On April 13th, the 20th Annual Tolkien conference will be held at the University of Vermont as a hybrid event. This has always been a small, friendly meeting run by Dr. Chris Vaccaro, and now offers an online option for speakers and attendees who can’t be there in person. Every year the conference has a special theme (although not all of the papers necessarily deal with it). This year’s focus is Psychologies of Middle-earth, with keynote speaker Dr. Sara Brown giving a paper titled ““Restless and uneasy . . . thin and stretched”: The Ring, The Ringbearers, and the Bodies in Psychological Cris ..read more

The Mythopoeic Society is sponsoring another online seminar, this one “centered around queerness in fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, or other mythopoeic work.” See https://mythsoc.org/oms/oms-2024.htm for more information and the registration forms.  Below you’ll find the two-day program on February 17 – 18, with plenty of Tolkien presentations on offer. The keynote will be delivered by Taylor Driggers, author of the recently published Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature. You can read more on the Midwinter Seminar site ..read more

My recent work on Tolkien’s “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” has had me and my co-author Gavin Foster looking closely at Tolkien’s use of alliterative metre. Over on our research site at Tolkienalliterative.ca, which is dedicated primarily to Tolkien’s alliterative verse (though not limited to Tolkien alone) we’ve posted details about two new sources that publish and discuss alliterative verse today. Have a look! New publications: alliterative poetry today ..read more

Recently, I’ve had two items published dealing with translations and adaptations of Beowulf for young readers, a research area I began working in even before my Tolkien publications. “Beowulf and Boyology” The most recent is my article “Beowulf and Boyology,” just published in Florilegium, the journal of the Canadian Society of Medievalists. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the journal, the editors have published past CSM Presidents’ addresses. I gave my address in 2012, and that talk is printed in the journal with some minor footnoted updates. The journal issue is dated 2019 (the issue ..read more

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has a pile of Tolkien books in my to-read pile, but that’s not stopping me from looking forward to some new publications. Here are a few of them… The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Revised and Expanded Edition.  HarperCollins, 2023. The letters have been a staple of Tolkien research since they were first published in 1981, and now we will get access to 150 new letters that were excised from the initial publication. The preview available in the link below gives us a fascinating glimpse into some of the new material.   November 2023 is the earliest ..read more

Twitter (aka X) can be a hellscape of hatred, but fortunately there are people online who are determined to fight back and focus on positive community-building actions. At the forefront of this effort is Tim Bolton, who has created the #TolkienTuesday / #TolkienTrewsday event. A theme is announced before every Tuesday and anyone is invited to post anything they like on the theme, as long as it’s respectful. For more information on Tolkien Tuesday, see Tim’s Introducing Tolkien Trewsday. Today’s theme offers a choice: Poetry or Creatures. If you’re on Twitter, look for @timboltonuk or @tolkient ..read more

Please follow along at tolkienalliterative.ca if you’re interested in the alliterative poems Tolkien wrote. My research assistants and I are building a bibliography of Tolkien’s alliterative verse, some online guides to alliterative metre, and links to some of Tolkien’s notes on the topic. You’ll also find an occasional blog post on what’s new in this field, like the one below. Tolkien lecture now in print ..read more

We’re still enjoying summer weather here in Nova Scotia, but let’s face it, fall is just around the corner, and with it, some deadlines for Tolkien scholars interested in presenting their research at conferences in the coming year.  If you don’t intend to propose anything, you still might want to browse the topics that people will be speaking about in case you’ll be tempted to attend. One event worth attending, though the call for papers is now closed, is Oxonmoot, celebrating its 50th anniversary from August 31 to September 3 both in person and online, with various types of sessions incl ..read more

Programs have now been announced for two events to take place next month in Leeds, making the first week of July a great time to listen to presentations on Tolkien, either in person if you’re able to make it to Leeds in the UK or online for everyone else. The Tolkien Society always sponsors its free Tolkien Seminar every year just before the International Medieval Congress begins. This year’s Seminar theme is “Númenor, the Mighty and Frail,” and it will take place on July 2nd at The Hilton, Leeds. The Seminar is free for both online and in-person attendance. Register here. The full day of pr ..read more

Over on Twitter, Tom Hillman has started a thread of birthday wishes for preeminent Tolkien scholar, Professor Verlyn Flieger, and I would like to add my tribute here as well. I wanted to take a moment to wish Verlyn Flieger a happy birthday, and thank her not only for her decades of excellent work elevating Tolkien Studies, but also the example of graciousness and kindness she set in doing it. Happy birthday, my friend. #Tolkien #LordOfTheRings pic.twitter.com/xIJlxh0L7Z — Tom (@alas_not_me) February 24, 2023 I admire Dr. Flieger immensely, not only for her significant and essential work ..read more