Around the World and Web

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:

First sunrise by Kimura Buzan 

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:

Yesterdays Gone by Thomas Hjelm

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.

2023 Fanlore Challenge

The IFD 2023 Fanlore Challenge is a week-long event organized as part of International Fanworks Day 2023. The Challenge is open to new and experienced editors, and everyone is encouraged to participate!

The IFD 2023 Fanlore Challenge takes place from the 13-19 February, with different editing challenges to complete on each day.

Each day has a challenge suitable for editors at any level, plus a bonus challenge for more experienced editors. It's completely up to you which one you want to complete — you’re welcome to take on both of them if you wish!

Anyone who completes that day's challenge(s) will be awarded a shiny badge! Further down, you'll find instructions on how to get your badges, and how to display them on your Fanlore user page.

If you're new to editing Fanlore, we have lots of guidance and resources to help you get started! Visit our New Visitor Portal to get started, and read our Editing Help page for advice on how to edit pages. You can find all of the Fanlore challenge prompts here.

Maedhros and Maglor Week 2023

This is a fandom event dedicated to exploring the relationship between Maedhros and Maglor! It will run February 19th-25th, 2023. Fanworks of all kinds are welcome (see the Event Guidelines page for details!)

Prompts:

February 19th—Day 1: Aman

February 20th—Day 2: Fire and Water

February 21st—Day 3: Lordship in Beleriand

February 22nd—Day 4: Adornment

February 23rd—Day 5: Blood

February 24th—Day 6: With Elrond & Elros

February 25th—Day 7: Afterwards

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!

19th Annual Tolkien at UVM Conference: CFP Deadline Extended

The 19th annual Tolkien @ UVM conference will be held on April 1st 2023.   Abstracts are due by January 15th 2023 March 1st 2023. Please keep them to about 200 words. And send them to Chris Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu We are accepting papers on all things concerning the Second Age of Middle-earth. Topics will vary and some papers not on this theme will also be accepted. Priority will be given to enquiries into history, historiography, and the historicity of race, gender, sexuality. This is a hybrid conference, so presenters can attend in person (preferred) or virtually. Our keynote will be the amazing Gergely Nagy!

Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2023

The Hurt/Comfort Exchange is a pairing- and freeform-matching multifandom gift exchange run on AO3.

The schedule for this year is:
Nominations: 10 - 24 Feb
Signups: 1 - 15 March
Posting deadline: 13 May
Story reveal: 20 May
Author reveal: 27 May

All deadlines are at 23:59 UTC What Time Is That For Me?

Collection
Nomination Guidelines for Tagset
Tagset
Rules and Guidelines

The mod e-mail is hurtcomfortexmod@gmail.com

Work requirements are a story of at least 1000 words, or a piece of artwork that is not on lined paper and is at minimum clean linework that is at least 500x500 pixels.

International Fanworks Day 2023

Save the date: it’s almost International Fanworks Day!

Celebrated on February 15th, International Fanworks Day (IFD) was created by the OTW in 2014 in honor of the one millionth fanwork published on AO3. It’s a recognition of fanworks in all their forms—fics, art, vids, zines, and more—and of their awesomeness and importance for fans across the world.

This year, the OTW will be observing the ninth annual IFD. Our theme for the year is "When Fandoms Collide." You can participate however you want, but here are a few suggestions:

  • Create rec lists of your favorite crossovers to share as part of our Feedback Fest, starting February 12
  • Post your own crossover fics, fanart, and more on AO3 using our International Fanworks Day 2023 tag
  • Share crossover headcanons on social media using the tag #IFD2023 or #IFDChallenge2023

Follow OTW News on social media to find out in a few weeks what we’re doing to celebrate IFD 2023. If you or your fandom communities will be hosting your own activities, let us know so we can signal boost them!

Hidden Paths 2023

Hidden Paths us a fortnight-long event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons.

We all know and love the tales of Tolkien's Middle-earth, but the Professor's creative and academic endeavours didn't stop there.  However, fanworks for smaller Tolkien canons (such as Farmer Giles of Ham, Mr. Bliss, Leaf by Niggle and more) are much rarer than works inspired by their Middle-earth counterparts.  This event was created to be a low-pressure, low-commitment opportunity to explore those lesser known works, and create and share fanworks based on them.

Define “smaller Tolkien fandoms”.

Basically, any Tolkien canon or text (including academic works and translations) that is not explicitly set in Middle-earth and is not based on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Silmarillion and closely related histories.  This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Beowulf/Sellic Spell
  • Farmer Giles of Ham
  • The Fall of Arthur
  • The Father Christmas Letters
  • Finn and Hengest
  • The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
  • The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
  • Leaf by Niggle
  • The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
  • Mr. Bliss
  • Mythopoeia
  • The Notion Club Papers
  • Pearl
  • Roverandom
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Sir Orfeo
  • Songs for the Philologists
  • Smith of Wootton Major
  • The Story of Kullervo
  • Tolkien (2019 film)
  • Tolkien's essays, poems, letters and non-ME artwork

We also accept fanworks based on The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (because it collects a number of poems that were not originally intended as part of the Middle-earth canon) and The Book of Lost Tales (because it differs so significantly from later versions of the legendarium), and/or centring characters or concepts that only appear in extremely early drafts of The Lord of the Rings (e.g. Trotter).  

We know that this leaves a bit of a grey area, but ultimately, we will trust and accept the judgement of fanwork creators.  Act in good faith, and assume that others have done the same.

How does it work?

At the start of the event (14th February) the mod will post seven optional prompts to inspire you.  There will be a thematic prompt, a character-based prompt, a setting-based prompt, a text prompt, a visual prompt, an audio prompt, and a wildcard prompt.  A second batch of prompts will be posted on the 21st.

If you like the prompts, then use any or all of them to create and share a fanwork based on one or more small Tolkien canons.  If they don't speak to you, then please feel free to do your own thing – the prompts are there to spark creativity, not impede it!

What types of fanworks do you accept?

Anything you like.  Fic, poetry, meta, art, edits, vids, podfic, craft, cosplay, rec lists, playlists, compositions, interviews with fellow fans...it's all good.

Are there any minimum requirements?

No, none.  Want to write a six-word story?  Be our guest.

Are crossovers permitted?

Yes!  We accept crossovers with the Middle-earth canons, and with non-Tolkien fandoms.  We only ask that one of the smaller Tolkien canons plays a significant role in your fanwork.

What do you consider a significant role?

We don't.  The event is intended to be low commitment and low stress for both participants and the moderator, and we trust that people will act in good faith.  We are not going to police fanworks or apply an arbitrary definition of “significant” - we leave that up to the creator to decide.

Does actor RPF count?

For the purposes of this event, no it doesn't, unless you are also drawing on elements from a smaller canon (e.g. Liv Tyler encountering the Shadow-Bride).

Where do I post my fanworks?

We have an AO3 collection, but you may post your fanworks anywhere you like.  We'd appreciate a link back to our Dreamwidth or Tumblr page, though, to spread the word about the event!

Are there any restrictions on rating or content?

Nope.  Tag and warn appropriately, as you normally would, but make whatever your heart desires.

Can I post fanworks that were inspired by or created for another event, or created prior to the event's inception?

Yes!  The goal is to celebrate and increase content for the smaller Tolkien fandoms.  Please feel free to share your creations and add them to the collection, regardless of whether they were created specifically for this event.

I want to take part but I don't know anything about the smaller canons.  Help!?

  • Tolkien Gateway has helpfully collated a list of Tolkien's writings, and some of the articles reproduce or link to the actual text.  This is a great place to start browsing, and to find out more about a text before you invest in your own copy.
  • Have a look at fanworks for some of the smaller canons and see what appeals.  Innumerable Stars and TRSB both have several works for the smaller canons in their collections, and many of them can be understood with no prior knowledge of the source material.
  • Lists of characters appearing in the various texts and canons can also be a useful jumping off point - like this one for The Book of Lost Tales.
  • Many of the smaller canons are just that - small!  If you can get hold of a copy from your local library, book store or from a fellow fan, they are generally quick to read and digest.

If anyone has any other ideas and resources for folks wanting to dip a toe into the smaller canons, please get in touch so they can be added to this list.

When does the event run?

Officially, February 14th-28th.  Unofficially, as long as you like; the prompts will stay up and the AO3 collection won't close.

Smut 4 Smut 2023: Nominations and Sign-Ups

Welcome to Smut 4 Smut, a multifandom gift exchange for smutty fic and art! Our schedule for 2023:

Feb 3-10, 8pm: nominations (nomination rules can be found here)
Feb 11-12: tagset cleanup
Feb 13: sign-ups open
Feb 23, 8pm: sign-ups close
Feb 26: assignments out by this date
Apr 8, 8pm: works due
Apr 15, 8pm: work reveals
Apr 22, 8pm: creator reveals

All times in EST/EDT. You can contact us at smut4smutmod@gmail.com, or comment on this post with questions.

2023 Collection | 2023 Ships Tag Set | S4S Permanent Kink Tagset

Oxonmoot 2023

Oxonmoot is an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society which brings together over 500 Tolkien fans, scholars, students and Society members from across the world. Oxonmoot 2023 is our Fiftieth Oxonmoot and will be held over four days from Thursday, 31 August, until Sunday, 3 September, at St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, Oxford and online.

Oxonmoot hosts a variety of presentations and activities across the weekend.

Quick Links:

February challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community (Dreamwidth)

This month, for our tolkienshortfanworks challenge, we have been inspired by A Fandom Tribute to Keiliss, a collection on AO3 for tributes to Keiliss, a well-known and beloved fandom writer who died last year, due to be revealed on 19 February, which would have been her birthday. So we have chosen prompts in honour of Kei, although this is an entirely independent challenge that can also be filled if you should happen not to have encountered Kei's work at all (although, if so, please consider this a rec).



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



The thematic prompt is: a piece featuring Glorfindel or Erestor or both Glorfindel and Erestor. (Kei often wrote these as a ship, but you do not have to write them as a pairing, unless you wish, and the piece does not have to be shippy, unless you want it to be.)



Optional bonus prompt element: in honour of Kei's last, sadly uncompleted but very substantial WIP, The Pink Flamingo: include a flamingo or something pink or red, especially if it is a bird.



The formal challenge is to write something involving the number 19: nineteen words, nineteen sentences, nineteen lines, nineteen paragraphs--or any other idea you can come up with.



As always, the two prompts can be filled entirely independently or combined with prompts from other challenges (in this case, obviously, especially A Fandom Tribute to Keiliss).

 

More details about the tolkienshortfanworks challenges at the linked post.

Tolkien Reading Day 2023

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. Check the Tolkien Society website for more information on their event.