all fandoms! How it works:

1) Leave a prompt in the form of fandom, characters or relationships, prompt. If you don’t want to specify the fandom or characters, you can say "any." One prompt per comment. Leave as many prompts as you like.

2) Reply to other people’s prompts with poems. The poems can be any length or form, or no form. Quality isn’t important--the point is to have fun, not to produce deathless works of art. (Any deathless works of art produced are just a bonus.)

Multifandom Drabble Exchange 2021

The Multifandom Drabble Exchange is an exchange for stories of exactly 100 words. All fandoms are welcome, no matter how small or large, including original works and crossovers. Timelines for each step of the exchange (except matching) is a week, to keep it simple, and there is no punishment for defaulting.

Links

2021 - Round One Schedule

  • Nominations: Sunday, April 18 through Saturday, April 24
  • Sign Ups: Sunday, April 25 - Saturday, May 1
  • Matching: Sunday, May 2 - Saturday, May 15
  • Assignments Out: sometime Sunday, May 16
  • Assignments Due: Sunday midnight, May 23
  • Pinch Hits/Treat Writing: Monday, May 24 - Saturday, May 29
  • Collection Opens: Sunday, May 30 (not before 8 a.m. EDT)
  • (And Round 2 will start in July — schedule here.)

As in previous rounds, we will keep a loose schedule where nominations and signups close sometime the next morning when we wake up. Assignments due also receive grace by a variable number of hours as we deal with them in the morning when we wake up. There is no guarantee how many hours grace.

Nominations and signups will not close early. Reveals will not happen early. There's a little grace on getting in a late nomination, signup, or your assignment before we start defaulting people. Multifandom Drabble is meant to be a low stress exchange built around the idea of making it easy and fun for you and easy and fun for us.

Complete rules for the Multifandom Drabble Exchange can be found here.

"Mallorn" Archive Now Available to the Public

Mallorn is the peer-reviewed journal of the Tolkien Society. It publishes articles, research notes, reviews, and artwork on subjects related to, or inspired by, the life and works of J. R. R. Tolkien. All past issues of Mallorn are available on the Tolkien Society website except the issues published within the past two years, which are only available to members of the Tolkien Society.

Tolkien in Vermont Conference

The 17th Annual Tolkien in Vermont conference will be held virtually this year with a theme of Tolkien and the Classics. All are welcome on Saturday, April 10, from 8:30AM to 6:00PM Eastern Time.

For a link to the conference, contact the SWG moderators.

Conference Program

Moderator: Christopher Vaccaro

Session 1 Aeneas/Virgil and Ovid
8:30 –9:45am
"Pius Samwise: Roman Heroism in The Lord of the Rings."
Zachary Schmoll (Southeastern University)

“The True West?; Tolkien and the Aeneid”
Nicholas Birns (New York University)

“Ovid and Tolkien: Omnia mutantur – I amar prestar aen”
Sandra Hartl (Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena)

Session 2 The Greeks
9:45 –11am
"Release from Bondage: The Orphic Power of Song"
Hannah McDermett (University of Vermont)

“Into the East: Migration Narratives in Middle-Earth and Ancient Greece”
Julia Irons (University of Chicago)

“Earth, Air, Fire, and Water Music: Pre-Socratic Resonances in Tolkien’s Evolving Cosmology”
John Franklin (University of Vermont)

“Thucydides’ Influence in The Silmarillion”
Henry Stone (University of Vermont)

Session 3 UVM Undergraduate Voices
11 –12:15pm
“The Children of Denethor”
Jose Maria Montoya Kent (University of Vermont)

"Ragnarök, Revelation and the Dagorath: Tolkien's Apocalypse as the Resolution to the Paradox of Change"
Briggs Heffernan (University of Vermont)

“Memories of Numenor: Rejecting a Heritage of Supremacy in Middle-earth.”
Brendan Anderson (Bangor University)

Lunch Break
12:15 –1:15

Keynote Address: Tolkien's Calques of Classicisms: Who knew Elvish Latin, what did the Rohirrim read, and why was Bilbo cheeky?
1:15 –2pm
Very Rev. John Wm. Houghton, Ph.D. (Champlain and Dean emeritus, The Hill School)

Session 4 Plato and Aristotle and Boethius
2 –3:15pm
Ox Bones and Silver Ladles: The Construction of the Ainulindalë
Dawn M. Walls-Thumma (Coventry Village School)

“Frodo and Sam’s Relationship in the Light of Aristotle’s Philia”
Martina Juričková (Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra)

“Lives in Shadow: Paris, Faramir, and the Echoes of Fraternal Bonds found within The Iliad and Lord of the Rings.”
Andrew Peterson (Harvard University)

Afternoon Break 3:15-3:30pm

Session 5 Reading the Stars and Myths
3:30 –4:45pm
“Epigraphy, Philology, and the ‘Found Manuscript’ Topos in The Lord of the Rings”
Marc Zender (Tulane University)

“Bara’/ `Asah and Muwth: Viewing the Legendarium as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Reflection on Creativity in the Light—or rather the Darkness—of Mortality and the Fall”
Matthew Dickerson (Middlebury College)

“Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Watling Street: Tolkien and the Milky Way”
Kristine Larsen (Central Connecticut State University)

Session 6 Classical Traditions
4:45 – 6pm
Beorn and Medwyn: Vegetal Paradises and the Flood in Tolkien's Hobbit and Alexander's Book “of Three”
Bruce Gilchrist (Concordia University, Montréal)

“Middle-earth and Greco-Roman Myth: The Races of Humans Redux”
Larry Swain (Bemidji State University)

“Tolkien and the Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.”
Jamie Williamson (University of Vermont)

“Classical Traditions and Tolkien”
Richard Fahey (Independent Scholar)

Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang: Suggestion Form Open

TRSB is back for 2021! As of April 1, the TRSB suggestion form is open. 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. The answers will feed into a publicly available spreadsheet listing the ideas submitted; artists can peruse this to get inspired!

2021 TRSB Schedule

April 16: Sign-ups open
May 9: Artist sign-ups close
May 14: Art drafts due
May 16: Art preview opens
May 21: Author sign-ups close
May 23, 17:00 UTC: Claims
May 30: Post-claim check-in
June 6: Free rein art due
June 27: Check-in #2
July 25: Check-in #3
August 1: Art due
August 15: Final check-in
August 22: Art can be posted
August 29: Fics due in collection
September 5: REVEALS
September 6: Staggered Tumblr reblogs begin

To Learn More ...

Visit the TRSB website for full rules and to learn more about this event. TRSB is also on Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Instagram.

Find past collections of TRSB fanworks: 

The Silly-meme-rillion: A Rereading

Two students review Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, offering new takes on the most important mythology of Arda. Get ready for ruminations on elvish hijinks, misbehaving Maiar, and errant Edain across the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth--and beyond.

The podcast is available on Spotify or you can listen on YouTube.