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:
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:
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.
Unconventional Fanworks Exchange
Unconventional Fanworks Exchange is a gift exchange for fanwork besides traditional fic and art, including (but not limited to): meta, in-universe documents, vids, podfic, audio not!fic, chatfic, and multimedia fanwork.
Important Links:
AO3 Collection
Medium Tagset
Fandom + Character Tagset
Mod Contact: flowersforgravesfics @ gmail (dot) com, or Dreamwidth private messages. I do not answer mod questions via Discord.
Schedule:
All times, unless otherwise specified, will be 12:59 AM (00:59) UTC.
Nominations: April 24 - May 8 (countdown to close)
Signups: May 15 - May 29 (countdown to close)
Assignments Out: on or before June 1
Assignments Due: July 9 (countdown)
Works Revealed: July 16
Creators Revealed: July 23
See the Unconventional Fanworks Exchange community on Dreamwdith for complete guidelines.
Teitho April/May Challenge: One True Pairing
For our April/May challenge we have the prompt OTP–One True Pairing.
Choose whichever characters you consider your one true pairing and tell us a story about them. These can be canon pairings like Luthien and Beren, Aragorn and Arwen, Celeborn and Galadriel, but they can also be pairings that perhaps didn't get their chance to be together–like Aegnor and Andreth, or Nimrodel and Amroth.
Perhaps you want to write more about Turgon and Elenwë, Idril and Tuor, or how Earendil and Elwing met?
Or choose an AU setting and let your favorite characters have their happy ever after!
You don't have to limit yourself to canon pairings for this challenge–if there is a non-canon or rare-pair that speaks to you, give us their story.
We know Curufin had a wife – how did they meet, fall in love, grow apart?
It does not have to be a love story or a happy ever after. The choice is yours. Give us love or loss, happy ever afters or angsty twists to the tales of "what if."
This is your chance to explore any and all relationships between characters you love! We look forward to reading your stories!
Please submit your stories to teitho.contest@gmail.com by May 31.
BBC Ways of Being: Tom Shakespeare on J.R.R. Tolkien
Ways of Being is a BBC series where artists, writers and thinkers tell us about the ways they have been shaped by their ‘ways of being’, their individual bodies—what freedoms they allow, and their sensitivities or limits. Tom Shakespeare is a writer, social scientist, bioethicist, and a regular broadcaster for BBC Radio. Tom is the fifth essayist to let us into their particular 'way of being' and into their relationship with a cultural touchstone. In this essay, Tom considers the character of J.R.R. Tolkien's hobbits, and his experience of reading about them as a child with restricted growth—a child who adored books.
Academia Lunare Call for Papers: Religion in Fantasy and Science Fiction
Academia Lunare is an award-winning annual edited volume from Luna Press Publishing. They explicitly welcome submissions from writers with all levels of experience. The theme of the annual Call for Papers 2022 is Religion, including those created specifically for a fictional work.
Religions, and the social and cultural structures related to them, have played a fundamental part in human history – for better or worse, as witnessed in reality or in fictional worlds.
On a mental level, they can influence a person’s perception of the world and the values they hold or discard; they influence the individual’s identity, regardless of whether they consider themselves to be religious or not. On a social level, they provide purpose, hope, belonging and a support network, but also chains and oppression.
Writers are invited to explore the concept of religion in all its forms and presentations, from an angle of their choosing, and its development in SFF literature, games, movies and TV.
Proposals are due by 30 September 2022 for consideration. For more information on the publication and submission requirements, as well as a list of possible approaches to the topic, see the full call for papers.
2022 Tolkien Collector's Guide Recording of Tolkien Reading Day Available
Tolkien Reading Day is celebrated worldwide on March 25th in honor of the destruction of the One Ring. Listen to our guests and panels talk about their love and friendships around Tolkien and his books.
Chapters:
00:00 - start of the livestream
05:13 - Artists Panel - Jenny Dolfen, Emily Austin, Anke Eissmann, Donato Giancola, Ted Nasmith
1:05:00 - The Tolkien Experience Podcast - Dr. Luke Shelton, Dr. Sara Brown, Sarah Westvik
1:36:45 - More Podcasting - Shawn Marchese and Alan Sisto (The Prancing Pony Podcast), Marcel Aubron-Bülles (SmallTolk Podcast), Chad Bornholdt and Chad High (The Texas Tolkien Talk Podcast)
2:04:00 - Digital Humanities and Education - Elise Trudel Cedeño and James Tauber
2:37:30 - Video and Media - Matt Graf (Nerd of the Rings) - Note that Clifford "Quickbeam" Broadway (TheOneRing.net) was unavoidably delayed and appears later in the event instead
3:10:00 - Guides to Middle-earth - Dick Plotz (Founder of the Tolkien Society of America, 1965) and Robert "Bob" Foster (author of The Guide to Middle-earth and The Complete Guide to Middle-earth)
3:36:50 - Audio and Audiobooks - Jordan Rannells
4:16:20 - Open Mic! Joined by Clifford Broadway (TheOneRing.net), Pieter Collier (The Tolkien Library) and many more
Sign-Ups Open for the Silmarillion Remix Challenge 2022
What is a remix?
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.
We see this done with art when it comes to the DTIYS challenge (Draw This In Your Style); remixing fic is similar. Remix it in your style! How would you have told that story? Would you have picked a different point of view? Would you have made it more serious, or rather more comical? Would you have included a flashback, or begun the narrative earlier, or later? Would you have arranged the chronology differently? Maybe instead of telling the story over several scenes, you would have chosen only one, and expanded on it, or vice versa? In your hands, keeping the plot the same, how would the story change?
Some ways to remix a story include:
- retelling it from someone else’s point of view
- writing a prequel or sequel
- taking the story and adding or subtracting an element (e.g. magic)
- taking the story and changing its setting, location, or time period
- taking a minor event in the original story and focusing and expanding on it
- taking a minor character in the original story and focusing on them
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!
For this round of the event, only Silmarillion fanfiction is eligible for remixing. We may open up to other Tolkien fandoms and mediums in the future, but this time around it’s Silm fic all the way!
~~~
2022 Schedule:
April 1 - Signups open
April 7 - Signups close
April 10 - Assignments sent out
May 6 - Default deadline
May 15 - Works due at 11:59pm PST
May 21 - Works revealed
May 28 - Creators revealed
~~~
Please read the rules carefully to understand the parameters of this exchange! You can find the rules on our tumblr (mobile // desktop) or our AO3 Collection.
This event is being run by @arofili and @arrivisting! If you have event-related questions, please email us at tolkienremix@gmail.com or send an ask to this blog!
Tolkien Short Fanworks April Prompts Posted
Here is our thematic prompt and formal challenge for April:
The thematic prompt is: a sudden change of the weather.
In the UK and other countries, April is a month traditionally associated with sudden rain showers, but your response does not need to relate to this particular weather pattern.
However, here is a bonus quotation prompt on that theme:
Again the blackbirds sing; the streams
Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams,
And tremble in the April showers
The tassels of the maple flowers.
(John Greenleaf Whittier, from: The Singer)
The formal challenge is: a fixed-length piece of 222 words.
The choice of number is inspired by the year 2022, although that lovely date 22/02/2022 is now some weeks ago already...
As always, you can combine the thematic prompt and the formal challenge, but they can be filled entirely independently.
Usual reminder that although you can fill the prompts any way you like, in order to post the fill to this 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.
Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories!
Digital Tolkien Project Launches "Search Tolkien"
Digital Tolkien Project has launched an accessible system to search across Tolkien's works, see the distribution of terms and phrases, look up the citation reference for passages.
The search is case-insensitive and all punctuation and diacritics are stripped. Phrases up to seven words long can be searched for. For copyright reasons, no actual text is displayed. The search currently covers The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (minus the prologue), The Silmarillion and Letters (just to the letter number).
References for the Citation system on the search page (which is linked).
More details on the Digital Tolkien Project can be found on the Digital Tolkien Project website.
Fëanorian Week 2022
What is it?: Fëanorian Week is a full seven days to celebrate and appreciate some of our fan faves, the Fëanorians, and their parents, Nerdanel and Fëanor. The event runs on Tumblr.
When is it?: March 21-27, 2022
The prompts are as followed:
- Day 1- Maedhros - > Childhood, Kingship, Torture, Adjusting/Coping, Unity, Beauty
- Day 2-Maglor -> Childhood, Music & Songs of Power, Elrond & Elros, Kingship, Maglor’s Gap, Redemption
- Day 3- Celegorm - > Childhood, Hunting, Orome & Huan, Strength & Beauty, Wickedness, Love/Unrequited
- Day 4- Caranthir - > Childhood, Betrayal, Lordship, Dwarves & Humans, Marriage, Appearance
- Day 5- Curufin - > Childhood, Feanor, Forge work, Celebrimbor, Manipulation, Ruling of Nargothrond
- Day 6- Ambarussa - > Childhood, Lordship, Regrets, Twin, Hunting, Nandor
- Day 7- Nerdanel and Feanor-> Mahtan, Marriage, Reunion, Traveling, Creation, Healing
Rules: You are allowed to post anything fanrelated on the days. If the prompts are not to your liking, you can do your own thing. The tracktag is #feanorianweek. Tag your work accordingly! Have fun and be nice to others. Disrespect towards others will not be tolerated.
The ask box is open if you have any questions!
Call for Papers: Oxonmoot 2022
Oxonmoot runs 1 through 4 September 2022. The Talks and Papers strand will run through the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. Papers may be presented in person in Oxford or online via Zoom; we will also accept pre-recorded video presentations, though we request that the presenter be available live for questions at the end of their presentation. Papers should be 20 minutes in length (with a further 10 minutes allowed for questions); longer talks (e.g. art- or artefact- based) may be accepted, and should be discussed by email with the Day Time Programme Coordinator.
The Call for Papers closes on Sunday, 15th May.
The Talks and Papers will be balanced by a wide range of other Activities – these could include, but are not limited to, workshops, demonstrations, discussions, games, physical activities, films & videos and social activities – but any and all offers are most welcome. Activities may take place in Oxford, online, or combine both online and in person participation, and may be scheduled alongside the Talks & Papers, or in the Evening (local time) time depending on the nature of the Activity. Please indicated the expected duration of your Activity as part of the submission form.
The formal Call for Activities will open in mid April, but if you would like to discuss any ideas prior to submission, please contact the Activities Programme Coordinator, or for social activities the Social Programme Coordinator.
The Oxonmoot page has many more details on this year's event.
Other links:
