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.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2022

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!

Prompts are currently being posted! Participants will have slightly more than a month to create whatever sort of art they like inspired by one or more of those prompts. Then, during the week(+) of June 10-June 17, everyone will post their fanwork on tumblr or this DW comm on the appropriate day (see calendar), or be revealed in the AO3 Collection.

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 Day 1.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week is open to all characters, genres, and ratings, and all Tolkien canons. This includes movieverse (i.e. the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies), fan-made films like Born of Hope, 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, whether they found out about LOTR last week or are Michelangelo, well-known JRRT fan.
  • 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, although NSFW submissions will be kept 18+ locked on DW. 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 10-16, 2022: Prompts Posted Daily

June 18, 2022: Tumblr Queue begins posting tagged works.

June 9, 2023: AO3 Collection and DW community close to posting.

Links:

Tumblr Blog | Dreamwidth Community | AO3 Collection | FAQ

Aspec Arda Week 2022

Aspec Arda Week is a week-long Tumblr event to celebrate the interaction of the asexual and aromantic-spectrums and Tolkien’s Legendarium of Arda. Though these experiences are not explicit within Tolkien’s work, many fans across the a-spectrum see themselves in Arda, and we are here to appreciate any and all interpretation of characters, relationships, and events through an aspec lens.

Any content about the a-spectrum in Arda is welcome! You can create edits, gifs, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, and more! This event will run from May 9-15, 2022! Please tag your posts with #aspecardaweek AND @ mention this blog @aspecardaweek 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 prompt. The first prompt is the “main” prompt, but this year we are also providing more open-ended secondary prompts.

DAY ONE: Asexuality || Discovery, Confusion, Education
DAY TWO: Aromanticism || Acceptance, Loneliness, Pride
DAY THREE: Across the A-Spectrum || Hope, Complexity, Diversity
DAY FOUR: Worldbuilding || Community, Change, Family
DAY FIVE: Relationships || Companionship, Intimacy, Queerplatonic
DAY SIX: Intersectionality || Connection, Relief, Friendship
DAY SEVEN: Freeform || Love, Vulnerability, Identity

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.

Tolkien Society Seminar 2022 – Tolkien and the Gothic: Registration open

Registration for the Tolkien Society Seminar "Tolkien and the Gothic" on Sunday July 3 is now open.

The seminar aims to explore the ways that Tolkien engaged with the various applications of the Gothic and how this in turn has influenced creative engagements with Tolkien.

The venue is the Hilton Hotel in Leeds, UK, timed to precede sessions on Tolkien scheduled for the International Medieval Congress in Leeds the following week.

In-person delegates are limited to 60, however online attendance is not limited. Attendance is free and not limited to society members.

The sign-up form is linked from the page above, which also contains more details on the seminar. 

Tolkienshortfanworks challenge for May posted

The challenge for May at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has been posted. The prompts are: bonfires and / or songs of defiance.

The bonfire could be the Middle-earth equivalent of Beltane bonfire, if you like, but it can be any bonfire you choose.



The formal challenge is: songs of defiance. That could be a quiet song of defiance, like Sam's in Cirith Ungol, or a song chanted during an attack, by individuals or the whole battle line, like the Rohirrim attacking on the Pelennor Fields, or whatever else might come to you. Maybe Middle-earth revolutionaries have a version of Do you hear the people sing?  Maybe there is someone involved in a song battle like Finrod's? Or maybe the defiance is of yet another and quite different kind?

More details on the challenge rules at the linked post. New participants are always welcome and joining the community is easy.

Survey: Describing "Canon"

This survey asks about 20 questions (which may end up being more or fewer, depending on your specific answers!) about the term “canon.” Questions include topics such as: where have you heard this term before? What do you think it describes? Do you think it is important for enjoying popular culture texts?

The whole survey should take about 10-20 minutes to complete, depending on whether you choose to complete the optional freeform questions.

This survey is being conducted by Maria K. Alberto, a PhD candidate in English at the University of Utah, as part of her dissertation and ongoing research.

You learn more about the survey and take it here.

Character OR Exchange Sign-Ups Open

Character OR Exchange (CORE for short) is a multimedia exchange for fandoms of all sorts (books to RPF to music videos to etc.). The twist: matching will occur on characters, not relationships, with inclusive OR selection.

We'll be running this along typical exchange lines: participants will sign up with requests and offers, will be matched via AO3, and will receive an assignment. By signing up, participants agree to make a fannish creation for their assigned participant. In turn, someone will make a fannish creation for them. You will need an AO3 account to participate.

All times below are given as 24-hour times. IDT is the time zone of Israel. (UTC+3)

Nominations are closed.
Sign-ups start: 30 Apr 16:00 IDT (in your timezone)
Sign-ups end: 7 May 16:00 IDT (in your timezone | countdown)
Works due: 4 Jun 16:00 IDT (in your timezone | countdown)
Works revealed: 11 Jun 16:00 IDT (in your timezone | countdown)
Authors revealed: 18 Jun 16:00 IDT (in your timezone | countdown)

Mythcon: "The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien" Call for Papers

This year's Mythcon will be held in-person in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as online, July 29 - August 1, 2022.

Mythcon 52’s theme provides multiple opportunities to explore the Other in fantasy and mythopoeic literature. Tolkien spoke in “On Fairy-stories” of “the desire to visit, free as a fish, the deep sea; or the longing for the noiseless, gracious, economical flight of a bird.” We invite discussion about the types of fantasy that are more likely to put us into contact with the alien, such as time portal fantasy and space travel fantasy. In addition to Inklings, some writers who deal particularly well with the truly alien who might be explored include Lovecraft, Gaiman, Le Guin, Tepper, and others. Other topics that might be fruitfully explored are: depictions of the alien Other in film and television (Contact, Arrival, HBO’s Watchmen, etc.); developing constructed languages that are truly different from those of Earth-based humans; fantastical Others in indigenous myths (such as Coyote and Spider Woman from Native American mythology); and American folklore about the alien (flying saucers, alien abduction, Area 51, Roswell).

The Mythopoeic Society’s annual conference, popularly called “Mythcon,” has historically been held in late July or early August at a college or university campus, although in recent years hotels or conference centers have become more common as sites. Each conference is constructed around a theme related to Inklings studies and/or fantastic and mythic literature. Each conference also features an author and a scholar guest of honor. Papers, panel discussions, readings, entertainment, an art show, a dealers’ room, and other activities fill the four-day event. Another Mythcon highlight is our annual banquet, after which the Mythopoeic Awards are presented. A small (usually 100-200 people) size and intimate setting makes Mythcon an excellent venue for meeting people with common interests. You may see the full history and individual conference pages by visiting our Mythcon History page.

The Mythopoeic Society has always encouraged scholarship in mythopoeic and Inklings studies by providing a venue in which scholars, new and old, may present papers which may in turn be considered for publication in Mythlore, assisting scholars in need of financial aid to attend Mythcon, and recognizing student scholars with the Alexei Kondratiev Award.

For this conference, in-person and virtual options are available. Paper proposals are due May 15, 2022. See the full Mythcon call for papers for more details.

Sunflower Auction to Help Ukraine

What is Sunflower Auction?
Sunflower Auction is an online fanworks auction, designed to raise money for nonprofit organizations that help the people of Ukraine fight back against Russia's invasion.

What charities do you support?
Any listed on Defend Ukraine and/or Stand With Ukraine.

What fandoms are included?
Any of them, including original work! There are no restrictions on fandom or pairing/gen or rating or whatever. Anything goes and everyone is invited.

How do I participate in the auction?
You can signup as a creator using this google form.

You can offer multiple times. If you offer different media (eg: art and writing), you will need to submit the form for each medium. If offering multiple times the same medium, just specify in the notes. Please only offer what you can reasonably expect to fulfill.

How can I look at offers?
Since the offering period is still ongoing, the only way to look at offers is currently this google sheet. Once the offering period ends, individual tagged entries per creator will be created in this community.

AUCTION CALENDAR
April 25 2022 23:59 UTC to May 10 2022 23:59 UTC – creator signups – OPEN!
May 12 2022 23:59 UTC to May 30 2022 23:59 UTC – bidding
June 10 2022 23:59 UTC – proof of donation due from bidders
June 10 2023 23:59 UTC – Works are due

Sláva Ukrayíni!

See the Sunflower Auction Dreamwidth or the Sunflower Auction Tumblr for more information.

Angbang Week 2022

Angbang Week will run May 1-7 on Tumblr.

The list of Angbang Week prompts for the event is here. All format are accepted: fanfiction and other writing, art, playlists, original musical compositions, moodboards, screenshots from games (as long as they’re for the topic of the day, of course!), etc. So long as they’re original, and new, and yours, we want to see them!

Every day has a couple of prompts for you to choose from, for which you could create related work you would associate with the prompt in any way. The final day is a free for all - choose whatever topic you want!

When posting your works, please write the day number and the topic you chose, and tag the post “#Angbangweek2022″ or tag us directly and we will feature as many works as we can!

Here are the themes, feel free to start creating whenever the inspiration hits!

Day 1 -May 1st: Seduction | Adoration
Day 2 - May 2nd: Creation | Corruption
Day 3 - May 3rd: Years of the lamps | Years of the trees
Day 4 - May 4th: Utumno | Angband
Day 5 - May 5th: Dragons | Werewolves
Day 6 - May 6th: War of Wrath | Dagor Dagorath
Day 7 - May 7th: Free space!

The Inaugural Gates of Summer Exchange

We are so pleased to welcome you to Gates of Summer, a fandom-wide digital gift exchange.

We, the mods of @officialtolkiensecretsanta, have had five years of wonderful fun and success running our winter exchange. As we wrapped up last year’s event and contemplated its next iteration, we decided that we would love to bring the energy and enthusiasm of the community into the middle of the year as well.

Thus, Gates of Summer was born. Inspired by the Gondolin holiday of the same name, it exists as a shorter gift exchange running around the same time as many other wonderful fandom events like the @tolkienrsb. Gates of Summer will run from 28th April to 21st June - please check our event guide for the full schedule.

The mechanics of the exchange are similar to the Secret Santa: you fill out a form, and we match you by hand to an anonymous gift-giver who will prepare a digital gift specially for you. The main difference is that there is no anonymous posting for this summer event - you post your gift and tag your giftee on 21st June, the day of reveals!

Running concurrently alongside the gift exchange will be a series of weekly prompts, posted to our blog starting May 24th. You are welcome to complete prompts as and when you like during the exchange period. You don’t have to participate in the exchange itself to fill out the prompts. Just be sure to read the guide to make sure you tag your work correctly so we can reblog it to our blog!

The sign-up form will go live on 28th April. Do follow this blog to stay up to date with us and so you can sign up as soon as the form is open!