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Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2023

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.

For example: "Day N. Art form: Metalwork. Formal prompt (writing): Epistolary format. Formal prompt (visual art): Mixed media. Thematic prompt: Trade and cross-cultural connection."

If you miss the day, or are desperate to create work about some form of art not included in the prompts, don't worry! Posting amnesty/prompt free-for-all day will be June 17, and posting here and in the AO3 Collection will be open for a year from June 10, 2023.

How It Works

Prompts are currently being posted! Participants will have slightly more than two months to create whatever sort of art they like inspired by one or more of those prompts. Then, no later than June 9, 5 PM PST, they will post their works to the AO3 Collection (linked above), tagged with the appropriate day. The mod will do a quick check, and then the week of reveals will begin. During the week of June 10-June 16, pre-posted fanworks will be revealed daily according to theme (see calendar) in the AO3 Collection and reblogged on Tumblr. On June 17, anyone who missed the deadline will have an opportunity to post their late works and have them celebrated on Amnesty Day.

In short, the timeline is:
- Read prompts starting March 22.
- Create!
- Post tagged work to AO3 before June 9 deadline.
- Enjoy daily reveals between June 10 and June 16.
- 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 that have aired (so yes to Rings of Power, no to the yet-unreleased Rohan animated series), and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online. It also includes Tolkien's non-Arda 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 is one exception: no character bashing.

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 full instructions on how to post and tag.

Calendar

June 9: Submit all works to the AO3 Collection

June 10-16, 2023: Reveals

• June 10 - AO3 collection reveals begin with Day 1 Prompt (Textiles and Fashion)
• June 11 - Day 2 Prompt (Lutherie and Instrument-Making)
• June 12 - Day 3 Prompt (Dance)
• June 13 - Day 4 Prompt (Gardening and Landscape Architecture)
• June 14 - Day 5 Prompt (Music)
• June 15 - Day 6 Prompt (Calligraphy)
• June 16 - Day 7 Prompt (In-Universe Religious and Devotional Art)
• June 17 - Amnesty Day and Free-for-all posting

June 18, 2023: Tumblr Queue begins posting tagged works.

June 9, 2024: AO3 Collection and DW community close to posting.

Housekeeping

The DW site is the primary home of Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2023: this is where to check first for dates, news, FAQs, links, and prompts!

Prompts will also be posted 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.

Links

Tumblr Blog | Dreamwidth Community | AO3 Collection | FAQ

Polyship Week 2023

Polyship Week offers prompts for all fanwork types that focus on polyamorous characters and relationships. The event runs 16-22 April 2023.

• Works featuring polyamorous characters and relationships of all kind are welcome — any characters, ships, fandoms, and OCs too!
• Works may be in any medium — fic, art, gifsets, podfic, vids, and more!
• Participate in as few or as many days as you like. Choose your favorite prompt each day or mash them up — whatever sparks your imagination!
• Please tag us @PolyshipWeek or use the hashtag #PolyshipWeek23 so we can reblog your creations! Artists, please also remember to tag or link to the OP as requested for the art memes when you post. :)

Ao3 Collection | carrd | Twitter | Tumblr

WIP Big Bang 2023

We are the WIP Big Bang and our goal is to take the stories we've already started and to finish them by August 8, 2023. We are an all-fandoms-welcome exchange and will have artist claims and everything. It's like a real Big Bang, with a twist. You only need at least 500 words of a story you've already written prior to signing up and the goal isn't a word count* but to finish the thing. So, are you ready to defeat that WIP? Sign up now!

Schedule

All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Sign-ups Begin- April 1st
Sign-ups Close- April 21st
Check In #1- April 22nd
Check In #2- May 15th
Snippets Due- June 1st
Art Claims Begin- June 17th
Check In #3- June 22nd
Check In #4- July 6th
Rough Drafts Due- July 15th
Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd
Posting Claims Ends- August 1st
Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th
Posting Starts- August 8th
Posting Ends- October 31st (the last two weeks are reserved for emergency posting)

@wipbigbang on Tumblr has complete event guidelines.

B2MeM 2023: Drabble Duel and Eregion Art-a-Thon

Drabble Duel

Are you a writer who delights in the shortest of stories, the tiniest of tales? Then come join us from March 17 to March 25, and help settle the debate!

How to play:

• Two collections will be provided. Glorfindel’s Drabble Gallery & the Girabbit’s Drabble Exhibition.
• The rules are simple. If you believe that a drabble is exactly 100 words, not a single one more or less, post your drabbles to Glorfindel’s Drabble Gallery. Should you agree with the Girabbit that 99 words are as true of a drabble as 111 words are, post your drabbles to Girabbit’s Drabble Exhibition.
• On March 25, the Mods from Spies in the Shadows will tally all drabbles that were posted in the correct collection, according to the AO3 word count feature, and whoever received more support will win the argument!

Post your drabbles to the B2MeM 2023 AO3 collection. There are also live drabbling events available on the B2MeM 2023 Discord server; contact one of the B2MeM mods for an invite.

Complete Drabble Duel guidelines can be found here.

Eregion Art-a-thon

We are calling all artists to make use of the portal and submit their art to the Museum of Eregion, and if perhaps… there are some subtle hints hidden in those arts that could alert Celebrimbor to his future fate, then who could possibly object? (Do make sure they are subtle, though. We would not wish Annatar to catch on!)

How to play:

• This event will primarily happen on Discord, though there might be a Tumblr museum as well once the portal has closed again. If you are not playing Spies in the Shadows, but want to join the server for the week, DM one of the mods for an invite or hit us up on tumblr @spring-into-arda.
• You will be given access to bingo prompt cards that you can use to create for the event.
• We will have some live creating events throughout the week, and a bingo night!

Complete Eregion Art-a-thon guidelines can be found here.

Gen Freeform Exchange 2023: Nominations and Sign-Ups

Gen Freeform Exchange is a multi-fandom exchange focused on gen fanworks, with freeform tag matching so that you can request and offer all your favorite gen tropes. We’re defining gen fanworks as works with no romantic or sexual content. Gen can focus on platonic relationships (friends, family, colleagues, enemies-with-whom-there-is-no-sexual-tension, etc), usually indicated by a & between characters rather than a /, or it can focus on a singular character with no particular focus on any relationship.

Both solo characters and gen character combos can be requested. Media allowed: fic, art, vids, and podfic.

Please follow this comm for all your info about the exchange!

Schedule

March 4-11 9:59PM EST - Nominations
March 13-20 9:59PM EST - Signups
March 23 - Assignments sent by this date
May 14 9:59PM EDT - Assignments Due
May 21 9:59PM EDT - Work Reveals
May 28 9:59PM EDT - Creator Reveals

Links

• Full guidelines on Dreamwith
• AO3 Collection
• Tagset
• App of requests

Poll: LotR Ladies Week Date

We're planning a LotR Ladies fandom week and would like to know what month would work best for as many people as possible to be able to participate. Keep in mind other fandom events going on in those months too that you might be participating in- we want to know what time frame would the most people have space for. (Here's a list of some of the other fandom events that may be happening this year!)

Vote on Tumblr

Call for Submissions: "Ephemera" Fan History Zine

Submit work to Ephemera, a zine dedicated to fan studies and fandom culture! We are looking for: visual art, photography, analytical writing, personal essays, poetry, historical accounts, ethnographic interviews, straight-up trash, memories, collections, secrets both dark and cringe.... Send work to ephemerafanzine@gmail.com or submit through our form. Submissions should be 1,500 words or less (though longer submissions will be considered), and previously published works are accepted. Both print and online versions of the zine will be available.

Fun With Fanon Fest

Fun With Fanon Fest is a celebration of fanon and community storytelling in the Tolkien fandom, created to encourage the interaction of fans with the source material and each other, interrogating and uplifting how we create narratives together as a community.

The two-day mini-event will be occurring quarterly, with the first event March 25-26. Daily themes remain the same every event: Day 1 (Saturday) is Favorite Fanons, and Day 2 (Sunday) is Fanon Inversion.

Four prompts are available for this year's event but are optional; exploration of any fanon is welcome.

1. Maglor = Lindir
2. Arkenstone = Silmaril
3. Fin-galad
4. Scarred Maedhros

Fandom Trumps Hate 2023 Bidding Open

FTH is an online fanworks auction, designed to raise money for progressive nonprofit organizations that help and support marginalized people. In the past five years, hundreds of fans have joined forces to raise over $190,000 for a range of progressive organizations.

The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived - we've processed all the signups, posted and tagged all the auction posts, made all the edits creators have contacted us about, and run all the scripts to open the bidding forms, which means ...

YOU CAN GO BID ON FTH 2023 AUCTIONS!!

Bidding closes at 8:00pm EST on Sunday, March 5. Any bid that registers on the bid sheet with a timestamp after 8:00:05pm (or before 8:00:00am this morning) will not be counted.

If you subscribe to a bidding spreadsheet, remember that it may take a few minutes for it to notify you of a new bid, so don't rely on it in the last moments of the auction.

If you win your auction, we will require proof of your donation to one of the listed nonprofits by 8pm on Sunday, March 12 (a week after auctions close) or your auction may be passed on to the second bidder.

Good luck!

March challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

Traditionally, in Tolkien fandom, March is Back To Middle-earth Month (B2MeM), so this month, for our tolkienshortfanworks challenge, we have been inspired by the concept of traveling (back) to Arda.



So here is our thematic prompt and our formal challenge for March:



The thematic prompt is: a map or sign-post. 



The formal challenge is: a travelogue; put more loosely, your piece (or part of it) should follow the stations of a journey as a structure.



As always, the two prompts can be filled entirely independently or combined with prompts from other challenges.

In this case, obviously, particularly the prompts of the official B2MeM event; if you are not aware of the event, details can be found here.

More details on tolkienshortfanworks challenges can be found at the linked post. New participants are always welcome and the Dreamwidth community also is open to new contributors independently of the monthly challenges.