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.

Sunshine Challenge 2021

Check out the Master List to find links to all of the 2021 challenge posts.

Welcome to the sunshine_challenge! Our aim to provide a little bit of sunshine as everyone takes part in creating and sharing the content each prompt inspires.

We will post seven challenge prompts throughout the month of July. You are encouraged to complete as many of the prompts as you feel comfortable doing: whether that’s one, all seven, or some number in between! You can do them on your private journal or in public posts, the choice is yours. If you’re shy we have places for lurkers, too. We want you all to have fun and enjoy the challenge in whichever way works best for you (this includes swapping out prompts and themes that aren’t inspiring you! We encourage conversation and creativity here, so please do join the fun in whichever way suits you).

The sunshine_challenge is about celebrating the DW community and the awesome people in it. One way we can do that is by interacting with each other. Every time you visit the journal of a fellow participant and comment on what they're sharing, you are helping to grow this community and make it better. We all could use a little sunshine in our lives. ♥

Tolkien Society Seminar This Weekend (July 3-4)

The second Tolkien Society Seminar of 2021 will be held online on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th July 2021 on Zoom. We will additionally be live-streaming the event on our YouTube channel.

About the Seminar

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The online setting of the 2020 seminar saw an increased interest with over 400 attendees from 37 countries. We are delighted to be running another online seminar that will be free for all.

Summer Seminar: Tolkien and Diversity

While interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research, it is now receiving more critical attention than ever before. Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien’s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show The Lord of the Rings, it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien. How do adaptations of Tolkien’s works (from film and art to music) open a discourse on diversity within Tolkien’s works and his place within modern society? Beyond his secondary-world, diversity further encompasses Tolkien’s readership and how his texts exist within the primary world. Who is reading Tolkien? How is he understood around the globe? How may these new readings enrich current perspectives on Tolkien?

Representation is now more important than ever and Tolkien’s efforts to represent (or ignore) particular characteristics requires further examination. Additionally, how a character’s identity shapes and influences its place within Tolkien’s secondary-world still requires greater attention. This seminar aims to explore the many possible applications of “diversity” within Tolkien’s works, his adaptations, and his readership.

Programme

Please log in at 14:45 (GMT) to ensure a prompt start at 15:00 (GMT) on both days.

Saturday 3rd July

Time Speaker Paper
(BST) (CEST) (EDT)
15:00 16:00 10:00 Cordeliah Logsdon Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings
15:30 16:30 10:30 Clare Moore The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien
16:00 17:00 11:00 V. Elizabeth King “The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire”: Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien’s Middle-earth
16:30 17:30 11:30 Sara Brown The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack’
17:00 18:00 12:00 BREAK
17:30 18:30 12:30 Sultana Raza Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien’s Worlds
18:00 19:00 13:00 Nicholas Birns The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism
18:30 19:30 13:30 Kristine Larsen The Problematic Perimeters of Elrond Half-elven and Ronald English-Catholic
19:00 20:00 14:00 Cami Agan Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
19:30 20:30 14:30 CLOSING COMMENTS

Sunday 4th July

Time Speaker Paper
(BST) (CEST) (EDT)
15:00 16:00 10:00 Christopher Vaccaro Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
15:30 16:30 10:30 Sonali Chunodkar Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic’s Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm
16:00 17:00 11:00 Robin Reid Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My!
16:30 17:30 11:30 Joel Merriner Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings
17:00 18:00 12:00 BREAK
17:30 18:30 12:30 Eric Reinders Questions of Caste in The Lord of the Rings and its Multiple Chinese Translations
18:00 19:00 13:00 Dawn Walls-Thumma Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community
18:30 19:30 13:30 Danna Petersen-Deeprose “Something Mighty Queer”: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien
19:00 20:00 14:00 Martha Celis-Menzoda Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien’s scholarship and fandom
19:30 20:30 14:30 CLOSING COMMENTS

Who to Contact

If you have any questions or need any further information, please email Will Sherwood at education@tolkiensociety.org

Tolkien Gen Week Runs July 5-11, 2021

Tolkien Gen Week is a week to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen”. Gen content is often less visible because of the shipping-focused nature of fandom, but Tolkien’s works are full of other kinds of stories, and this week is an effort to give them the appreciation they deserve.

This year's Tolkien Gen Week runs from July 5-11, 2021!

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 on Tumblr 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.

This year's prompts are:

DAY ONE: Family
DAY TWO: Friendship
DAY THREE: Gray Spaces
DAY FOUR: Solo
DAY FIVE: Culture
DAY SIX: Environment
DAY SEVEN: Freeform

More complete prompts explanations can be found here.

Additional Links:

Tolkien Short Fanworks July Challenge

July features both a thematic prompt and formal challenge. You can combine the thematic prompt and the formal challenge, but they can be filled entirely independently.

Thematic prompt: sea shell.

Two bonus quotation prompts related to this theme:

I walked by the sea, and there came to me,
as a star-beam on the wet sand,
a white shell like a sea-bell;
trembling it lay in my wet hand


[From Tolkien's "The Sea Bell"]

In the twilight by the river on a hollow thing of shell
He made immortal music


[From Tolkien's "The Horns of Ylmir"]

The formal challenge is to write a poem in couplets.

Usual reminder that although you can fill the thematic prompt 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.

The next challenge will be posted at the beginning of August, but the prompts don't expire and late fills are always welcome!

Oxonmoot - Calls for Papers and for Activities (deadlines)

Oxonmoot is an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society which brings together Tolkien fans, scholars, students and Society members from across the world. Oxonmoot 2021 is being held over four days, from the afternoon of Thursday 2nd September until lunch time on Sunday 5th September. This will be a hybrid event bringing together online delegates with those attending in person at St Anne’s College, Oxford.

The Call for Papers and Call for Activities are open. The Call for Papers closes at 8:00 am UK time on Thursday 1st July, while the Call for Activities closes at 8:00 am UK time on Sunday 18th July. 

Registration is now open. Fees range from £35 to £95, depending.

Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021 (3/4 July) posts its programme

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The theme for this year's conference is "Tolkien and Diversity" and recognizes the growing need for discussion of diversity and representation in Tolkien's works and adaptations of those works.

This year's seminar will be held online via Zoom and livestreamed on the Tolkien Society's YouTube channel on Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday, July 4th. Registration is free, and you can register on the Tolkien Society website.

The schedule has now been posted on the same page; the papers cover a wide variety of relevant topics in the Legendarium and in the reception of Tolkien's works.

Jeff LaSala completes blog post series on orcs on Tor.com

As part of his series Deep Delvings into Middle-earth on Tor.com, Jeff LaSala has completed a mini-three series of three blog posts on continuities and change in the portrayal of the orcs in Tolkien's Legendarium and their implications. The first post covered The Lord or the Rings and The Hobbit, the second covered Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion and the third covers treatment in the History of Middle-earth.

Survey: Sociolinguistics in Fandom

Interested in online sociolinguistics in fandom? Then have we got the survey for you! We were contacted by a researcher at Bellevue College, who asked about boosting their study, so we’re passing this along. The study is about sociolinguistics in online fandom, and really digs into how individuals personally define various fannish terms. There’s a particular focus on shipping and antis, and a portion of the survey is optional and uses trigger warnings for potentially upsetting content around antis and anti discourse.

The number of survey questions vary depending on your answers. People have finished in around 20-30mins, and some have really dug into the optional, long-form questions and have taken an hour! We figure around 30-45mins is a good estimate for length.

For more information:
Project FAQ
Take the Survey

Tolkien Short Fanworks: June Challenge

The tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth has a thematic prompt and a formal challenge for June.

You can combine the thematic prompt and the formal challenge, but they can be filled entirely independently.



Thematic prompt: the solstice, Mid-Summer, respectively Mid-Winter, as turning points of the solar year.

For Mid-Summer you could also think of Middle-earth equivalents like Loëndë or Lithedays, and perhaps of traditions like bonfires or herbs such as St John's Wort and others.



The formal challenge is to write a a 'dribble' or half-drabble, 50 words, also themed to go with the solstice or half-way through the year.

 

Although you can fill the thematic prompt any way you like, 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. 

The next challenge will be posted at the beginning of June, but the prompts don't expire and late fills are always welcome!

New participants are welcome. (A Dreamwidth account is required for posts to the Dreamwidth community.)

Tolkien Society Seminar Registration Open

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The theme for this year's conference is "Tolkien and Diversity" and recognizes the growing need for discussion of diversity and representation in Tolkien's works and adaptations of those works.

This year's seminar will be held online via Zoom and livestreamed on the Tolkien Society's YouTube channel on Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday, July 4th. Registration is free, and you can now register on the Tolkien Society website.