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:
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:
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.
Manwë Week 2024
Hello and welcome to Manwë Week!
Manwë Week is a week-long fandom event on Tumblr dedicated to Manwë Súlimo from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion, planned for March 11th - 17th 2024. The month of March is known as Súlimë, so it seemed only fitting to create an event to celebrate the Lord of Winds!
All sorts of fanworks are welcome, including but not limited to art (digital or traditional), fanfiction, moodboards, headcanons or playlists.
Here is a brief overview of this year's prompts:
Day 1: Family | Breath & Air
Day 2: Friends & Love | Rain & Clouds
Day 3: The Children | Whispering Breeze
Day 4: Poetry & Birdsong | Taniquetil
Day 5: Free of Evil | Opposition
Day 6: Fallen | Storm
Day 7: Freeform
For more details, please have a look at the prompt list.
Any questions, suggestions or concerns? Check out the FAQ or send an ask!
Tolkienshortfanworks Challenge for March 2024
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge has been posted to the Dreamwidth community.
The thematic challenge is: glass.
This could be the beaker or the mirror or the substance.
Maybe even the Phial of Galadriel or the surface of Mirrormere...
The formal challenge is: triolet.
Here are some links for help with this form:
Definition and two modern examples linked at the Poetry Foundation.
Definition and discussion of an example by Hardy at the Academy of American Poets.
Wikipedia entry, containing another five examples from different periods in English and a French one.
These two challenge parts can be filled together or separately and be freely combined with other challenges like B2MeM or the SWG monthly challenges.
New participants welcome!
More details on the challenges at the linked entry.
Teitho March/April Contest: Alternate Universe
Our challenge for March/April is Alternate Universe.
Where will you take us? Historical setting? Literary crossovers? Or perhaps space?
Or will you choose to follow a canon story to an alternative end or situation? What if Boromir lived? What if Theoden didn’t arrive in time? What if Celebrimbor turned Annatar away? Or Fëanor regained the Silmarils?
What if Gondolin survived? Or Fingon lived? Gil-Galad lived through the Last Battle? So many possibilities!!
Tell us your story—how would you write an alternate universe/ending/plot line?
Your submissions are due to teitho.contest@gmail.com by April 30th!
March of the Noldor 2024
March of the Noldor is a Tumblr-based month-long event to commiserate the grueling walk the Noldor took, across the Helcaraxe, from Aman to Beleriand, through creating fanworks. March of the Noldor runs from March 1 - March 31, 2024.
How do I participate?
Post something regarding the march and mention @march-of-the-noldor on Tumblr. Everything made will be reblogged here.
Go forth and create something New!
But this is also a great time to reblog older works relating to the march too!
What is allowed?
EVERYTHING!
Art, fic, meta, moodboards, poems! It's all welcome!
Want to do a character study? Awesome!
Make a collage of the kind of wild life the Noldor might encounter? Amazing!
Talk about the different types of ice the Noldor walked across? Fantastic!
Record a list of new traditions that developed during the walk? Bring it on!
Back to Middle-earth Month 2024: Minhiriath Midway
Welcome to the Minhiriath Midway! Enjoy the fun and games, and collect prompts as you traverse the midway of this year's celebration!
Balloon Pop
Throw a dagger, throw a dart, shoot an arrow, toss an axe (but not a Dwarf). There are so many ways to pop the balloons in this game. Take aim and hit your target, and see what prompt you reveal when you pop a balloon.
Crablor Grab
Try your luck at the Crablor Grab! This fun game of skill and luck and a little help from Crablor lets you try to pull a prompt from the machine. What prompt will you get? Visit Crablor and find out!
Haunted House
Not for the faint of heart! Visit the Hall of Horrors and collect prompts...if you dare.
Spin the Wheel
So many prompts, so little time! But why make yourself decide? Use these fun wheels to find your next prompt.
Tunnel of Love
A sweet place to pick up endearing prompts. Some snuggles, some spice, and lots of things that are nice. Climb aboard and take a ride with us.
Additionally, B2MEM is an open event where ANYTHING you create during March counts! Feel free to add works you start, add to, or finish in March to the gallery! You can also host your own events -- let us know what you're up to, and we'll add your event to the list of festivities!
There is no need to register in advance to play at the midway. You can begin posting to the AO3 collection on March 1, 2024. If posting on Tumblr, use the tag B2MEM24 to make your posts easy to find by our team for reblogs! You can join the Discord at any time!
Posting & Viewing Works
Beginning March 1st, 2024, works can be posted to the AO3 collection. This collection never closes, so while the event will wrap by the end of April, you can always add works later as you are inspired and finish them.
Socially Speaking...
Want to chat with others about Spring Into Arda events? There are parties for B2MEM throughout the event and the server is open year round. Hang with other B2MEM participants, past and present, on the perpetual Discord!
Tolkien Fanfic Reading Month 2024
I'm making this my personal thing for all of March, to celebrate "Tolkien Reading Day". Please feel free to make it yours too.
Nothing formal or fancy. No invitation or registration required. No requirements or deadlines.
Simply gorge yourself on some Tolkien fanfic all throughout March. And COMMENT. For the love of Tolkien, please show our hardworking fandom writers some love and appreciation.
Tolkien Pinup Calendar: Thankful for Rare Pairs Bingo
This month’s event we are doing Thankful for Rare Pairs! This is a bingo style event. In total there will be three cards: one with the rare pairs, one with smut prompts, and one with non-smut prompts. We will be reblogging and sharing content from this event for all of March and April (this event runs from March 1st 2024 to April 30th 2024). Do not feel any pressure to complete all the prompts within one month (and don’t feel any pressure to finish all the prompts!).
How to play:
Option 1: If you have one rare pair you really like or one rare pair that really speaks to you, take that pair and use the prompts to create something for them.
Option 2: You can use all the bingo cards with different pairings and different prompts for your creations!
Any fic, art, moodboard, playlist etc. will be included and we are happy to reblog!
Additional rules:
You can use multiple prompts for one creation. These can come from different cards (pairing + smut prompt + non-smut prompt) or come from the same card (pairing + smut prompt 1 + smut prompt 2, etc.). How you use the prompt cards is up to you!
If you want to play option 1 (only one pairing but using the prompt cards) but your pairing is not on the list: No problem! Just use the free space. If your pairing is a rare pair but not included, we would love to hear about it!
How do I know if my pairing is a rare pair? If you feel it is a rare pair it’s a rare pair.
To get a bingo you need to have a line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) filled and this can include the free space. To get a super bingo (we did not know what else to call it) you need to fill up a card, only one card. If you fill up more than one you get more than one super bingo!
As always, if you want us to reblog please:
- tag us @tolkienpinupcalendar
- use the tag #tpcrarepairbingo
- Submit to our smut-missions form
- Add the work to our AO3 collection
Winners who get a super bingo win a homemade playlist about whatever you want!
The most important rule is to have fun! We look forward to seeing what you create!
Tolkien Reading Day 2024
Monday 25th March is Tolkien Reading Day 2024 and the theme is Service and Sacrifice. The Tolkien Society is excited to be partnering with The Prancing Pony Podcast and A Long-Expected Soundscape to run this Reading Day. What will you be reading?
What is Tolkien Reading Day?
Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year. The date of the 25th of March was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo’s quest and vanquishing Sauron.
It has been organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages. We particularly encourage schools, museums and libraries to host their own Tolkien Reading Day events.
Reading Day Events
For this year’s Tolkien Reading Day the Tolkien Society is extremely excited to be teaming up with The Prancing Pony Podcast and A Long-Expected Soundscape to host and celebrate the event.
On Saturday 23rd March we will come together and you will be able to attend one of the three Zoom Reading Sessions that will be taking place throughout the day for readers around the world to share their favourite passages and react to the passages shared by the Podcast’s Guest Readers. Did we also mention that these events are free?
How you can take part?
There are a range of ways that you can join in throughout March:
Join the Tolkien Society on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the Prancing Pony Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and A Long-Expected Soundscape on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch out for our posts across late February and 25th March!
Share your stories (Facebook and Instagram), fleets (Twitter), comments, and photos on any social media platform and use the hashtag #TolkienReadingDay2024. Most of all, we’d love to see videos of you sharing what Tolkien means to you and how he inspires Hope and Courage!
If you want to attend one of the free Zoom sessions on Saturday 23rd March then you’re in luck as we are running sessions in the morning (9-10am GMT), midday (2-3pm GMT), and evening (8-9pm GMT) with the hope that you can find a session that is comfortable for you. Please use the links below to register for your preferred session (timings are in GMT).
We welcome readings from any of Tolkien’s works but are excited to be able to offer readers who wish to read from The Lord of the Rings the chance to read an extract of up to 5 minutes with excerpts from A Long-Expected Soundscape. If you know what you would like to read from The Lord of the Rings then please let us know by Friday 1st March by filling in the relevant parts of the registration form. Someone will then send you your sample to rehearse with.
Register for Reading Session 1 (9-10am GMT)
Maedhros and Maglor Week 2024
Maedhros and Maglor Week will run again on February 18th-24th, 2024. This is a fandom event dedicated to exploring the relationship between Maedhros and Maglor! Fanworks of all kinds are welcome (see the Event Guidelines page for details!)
Prompts:
February 18th—Day 1: Treelight
February 19th—Day 2: Trust/Distrust
February 20th—Day 3: Himring and the Gap
February 21st—Day 4: Heroism/Villainy
February 22nd—Day 5: New Horizons
February 23rd—Day 6: Respite
February 24th—Day 7: Storytelling
You can also find a handy prompt schedule here and on the blog with some suggestions for inspiration related to each prompt!
Fanworks for the event can respond to one or more prompts (interpreted however you wish), or they can be totally unrelated to any prompt, as long as there’s a focus on Maedhros and Maglor. This event is inclusive of all iterations of their relationship: please respect everyone’s interpretations and creations!
Happy creating!
Tolkien Society Seminar 2023: Tolkien and Religion Now Available Online
Thirteen presentations from the most recent Tolkien Society Seminar are now available on the Society's YouTube channel!
Although J.R.R. Tolkien deliberately excluded explicit religious references from his legendarium and rejected narrow allegorical readings of The Lord of the Rings, he made no secret of his devout Roman Catholicism and its importance to his sub-creative endeavor. From the creation myth of the “Ainulindalë” to the eucatastrophic destruction of the One Ring, Túrin Turambar’s doomed warrior courage to Frodo Baggins’s self-sacrificial humility, scholars have long examined the influence of Tolkien’s Christian faith and his abiding admiration for pre-Christian legends on the nature and history of Arda. Explorations of the legendarium from other religious perspectives or explicitly nonreligious perspectives have received less attention, however, as have studies of the reception of Tolkien’s work among (non)religious readers and communities.
Fifty years on from Tolkien’s death, as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films celebrate their twentieth anniversary and Amazon Prime’s The Rings of Power draws in new fans, Tolkien’s audience has never been wider nor more diverse. This presents Tolkien scholarship with an opportunity to bring varied and underrepresented perspectives on Tolkien and religion into conversation with longstanding currents in the field, thereby enriching our understanding of religious plurality in Tolkien’s secondary world and in our primary world as well.
This seminar welcomes fresh and innovative treatments of the generative interactivity between Tolkien’s fiction, Tolkien’s faith, and the faith (or lack thereof) of the readers who draw deep wells of meaning from his tales of Middle-earth.
