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.
Mythmoot X: Homeward Bound (June 22-25)
Mythmoot annual conference brings together students, fans, staff, and friends of Signum University, the Mythgard Institute, Signum SPACE, and Signum Academy. Our online and in-person completely hybrid event combines the best of scholarship and friendship in four glorious days. The event will be held 22-25 June 2023, with the in-person event hosted at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA. This year's theme is Homeward Bound:
Homes, in their absence, their presence, their construction or destruction, play integral roles in character and plot development across genres. One writer’s definition of home can directly contrast another’s. Home is a complex, loaded word in the stories we read and tell. The phrase ‘homeward bound’ contains a wealth of meaning. Home can be the place we are coming from, the place we are going, or both. Is home a positive thing? Negative? A net neutral? Is there a home to be headed towards in every story? Is there more than one? Does home change? Is home a place, a person, a feeling? What does home mean in the stories we tell and why does it change and matter?
Guests of Honor: Sørina Higgins, PhD, and Gabriel Schenk, DPhil
Silm Remix 2023
A remix is a retelling of an existing work. The idea is to retain the spirit of the story, while creating a new work of your own in a different manner or style. In this remix challenge, we’re offering the chance to remix someone's story, and to have one of your own stories remixed. A remix challenge is a great opportunity to flex some creative muscles and celebrate how transformative and collaborative fandom can be!
Rules
You must be 18 years or older to sign up for this event.
For this round of the event, only Silmarillion fanfiction is eligible for remixing.
At the end of the event, you will have produced a fanfiction of at least 1000 words that remixes one of your author’s offered stories. You will also receive a remix of one of your own offered works that is at least 1000 words.
This is a gift exchange, albeit a nontraditional one, and as such you will be remixing a work into something you hope your author will enjoy!
Find more information on the rules, including FAQs, on the Silm Remix AO3 collection.
Schedule
Signups: April 8 - 14 (at 11:59pm PDT)
Assignments out by: April 17
Default deadline: May 8
Due date: May 15 (at 11:59 PDT)
Work reveals: May 22
Creator reveals: May 29
For more information: Tumblr | AO3 Collection
Teitho April/May Challenge: Crossroads
As we indicated earlier in the month, your mods are finding themselves at a Crossroads, wanting to keep the contest going but wondering if the lack of participation means it’s time to change course, or even end the journey. So we thought that would be an appropriate theme for April and May.
A crossroad is often used as a symbol of a choice needing to be made, which is the use we had in mind when choosing this challenge. Which road should the traveler follow? Should they keep going straight, continuing on the way they’ve been going? Or should they turn and follow a new direction? The Quendi faced this type of choice when Orome invited them to travel from Cuiviénen to Valinor, and they had to choose between their beloved stars and the light of the trees.
Towns would often spring up around a crossroad where two important roads met, as Bree did at the crossroad of the Great East Road and the Greenway. They became a destination in their own right, or a place for travelers to meet and organize their party before traveling on, as Frodo hoped to find Gandalf waiting at the Prancing Pony.
A crossroad can also be used as a landmark, such as when giving directions, or a place of distinction. The crossroad east of Minas Tirith served as a delimitation between North and South Ithilien.
Whether you choose to use a physical crossroad or a symbolic one, we hope that you’ll choose to share whatever journey you create for your characters with us! Submissions should be emailed to teitho.contest@gmail.com by May 31. Full contest guidelines can be found here.
Free Seminar: Celtic Connections in J.R.R. Tolkien’s "The Silmarillion"
The Silmarillion is the lifelong work of JRR Tolkien, author and professor dedicated to exploring the truths fantasy and myth could present. In this presentation, we’ll dive into the influence Celtic culture plays in the languages, characters, and stories of The Silmarillion.
April 17 at 7:30-8:30 pm CST.
Registration is required. You can register for this free event here.
You will receive a Zoom meeting link from instructor Ryan Quinn on the day of the class.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang: Suggestion Form 2023
Got a precious rare pair you want to see depicted? Insufficient Second Age content for your liking? Want to get someone else interested in a lesser known canon you love? This is your chance to influence the pieces available for claiming!
The TRSB Suggestion Form of 2023 is now officially live!
If you just want to snoop at the suggestions, here’s the suggestions form spreadsheet.
Aralas Week 2023
Aralas Week focuses on the Aragorn/Legolas pairing and is held on Tumblr and AO3. The event will run over seven days from April 8 to April 14. Everyone is welcome!
Prompts & Suggestions
Day 1: Crown | Leaves
Suggestion
- heirs and legacy
- woodland and everything in it
Day 2: Sword | Bow/Archer
Suggestion
- battle and blade
- strength and courage
Day 3: Whimsical | Magnificent
Suggestion
- beauty inside everything
- affection and adoration
Day 4: Hope | Desire
Suggestion
- wish and belonging
- heart and mind
- duty and honor
Day 5: Heaven | Ocean
Suggestion
- skyborne, flying
- comfort and healing
Day 6: Luminous | Stars
Suggestion
- flame and shine
- starlight, elfstone
Day 7: Spring | Eternity
Suggestion
- new age
- glory and victory
- eternal and infinity
The hashtag is #aralasweek2023 #aralasweek
Tolkienshortfanworks Challenge for April
The April challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has been posted. This time it involves the use of one or more pair of words in your piece.
Here are four pairs of rhyming words: rabbit / habit; eggs / legs; daffodil / codicil; bun / run. Your challenge is to pick one or more of these pairs and use both words of the pair in your prompt fill. Although the words rhyme, they do not need to be used as rhymes (that is: they don't need to be at the end of rhyming lines of verse) to fill the prompt. Perhaps you are spotting that these word pairs were originally inspired by thoughts of Easter, but your piece does not need to be seasonal in any way. Bonus points if you get in more than one pair of words or come up with a way to get mileage out of the rhyme, especially if it is in an unexpected way!
More details these monthly challenges at the linked post.
New participants always welcome!
Barduil Month 2023
Barduil Month is a month-long celebration and creation event on Tumblr for the Thranduil/Bard the Bowman ship from The Hobbit, loosely inspired by 30 Days of Barduil. We accept all canons (the Peter Jackson movies, Tolkien’s book, and others) as well as any alternate universe and canon divergence possibilities–let your creativity run wild! The event runs 1 April through 30 April 2023.
Any content and fanwork about Barduil is welcome! You can create fic, art, gifsets, edits, playlists, cosplays, crafts, and anything else. Please tag your posts with #barduilmonth2023 and tag this blog, @bi-widower-dads, so they can be found. For courtesy purposes, please have a “read more” on longer posts.
At this link you can find a list of prompts to help get the creative juices flowing, though don’t feel obligated to necessarily abide by them!
Here you can find the AO3 collection for this event.
For further information, please check our F.A.Q. post.
Teitho: February/March Photo Challenge
Choose from two photos for the February/March contest prompt. Could the hands holding the sword be those of a new Rider of Rohan while he listens to the voice of his trainer? Or perhaps a ranger of the Ithilien, taking a moment to rest and to thank the Valar for keeping him safe during a fierce skirmish with enemies headed to Mordor?
Whichever picture captures your imagination, we look forward to reading the stories that these pictures evoke in your mind! Please submit them to teitho.contest@gmail.com on or before March 31.
All of Arda Is Autistic 2023
All of Arda Is Autistic is a month-long fanfiction event on Tumblr for neurodivergent fans celebrating neurodivergent headcanons of Tolkien's characters. The event runs from 1 April to 30 April, which is Autism Acceptance Month. All Tolkien fans who fit somewhere under the neurodivergent umbrella (self-diagnosed or clinically diagnosed, it doesn't matter) are welcome to participate. This event is during Autism Acceptance Month, but allistic neurodivergents are totally welcome to join as well! Neurotypicals, feel free to support the event and enjoy the stories!
Official tags for the event are #all-of-arda-is-autistic and #all of arda is autistic 2023.
