Around the World and Web

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

Ainur Week 2026

Ainur Week will be returning from November 16 to 22, 2026.

Glorthelion Week 2026

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

Hello everyone and welcome to another year of Glorthelion week! An entire week dedicated to Glorfindel and Ecthelion relationship.

The event will run on Tumblr from November 16th to November 22nd. All creations are welcome, as long as it is created by you. Don't forget to tag #glorthelionweek and mention the blog (to make sure I can see your creation in case tags don't work).

Prompts are not mandatory! You can follow them, be inspired by them or let your imagination go wild and create whatever you want! Event rules can be found here.

Prompts 2026:

↳ Day one: A Glance across the Square | The Bells of Festivals | Gifts of the Heart

↳ Day two: Words in the Dark | Following the Star | The Weight of the Sword

↳ Day three: Silver and Gold | Sun and Moon | The Roar of the Waterfall

↳ Day four: Silver Flutes | The Language of Flowers | Water Mirrors

↳ Day five: A Final Glance | Entrusted Secrets | "I will find you again"

↳ Day six: Ashes and Sorrow | Waiting in Mandos | Forever Changed

↳ Day seven: Beyond the Circles of the World | Constellations | The Promise Kept

Happy creating!

Nolofinwëan Week 2026

Nolofinwëan week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages. 

Nolofinwëan week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages. 

To Participate:

  • Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you to celebrate Nolofinwëan characters. 
  • Mention the blog @nolofinweanweek in your post and include the hashtag #nolofinweanweek2025 in the first 10 tags. 
  • If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection.
  • Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts.
  • Complete one or more of the community challenges.

Rules & Requirements:

  • There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
  • There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3’s major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though!
  • That said, please refrain from using genAI.
  • This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.

The mod runs on CET, but folks can post content or interact with the blog at their convenient time.

All prompts are non-obligatory—feel free to interpret as loosely or closely, to cross-match, or to ignore altogether!

Day 1: It Was But a Dream

  • Characters: Turgon, Anairë, Idril
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “poured forth their joy in music and song”
  • Inspirational art:

Amber Fort, Jaipur #1 Photograph by Inger Hogstrom 

Day 2: Breath of Darkness

  • Characters: Elenwë, Argon
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “there was now no returning”
  • Inspirational art:

The Night Is Stirring (Anger) by Zao Wou-Ki

Day 3: Light Splinters the Sky

  • Characters: Eöl, Eärendil, Gil-galad
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “as a naked flame”
  • Inspirational art:

First sunrise by Kimura Buzan 

Day 4: Embraced in the Mist

  • Characters: Fingon, Aredhel
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “green things even among the pits and broken rocks”
  • Inspirational art:

Shan-Shui style painting by Yang Tianyou 

Day 5: Flames Arising in Might

  • Characters: Fingolfin, Maeglin
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “shadows of madness and despair”
  • Inspirational art:

Burning the Slums of Nairobi by Kiure Francis Msangi

Day 6: The Sea’s Embrace

  • Characters: Elros, Elwing, Tuor
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “still hope may seem bright”
  • Inspirational art:

Moon Trace Art Installation by Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts 

Day 7: New Beginnings; Old Longings

  • Characters: Elrond, Celebrían, Peredhil Descendants
  • Silmarillion Phrase: “love would lead me”
  • Inspirational art:

Yesterdays Gone by Thomas Hjelm

14th International Tolkien Mailing Competition

The Hungarian Tolkien Society invites you to join the international “Quendi” category of the Tolkien Mailing Competition: five rounds of quizzes, riddles and creative tasks. This category is organised in English, open to any individual participant, and also to teams of 2–5 people. The five rounds of the competition will last from November to April. Application deadline: 5 November, 2026.

 

The Tolkien Mailing Competition ("TLV" abbreviated from its Hungarian equivalent "Tolkien Levelező Verseny") takes place for the 21st time this year—and it is international for the 14th time. In the first years it was organised only in Hungarian, and only for groups of Hungarian students aged 10–18-years. As many people above this age group became interested in the competition, we launched a separate category for individuals in Hungarian, and at the same time we decided to go international. The outcome was definitely encouraging. In the past few years the international Quendi category had many participants (and for a while even an organiser) from various foreign countries: you can see here the final results of the previous competition.

(Click here for the Hungarian article about all categories.)

In the international Quendi category both the challenges and the communication will be entirely in English—but you don't have to be perfectly fluent in English for taking part in the competition. You only have to be able to understand the texts by Tolkien, and maybe to write a story or an essay—it does not have to be of academic level. The competition was originally devised for middle and high school students, and we did not make big changes in the style, but it is open to anybody who feels young enough for it. You can always choose to count your years by Elvish standards!

Participation in the Quendi category requires a thorough knowledge of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Other works by Tolkien may be needed occasionally, as some questions (riddles, quizzes, etc.) can refer to those, but you will have about four weeks for each round, that is, plenty of time to look up in the books everything you might need.

Besides the quizzes, there will be creative challenges. For example, you may be asked to describe a situation, write a short poem, make a drawing or take a photograph, etc. We would like to be proud of our participants, so we ask you to share the rights of your creative productions royalty-free (and you accept this condition by your registration for the competition). Your works—with due credit to authors/artists—might be published by the Hungarian Tolkien Society, e.g. on our website, www.tolkien.hu, or in our journal, the Lassi Laurië. (You can read about Lassi Laurië in English here.) Please do not publish these works yourself without consulting us first, and especially not before the end of the competition. (Artwork submitted by teams is credited as teamwork by default, but you can add the name of the actual author/artist for each piece.)

You can participate in the Quendi category alone as an individual competitor, or you can participate as a member of a team of 2–5 people. The individual competitors and the teams will receive the same set of tasks, but the winner will be announced separately for individuals and teams.

As an individual competitor, you can make the decision to solve only the quizzes or only the creative tasks in each round: besides the absolute winners of the individual and team subcategories, the separate winners of the lexical and the creative parts will also be announced. This choice is only available for individual competitors, teams are expected to do the full version!

We will go on with the team competition only if we receive at least 5 applications from teams. If we have to cancel the team competition, team members will have the opportunity to compete on their own or to withdraw their application. There is also a maximum limit of 60 competitors (individuals and teams counted together) in the Quendi category (and we got quite close to this limit last year).

The contest starts in November and continues until April. Every month you will receive the questions of the next round (five rounds overall), and you will have to submit your solutions until the indicated deadline (you will have about four weeks for each round). Communication is done via e-mail. Our e-mail address is tlv[at]tolkien.hu: questions and comments are always welcome there. We are happy to answer all your questions about the competition—except disclosing the solutions of the actual tasks.

Not submitting your solutions for two consecutive rounds means quitting the competition.

There will be no prizes in the international category, only the public announcement of your achievement and a certificate sent by e-mail. There is no registration fee, either.

If you want to participate, please fill in this online registration form.

Registration as an individual competitor: choose the “I am competing alone.” option on the form.

Registration as a team: each team member should fill in a registration form separately, choose the “I am a member of a team of 2-5 people.” option, and provide the same team name. We also need a contact person for each team. Please agree on a unique team name and choose a contact person from the team before starting the registration.

You should see an automatic confirmation message after the successful registration, but if you are in doubt about the success of your registration, ask the organisers via e-mail whether they have received your registration or not! You should receive the first round of tasks during the week after the application deadline. If you do not receive it, write to us!

The application deadline is:

5 November, 2026

Tolkien Food Week 2026

Tolkien food week 2026 themes

2nd of November- Dùnedain travel food

3rd Nov- plant-based

4th Nov- hobbit hole recipes

5th Nov - Elven feasts

6th Nov - at the Prancing pony

7th Nov- Dwarven banquets

8th Nov - at the Valar's table 🦅

Fics, recipes, ficlets, art, photos, polls, crack... have fun

These are mere suggestions ofc, you absolutely can post when you want on theme or not 😉

(Headers/banners here if you want)

The White Oliphaunt 2026

Sign ups will open on November 1st, 2026. See the blog linked in this announcement for more details.


Around the World and Web Archive

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

Tolkienshortfanworks challenge for January

The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for January has been posted at the Dreamwidth community.

The thematic prompt is "beginnings or fresh start" and the formal  challenge is alliterative verse.

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien chiefly uses the form to render the poetry of the Rohirrim, but he also composed long narrative poems and shorter descriptive pieces in it.



Tolkien's most famous alliterative lines (based on an Old English model) are probably these:

 

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?

Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?

New joiners to the community are always welcome. More details at the linked entry.

Call for Papers: Popular Culture Association Conference Tolkien Studies Area Deadline Extended!

The Tolkien Studies Area (TSA) welcomes proposals for individual papers, paper sessions (with four proposals), and roundtables (with five-seven participants) in any area of Tolkien studies. All PCA sessions are scheduled in 1.5-hour slots. Individual presenters should plan for fifteen minutes to present, and roundtable participants should plan for 5-7 minutes each.

We welcome scholars in all period specializations, from any disciplinary perspective, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, and using any critical theory. Tolkien studies includes but is not limited to: the Legendarium, adaptations and transformative works, reader reception and fan studies, source studies, literary studies, critical race studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing, religious studies.

Academics, independent scholars, and graduate students are invited to submit through the online submission page. At this time, we are not accepting proposals from undergraduate students.

For individual paper proposals, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation if an, e-mail addresses, and telephone number), a title and a 300-word proposal that includes information on the topic, theory or method, and relation to relevant scholarship.

Possible Topics

Adaptation Studies

Games, Films, Art, Amazon’s Tolkien

Cultural Studies/Reception Studies/Fan Studies

  •           Race & Tolkien
  •           Queer Tolkien
  •           Gender & Tolkien
  •           Class & Tolkien
  •           Intersectional Tolkien
  •           Tolkien & Religion or Spirituality (Catholic, Buddhist, Neo-Paganism)
  •           Tolkien & White Supremacy (then and now)
  •           Tolkien’s Fandoms (fanfiction, fan art, fan vids, cosplay, collecting, tourism)
  •           Tolkien Fanzines (Marquette or other archives)
  •           Tolkien & Contemporary Fantasy (examples: N. K. Jemisin, G. R. R. Martin, Terry Pratchett)

Literary Studies

  •           New Tolkien Publications
  •           Tolkien & Genre
  •           Tolkien & Romanticisms
  •           Tolkien & Medievalisms
  •           Tolkien & Modernisms
  •           Tolkien & Postmodernisms
  •           Tolkien & the Sciences

Possible Roundtable Topics:

  •           Games, Gaming, Gamers (Online or Tabletop)
  •           New Disciplines, Methods, Pedagogies
  •           How and Where To Publish
  •           The Question of Tolkien and Theory
  •           Digital Tolkien (Digital Archives, Corpus Projects)

Fandom Snowflake Challenge

Ever other day, starting on the first and running through the twenty-ninth of January, one of us will post a challenge or idea or prompt. We will also be hosting a friending meme on the thirty-first, to close out the fest.

Participants use your own space to respond to that challenge in whatever way suits you best. If you like, you can drop a comment on the challenge post and link to your response, so that you can share your thoughts with other fans. Please comment, interact, and celebrate each other, as all together we are what make up fandom!

There is no minimum for the number of challenges you have to do. One is a complete acceptable number, as is zero, as is all fifteen. You do not have to do them on the day they're posted, and you can do them in any order you please. You are free to interpret "fandom" as widely or as narrowly as you please, and talk about any kind of fanwork or type of fandom interaction you can think of.

The Fandom Snowflake Challenge can be found on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Twitter, and Pillowfort.

Screw Yule 2022

Everyone is cordially invited to participate in this year's Screw Yule, a celebration of Elves, Smut, and a New Year's Resolution to toss Laws and Customs right out the window (or, at least, ignore whatever is necessary to appease your muses.)

What is Screw Yule? Screw Yule started in 2005 as the smuttiest writing and art challenge around, and is still going strong in its 17th season. It's a chance to start the year nice with some naughty elves (and friends), with a focus on populating the fandom with rare pair goodness.

R+ ratings encouraged, but lower ratings are still accepted.

January 1st through January 20th.

Pairing prompts, sassy bingo cards, kinky playlist..

Runs on AO3; for rules and FAQs see collection profile.

B2MEM 2022: Mathom Marketplace

Offer Prompts from January 1 to February 15

Create Works from March 1 through April 15.




In the Michel Delving Market, Hobbits (and big folk alike) can offer ‘prompts for sale’ for ‘prompts for trade’. Shoppers (participants) at the Mathom Marketplace earn mathoms when they offer up prompts for sale, which can be ‘spent’ to acquire prompts from others (or their own!)



The number of people who can ‘buy’ a prompt for sale is limitless – let’s say that Petunia Took offers up ‘An adventure on the Buckleberry Ferry’ as a prompt for sale, and both Gertrude Goodbody and Wylde Thyme wanted to ‘purchase’ that prompt. So long as Gertrude and Wylde each have the mathoms to trade for it, they can each claim the prompt.



Gertrude and Wylde could also combine their mathoms, and spend only one together instead of one each to buy the prompt – the catch is, whatever is created needs to be a collaborative effort between them!



How does one ‘earn’ mathoms? By offering prompts! Everyone starts off with a generous donation from Postmaster Proudfoot of mathoms lost in the mail–he wagers he has enough in the unclaimed mathoms room of the post in Michel Delving for everyone participating to start with five (5) mathoms regardless of whether or not they have anything to offer at the market. The more you offer, the more you earn!

 More details, rules, FAQs at the linked Google Doc, which also has the links to the AO3 collections, etc.

My Slashy Valentine sign-ups open

My Slashy Valentine is a hand matched slash fiction exchange focused on the people of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Sign ups are now OPEN so spread the word, recruit your friends and fellow authors, and get ready for MSV 2022.

Sign-up Period: December 8th to December 22nd

Assignments distributed: by December 29th

Deadline for first time participants: January 31st, 2022

Deadline for veteran participants: February 7th, 2022

Archive opens: February 14th, 2022

 

Admin posts on Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Livejournal; stories to be posted to AO3.

Link to sign-up form in the linked post, together with rules and FAQ

December challenge at tolkienshortfanworks (on Dreamwidth)

December at tolkienshortfanworks is an amnesty month for all the previous monthly challenges posted to the community.

New joiners to the Dreamwidth community are always welcome!

More details plus a list of all the challenges at the linked post.

Sign-ups for Tolkien Secret Santa 2021 (on Tumblr) are open

The Tolkien Secret Santa sign ups for the main event are open till November 20th (on Tumblr). The closing date for  sign-ups to the  Advent Calendar companion event  is 11 November.

TSS is a digital gift exchange, where Tolkien fans sign up to make and receive small winter-themed gifts.

More details and links to  instructions, etc. at the linked post.

The LOTR SeSa prompt meme is now open for sign-up and posting prompts

The LOTR Sesa exchange is running in the form of prompt meme this year. 

Timeline (2021):

- Prompt Posting: November 1st to 30th.

- Claiming: December 1st to 22nd.

- Collection Open for Posting: December 1st to 31st

- All Fills Due: December 31st.

Open to all the Peoples and Ages of Middle-earth (Fictional persons only, no RPF).

The prompt meme runs on AO3. Admin announcements are posted to Dreamwidth, Livejournal and Tumblr.

More details and links in the linked post.

 

November Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks posted

The November Challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has been posted. (New members are always very welcome to join the community.)

The thematic prompt is Poppy.

The formal challenge is to write an elegy, either in the narrower sense of a poem of mourning and memorial for the dead or in the wider sense of a poem of serious or melancholy reflection.

These prompts can be filled independently.

(For  bonus quotation prompts and more details on the challenges, see the linked Dreamwidth post.)