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.
August Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks posted
The August challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has been posted. The thematic prompt is: "art or craft found in unexpected places". The formal challenge is "diary entry". They can be filled independently and combined freely with other prompts.
In order to post the fill to the Dreamwidth community or to the related collection on AO3, the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.
New community members always welcome!!
Tolkien of Colour Week on Tumblr
The mod of Tolkien of Colour Week writes in their announcement post:
I am very excited to announce Tolkien of Colour Week from 1st - 7th August 2022!
This is a week to celebrate Tolkien fanworks with characters of colour. Below are the themes and prompts for each day (you do not have to use the prompts but they are there to encourage creativity!) If you have questions about the prompts or anything else please send me a message or ask and I will be happy to respond.
Prompts
Day 1: Family – Connection to Lands – Connection to Waters
Day 2: Music – Language – Stories
Day 3: Friendship – Celebration – Cross-Cultural Ties
Day 4: Cultural Pride – Pride in Identity – Growing Up
Day 5: Faith and Religion – Life and Death – Environment
Day 6: Multicultural Identities – Migration – Time
Day 7: Intersectionality – Gender – Sexuality – Disability
Tag #tocweek2022 and mention @tolkienofcolourweek in your posts so that I see it and reblog. This event is run by @brighter-arda.
Tolkien OC Week on Tumblr
This week on Tumblr is a fandom event for OCs and underdeveloped characters in Tolkien's world. It celebrates both characters of Tolkien’s world and original characters that need more love, by creating and reblogging all kind of fanworks, like fanfiction, fanart, fanvideos, fancrafts, headcanons, playlists, edits, moodboards etc. It will run from 25th July - 31st July 2022.
Event schedule for 2022:
Day 1 (25th July): Diversity - Whether it’s sexual orientation, gender, disability, neurodiversity, or race, create a fanwork about an OC who adds diversity to Tolkien’s world.
Day 2 (26th July): Shipping - Create a fanwork about an OC that you ship with a canon character. An established marriage, a developing queerplatonic relationship, or a one-night stand… canon compliant or AU… it can be any sort of ship you want!
Day 3 (27th July): Gaps and Ghosts - Curufin didn’t pull Celebrimbor out of thin air, so who was the other parent? Who are the Blue Wizards and where did they go? And did you know that the ringbearer was originally written as Bilbo’s son Bingo? Create a fanwork based around an abandoned or never-established character, or flesh out someone who we know nothing about, such as Nazgûl #6.
Day 4 (28th July): Mary Sues - Do you have an OC who is Galadriel’s powerful younger daughter, sent to modern times for her protection, who reappeared as a teenager just in time for her to join the Fellowship? Well, so do I! Here is your permission to use any and every Mary Sue trope you can think of in your fanwork. Modern girls in Middle Earth. Self inserts. Tenth walkers. Play it straight or make it a parody, we’ll take anything.
Day 5 (29th July): Background Characters - Who else was watching Frodo’s song at the Prancing Pony? What’s it like to be a rank-and-file Fëanorian, going into exile over an argument that has nothing to do with you? What’s it like to work at the Houses of Healing, unable to stop your patients from dying of the black breath? Create a fanwork exploring a character you would find in the background of the main action.
Day 6 (30th July): Original Peoples- Instead of just one character, create a fanwork about a group of people who aren’t explored in canon, like the Avari, the Drúedain, the dwarves of the Iron Hills, or anything else you imagine might exist in Middle Earth. You can even invent your own race of speaking people!
Day 7 (31st July): Freeform - OC week is all about freedom, so today, create a piece of fanwork about whatever you want!
More details at the linked post.
Teitho Challenge for July and August
The Teitho competition is back up and running with a challenge for July/August, asking for a special recipe with five fictional ingredients.
They write:
For the months of July and August, we once again have a special recipe for you to prepare. The ingredients are all listed below, but how you mix-n-mash them is completely up to you! As all great cooks make recipes their own by adding little touches and intriguing twists, don’t forget to spice the result with your favourite flavours. This month, let's see what you can bake for our hungry Middle-Earth and Arda appetites!
The five ingredients are:
•Belt
•Grass
•Memory
•Sunrise
•Vessel
Each item on the list must appear in your story at least once, either physically or in dialogue. You don't have to use the exact same wording or meaning —for example, your story can have an actual belt or someone belting a song. It can reference a sunrise or take place at sunrise. Vessel has many meanings, from a physical mode of transport to metaphorical ones as well.
There are many ways to go about this challenge, and we look forward to seeing how you use the ingredients to create your master recipe! The deadline for this theme will be August 31.
More details about Teitho challenges on the linked website.
Multifandom Poetry Fest 2022
Welcome to the sixth annual Multifandom Poetry Fest, a prompt fest for poetry for all fandoms! This event takes place on Dreamwidth.
Rules
1) Leave a prompt in the form of fandom, characters or relationships, prompt. If you don’t want to specify the fandom or characters, you can say "any." One prompt per comment. Leave as many prompts as you like.
2) Reply to other people’s prompts with poems. The poems can be any length or form, or no form. Quality isn’t important--the point is to have fun, not to produce deathless works of art. (Any deathless works of art produced are just a bonus.)
You can leave prompts or check out the prompts already posted here.
Tolkien Appreciation Week 2022
Amidst all the incredible appreciation events going on, we want to invite you to join in on appreciating the literary works & cinematic adaptations of Tolkien! Tolkien Week 2022 is a 10-day event which will run from July 11th–15th and July 18th–22nd on Tumblr and AO3. Each day has three different prompts for gifs, art, fics and other media types! Feel free to do as many days as you’d like and whichever prompt(s) you prefer! Don’t forget to tag #tolkienweek so we can share your creations, and follow @tolkienweek on Tumblr for updates on the event!
We also have an AO3 collection here!
PROMPTS:
- July 11th: favorite character | space | journey
- July 12th: favorite location | colors | home
- July 13th: favorite quote | light & dark | love
- July 14th: favorite story arc | compare & contrast | beginnings/endings
- July 15th: favorite outfit | bruised & battered | heartbreak
- July 18th: favorite hero or villain | faceless/silhouettes | solidarity/comradery
- July 19th: favorite minor character | leaders | comfort
- July 20th: favorite motif | weapons & objects | mystery
- July 21st: favorite relationship | close ups | fellowship
- July 22nd: favorite movie | art/architecture | hope
New Collection of Tolkien's Second Age Writings Coming in November
J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a "dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told." And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.
It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father’s death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book’s content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans’ power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.
Now, adhering to the timeline of "The Tale of Years" in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolor and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.
The new collection will be available beginning November 15, 2022.
July Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks (Dreamwidth)
The July Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth has been posted.
Here is our thematic prompt and our formal challenge for June:
The thematic prompt is: summer storms and other explosions!
The formal challenge is exposition, in any form you choose to interpret this.
You could write an exposition of an explosion, but the two prompts can be filled entirely independently.
The challenge can be freely combined with other prompts and new members are always welcome to join.
More details on the challenge at the linked post.
Tolkien Gen Week 2022
Tolkien Gen Week will run July 4-10, 2022 on Tumblr!
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.
Tolkien Gen Week began in 2018 and occurred again in 2020 and 2021, and we’re back for more from July 4-10, 2022!
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.
Below are some prompts for each day of the week. They are not mandatory, but they are here to inspire you. This page will lead to an explanation for each one. This year, we are expanding the number of prompts per day from one to three!
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 about, FAQ, code of conduct, and prompts pages! Happy creating!!
Mobile links are accessible here.
Omentielva Nertea: The Ninth International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages
4–7 August 2022
Collegium Maius, Jagiellonian University, Kraków.
We will be staying at Hotel Zaleze in nearby Katowice, where we will also have some of our sessions. We plan to make one of the evening sessions an Onatsie, allowing those not present to participate via Zoom. The conference fee is 825 PLN. As usual, this includes bed and board for the duration of the conference.
See the event page for more information on presenting a paper or registering for the conference.