Tolkien Reading Day normally takes place on 25th March, signifying the fall of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings.
However, this year the Tolkien Society have had immense fun co-organising a month long social media campaign with the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow. We have been encouraging readers to reflect on the theme of ‘Hope and Courage‘ in Tolkien’s works, recalling how his words have inspired hope and courage in his fans’ lives. If you are interested in taking part then can join in on the action by heading over to the Society’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or the Centre’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and share your reactions using the hashtag #TolkienReadingDay2021.
We are now one week away from the Reading Day and are excited to announce guest speakers for each of our live events on the Thursday 25th March:
Scholar in Residence
Dr Dimitra Fimi, co-director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, author of Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), co-editor of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, and thrice winner of Tolkien Society awards for her work on Tolkien, will participate in all three events as Scholar in Residence. She is looking forward to interacting with everyone and celebrating Tolkien’s work!
Morning Meeting (book your place here)
We will be joined by Dr Anna Vaninskaya (University of Edinburgh), author of Fantasies of Time and Death: Dunsany, Eddison, Tolkien(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020); and Marcel Aubron-Bülles, independent scholar and author of The Tolkienist blog.
Afternoon Meeting (book your place here)
We look forward to welcoming Dr Kristine Larsen (Central Connecticut University), who has written extensively about astronomy and science in Tolkien’s works and won the Tolkien Society award for best article in 2020; and James Tauber, who runs the Digital Tolkien Project.
Evening Meeting (book your place here)
In our last meeting of the day we will host Dr Andrew Higgins, co-editor of the extended edition of Tolkien’s A Secret Vice which won the Tolkien Society award for Best Book in 2017, and an expert on Tolkien’s invented languages.
Join us on Thursday 25th March for a chance to share you favourite parts of Tolkien’s and hear how he has inspired hope and courage in the lives of his readers! Here are the links to book again:
Register for the Morning Session
Register for the Midday Session
Register for the Evening Session
Next week we will be releasing three extracts from Tolkien’s works linked to our theme. To celebrate the rich and diverse readership that Tolkien has attracted, we will be releasing videos of Tolkien fans and scholars reading the extracts in a broad range of languages! You will also be able to share your reactions to these extracts on social media.
Interested in running an event in your school, university, or library?
If you are looking to run an event, seminar, or lesson about Tolkien on the Reading Day then we have provided a range of activities and resources that you can downloaded below.
We would love to see any work created for the Reading Day so please do take pictures of your students’ work and share it on social media with the #TolkienReadingDay2021.
Download the resource pack as a Word document.
Download the resource pack as a PDF.
