Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Celedriel Week 2026
Celedriel Week 2026 Prompts
July 14
First Meetings, Impressions, The Heart Stirs
A Gaze Caught. The Fire Ignites.
“Is this the love they speak of in songs and poems?”
July 15
Dedication. Courtship. The Heart Blooms.
Gifts of Love. Words and Songs.
“Oh beloved mine, where might I rest but your embrace?”
July 16
Marriage, Vows, The Heart Bound in Love
An Exchange of Rings. Melding of Houses.
“This I vow from here on forth, and beyond the world’s end.”
July 17
Kingdoms. Refuge. The Heart Endures
Crowns of Silver. Realms Rise and Fall.
“With you by my side, I have nothing to fear.”
July 18
Separation. Conflict. The Heart Grieves.
War and Loss. When Paths Diverge.
“How far will the lonely road take us before we renew our love again?”
July 19
Lothlorien. Children. The Heart Heals.
When Wounds Mend. The Throne of Elvendom.
“By our toil, future generations shall persist before the Shadow.”
July 20
The West. Undying Love. The Heart is Eternal
Beyond the Tribulations. The Last Ship.
“In the end, it is you and I who remain past the fading of the ancient days.”
Esoteric Tolkien Week 2026
That's right, Esoteric Tolkien Week, your center for all things strange, mystical, inexplicable, and unfathomed in Arda and beyond, is back for round two! We are open to all types and ratings of fanwork, and are eager to welcome returners and new faces alike. A few bits of useful tattle for the moment:
- Further information and event guidelines can be found here
- Event planned to run July 13th - 19th, 2026
- An ao3 collection will open closer to the run date—if you have any work hanging around that you'd like to submit now, or just want to get inspired, you can find the small but mighty 2025 collection here
Prompts
Day 1 - Lands, Wander, Documents
Day 2 - Waters, Return, Music
Day 3 - Skies, Demand, Inventions
Day 4 - Underground, Trammel, Relics
Day 5 - Ruins, Bargain, Art
Day 6 - In the Dark, Endure, Weapons & Armor
Day 7 - At Home, Abandon, Gifts
Tolkien Gen Week 2026
Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026!
This is a week to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen.” There is a great wealth of wonderful gen content in the Tolkien fandom, but those creations are not always the most visible because of the shipping-focused nature of fandom at large. This week is an effort to give them the appreciation they deserve.
This year, Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026!
Any content and creations are welcome as long as it is non-romantic and non-sexual! You can create edits, gifs, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, and more! Please tag your posts with #tolkiengenweek AND @ mention this blog @tolkiengenweek so they can be easily found. If your submission turns into a long post, please put what you can beneath a “Keep reading” divider. You may also post your creations to our AO3 collection.
Below are some prompts for each day of the week. They are not mandatory, but they are here to inspire you. This post will lead to an explanation for each one.
- DAY ONE: Family ● Mentorships ● Community
- DAY TWO: Friendship ● Animals ● Group Dynamic
- DAY THREE: Gray Spaces ● Enemies and Rivalries ● Fealty
- DAY FOUR: Solo ● Work and Craft ● Language
- DAY FIVE: Culture ● Diversity ● Traditions
- DAY SIX: Environment ● Places ● Objects and Symbols
- DAY SEVEN: Freeform
This event is being organized by @arofili. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to message this blog or my main.
For further clarification, check out our FAQ, code of conduct, and prompts pages! Happy creating!!
Tolkien Disability Pride 2026
Starting July 1st ObscureDurins will be hosting
TOLKIEN DISABILITY PRIDE
This event focuses on ALL creative works focusing on disability in Tolkien's universe.
You can do worldbuilding, fan fic, fan art, share a favorite character, your favorite headcanons, write a song, poem, show us your LOTRO Oc!ANYTHING providing-
- Absolutely NO USE OF AI IN ANY PART OF THE PROCESS
- Ableism and violence against Disabled character should be done with nuance and plot in mind. Remember this is a pride event we are more than willing to have dead dove- provided it is done justly and tactfully.
- Tag all your works appropriately and place under a read more.
Tag: "tolkien disability pride" AND "obscuredurins" to get your work featured.
This is a spoonie friendly event! We accept past works, WIPS, and encourage this as our time to display PRIDE in our community.
Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
June 1: Sign-ups and art submissions open
July 7: Artist sign-ups close
July 19: Art submissions close
July 24: Gallery opens
July 25 & 26: Art viewing parties
July 30: Author sign-ups close
August 1: Claims Day (Times to be announced)
August 2: Additional Claims Open
August 3: Art posting begins
November 1: Drop-out without penalty deadline
November 15: Fic submission deadline
November 28: Reveals!
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
Oxonmoot - Calls for Papers and for Activities (deadlines)
Oxonmoot is an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society which brings together Tolkien fans, scholars, students and Society members from across the world. Oxonmoot 2021 is being held over four days, from the afternoon of Thursday 2nd September until lunch time on Sunday 5th September. This will be a hybrid event bringing together online delegates with those attending in person at St Anne’s College, Oxford.
The Call for Papers and Call for Activities are open. The Call for Papers closes at 8:00 am UK time on Thursday 1st July, while the Call for Activities closes at 8:00 am UK time on Sunday 18th July.
Registration is now open. Fees range from £35 to £95, depending.
Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021 (3/4 July) posts its programme
The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The theme for this year's conference is "Tolkien and Diversity" and recognizes the growing need for discussion of diversity and representation in Tolkien's works and adaptations of those works.
This year's seminar will be held online via Zoom and livestreamed on the Tolkien Society's YouTube channel on Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday, July 4th. Registration is free, and you can register on the Tolkien Society website.
The schedule has now been posted on the same page; the papers cover a wide variety of relevant topics in the Legendarium and in the reception of Tolkien's works.
Jeff LaSala completes blog post series on orcs on Tor.com
As part of his series Deep Delvings into Middle-earth on Tor.com, Jeff LaSala has completed a mini-three series of three blog posts on continuities and change in the portrayal of the orcs in Tolkien's Legendarium and their implications. The first post covered The Lord or the Rings and The Hobbit, the second covered Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion and the third covers treatment in the History of Middle-earth.
Survey: Sociolinguistics in Fandom
Interested in online sociolinguistics in fandom? Then have we got the survey for you! We were contacted by a researcher at Bellevue College, who asked about boosting their study, so we’re passing this along. The study is about sociolinguistics in online fandom, and really digs into how individuals personally define various fannish terms. There’s a particular focus on shipping and antis, and a portion of the survey is optional and uses trigger warnings for potentially upsetting content around antis and anti discourse.
The number of survey questions vary depending on your answers. People have finished in around 20-30mins, and some have really dug into the optional, long-form questions and have taken an hour! We figure around 30-45mins is a good estimate for length.
For more information:
Project FAQ
Take the Survey
Tolkien Short Fanworks: June Challenge
The tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has a thematic prompt and a formal challenge for June.
You can combine the thematic prompt and the formal challenge, but they can be filled entirely independently.
Thematic prompt: the solstice, Mid-Summer, respectively Mid-Winter, as turning points of the solar year.
For Mid-Summer you could also think of Middle-earth equivalents like Loëndë or Lithedays, and perhaps of traditions like bonfires or herbs such as St John's Wort and others.
The formal challenge is to write a a 'dribble' or half-drabble, 50 words, also themed to go with the solstice or half-way through the year.
Although 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!
New participants are welcome. (A Dreamwidth account is required for posts to the Dreamwidth community.)
Tolkien Society Seminar Registration Open
The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The theme for this year's conference is "Tolkien and Diversity" and recognizes the growing need for discussion of diversity and representation in Tolkien's works and adaptations of those works.
This year's seminar will be held online via Zoom and livestreamed on the Tolkien Society's YouTube channel on Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday, July 4th. Registration is free, and you can now register on the Tolkien Society website.
"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:
- Post on Tumblr with the tag #gondolinweek2021 or send a submission to the Gondolin Week tumblr.
- Add your fanwork to the Gondolin Week AO3 collection.
A preview of this year's Gondolin Week prompts can be found here.
