Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Forgotten Ground Regained Features Tolkien-Inspired Alliterative Poetry
In late July, issue 11 was released of Forgotten Ground Regained: A Quarterly Journal of Alliterative Verse, containing 22 poems by 18 poets on the theme, "Alliterative Verse in Arda" (poetry on or about J.R.R. Tolkien and Tolkien's Middle Earth).
The current issue is one of a series of thematic issues. Past themes include "Poems of Love and Loss", "Images of the Natural World", "Mythic Tales and Sacred Truths", "Protests, Prophetic Truths, and Poetic Battles", "Norse and Icelandic Forms", and "Psalms and Meditations". Forgotten Ground Regained is edited by SWG member and Mereth Aderthad presenter Paul D. Deane. (You can view his Mereth Aderthad presentation on alliterative verse in Tolkien here, in addition to alliterative poems created to accompany his presentation in the Mereth Aderthad fanzine.) Several members and friends of the SWG appear in the magazine, including Paul, Himring, Zdenka, Dawn Felagund, and Savannah Horrell.
You can read the "Alliterative Verse in Arda" of Forgotten Ground Regained here.
Forgotten Ground Regained is always open to Tolkien-based poetry, so aspiring scops should check out the submission guidelines here!
Sindar Week 2026
Welcome to Sindar Week 2026!
This year’s event will be from Monday September 7th to Sunday September 14th
The prompts are:
Day 1 — Firsts & Lasts | Doriath | Thingol & Celeborn
Day 2 — Water & Air | Falas | Círdan & Lúthien
Day 3 — Sorrow & Grief | Mithrim | Daeron & Nimloth
Day 4 — Friends & Rivals | Mirkwood | Thranduil & Legolas
Day 5 — Earth & Fire | Lothlórien | Celebrían & Amroth
Day 6 — Joy & Celebration | Edhellond | Nellas & Mablung
Day 7 — Language & Memory | Cuiviénen | OCs & Unnamed Characters
As always, the prompts are only optional and inspirational, and there is no requirement to stick to them. Mix and match, use none, one, all of them. Happy creating!
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
2026 schedule:
Prompting: September 1st-14th
Publishing of prompt list: September 19th (at latest)
Claiming Begins: September 21st at 18:00 UTC
Works due: November 20th
Posting starts: November 27th
Full Rules & Requirements can be found here: Desktop | Mobile
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
This is an ANTI-AI event- ai created, assisted, or concept built pieces are NOT ADMISSABLE.
This includes: canon characters, lotro characters,ocs, imagines, x readers, and self inserts.
This event is FULLY FOCUSED on Sapphics this INCLUDES ALL 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 identities!
Past works, works in progress, and late submissions are WELCOME!💫
Submissions to the blog and reblogs here from the Tolkien Sapphic September tags will begin the 1st of September and go throughout the month.
We have an AO3 collection which is happily accepting submissions
Basic rules:
- No AI
- No incest
- Main ship MUST be sapphic.
- Any sexual works must be 18+
- Appropriately tagged for readers
Prompts
These are totally optional and can be altered and combined!!! Think of this year as a custom tea blend all for you!!!
Tea chart
Pine
Old lady yuri
Snowed in
Winter
Lemon balm
Hate sex
Enemies to lovers
One bed
Strawberry
Devotion
Kink
Lust
Basil
Pining
Childhood friends
One bed
Earl grey
Arranged marriage
Letters
Royalty
Books
Rosemary
Modern au
Meet tragic
Adoration
Instrument/art
Valerian
Tragedy
Good bye
Last kiss
Hope
Berry
Horror
Hunter/hunted
Survival
Dandelion
Forbidden love
Loyalty
Resiliency
Hope
Rose
Toxic (to sweet or not)
Opposites attract
Rivals to lovers
Mint
Pride
Gift
Three kisses
Chamomile
Meet cute
Friends to lovers
Fluff
Ginger
Yearning
Indirect kiss
Confession
Smut with feelings
Catnip
Crossover
Self insert
Indulgence
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
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!
Monster Fucker May 2025
Monster Fucker May is back for 2025!!! This Tumblr and AO3 event is put on by the Tolkien Pinup Calendar and is an 18+ event.
We hope you enjoy the prompts; we tried to give a good mix of prompts specific to certain media (Silmarillion, ROP, Hobbit, and LOTR) and some less specific prompts!
As always, if you want us to reblog please:
- tag us @tolkienpinupcalendar
- use the tag #tpcmonsterfuckermay
- Submit to our smut-missions form
- Add the work to our AO3 collection
The most important rule is to have fun! We look forward to seeing what you create! And remember, any creative work is allowed: Moodboards, playlist, digital and physical art, if you can imagine it you can share it!!!
Prompts
- Gothmog
- Goop Sauron
- Old Man Willow
- Ungoliant
- Beorn (only as a bear)
- fangs
- fur/feathers
- Unicorn
- Undead
- oviposition
- free space
Tolkien100 Drabble Community
Tolkien100 is a long-running drabble community that originated on LiveJournal and is currently maintained on both LiveJournal and Dreamwidth (the main link in this announcement goes to the Dreamwidth community; the Livejournal community is here). The community focusses on fixed length or "perfect" drabbles (100 words) inspired by any fictional works by J.R.R. Tolkien, including their movie adaptations. In its current incarnation (since 2018) there are also regular writing prompts. The current prompt is "Green Leaves".
New participants welcome! (A Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account is required.)
May Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth
The May challenge has been posted at the tolkienshortfanworkscommunity on Dreamwidth.
Here are some word prompts:
maybe, mayhem, dismay, mayonnaise, mayor.
Here are some phrases:
A cat may look at a king; pigs may fly; that is as may be.
Here is a song prompt:
May It Be, by Enya.
You may (ahem) use these prompts however you like.
Bonus if you get more than one "may" in.
New participants welcome (a Dreamwidth account is required).
The prompts can be freely combined with other challenges that allow this.
More on the challenges at the linked post and in the sticky posts at the DW community.
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
Gondolin Week 2025
A commemoration of the life and death of all those who came to love the fair hidden city and call it home, the Gates of Summer begin on the first day of Laer and end one week hence. Gondolin Week will run this year May 11-17 on Tumblr and will feature bingo cards for the prompts.
Bingo cards for the event have been posted and can be found on Tumblr here.
Please tag your submissions with #gondolinweek2025. Works will be shared using reblogs when possible (or credited). For questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out by ask.
Angbang Week 2025
Angbang Week is a Tumblr event for fanworks about the Melkor/Sauron pairing and will run from May 5 to May 11, 2025.
As always, there is a couple of prompts to choose between for every day of the week, with the last day being a bit more open to topics of choice. You can pick one each day, try to combine them into one work, or skip any day that offers prompts you find less appealing.
Here is the list of prompts for the 2025 event:
Day 1: Friend | Enemy
Day 2: Freedom | Imprisonment
Day 3: Temporary | Permanent
Day 4: Concealment | Revelation
Day 5: Holy | Unholy
Day 6: Singing | Dancing
Day 7: Fix it
Anything that reminds you of the topic of the prompt is encouraged and accepted. The only requirements are that the work is about the pairing, previously unposted, made by you, and that you tag things correctly if your works include sensitive subjects or are adult in nature. Anything written, visual, auditory, or any combination thereof goes.
When posting your works, feel free to post them on the day the prompt appears on or later, tag us directly or add one of the following tags (#angbangweek2025, #angbang week 2025, #angbang week2025) to your post's tag list. For any questions or clarification requests, feel free to reach out at any time.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) Sign-Ups Open!
Calling all creators of Middle-earth magic! Whether you wield a pen, stylus, or keyboard, it’s time to return to Middle-earth for another epic journey.
What is it? The Tolkien Reserve Summer Bang is a collaborative fan event celebrating the works and adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien. Writers and artists will team up to bring new stories to life—from the Shire to the far reaches of Valinor (and everything in between).
Sign-ups are officially OPEN! Whether you're a seasoned loremaster or a first-time adventurer, we’d love to have you join us. Writers, artists, beta readers, cheerleaders, treat makers, and pinch hitters—all are welcome!
*While artist and author sign-ups have a time limit, sign-ups for the other roles will remain open for the event.
Art Suggestion Spreadsheet for inspiration
FAQs: Answers to all our frequently asked questions
Sign-up deadlines: Artists: May 3rd
Authors: May 17th
Everybody Else: Duration of the Event
Spread the word, gather your fellowship, and let’s make some magic this summer!