The Tolkien Society has around 1,400 members in over 30 different countries, many of whom play a full and active role in the Society. If you are looking for a last–minute gift for a loved one (or, indeed, yourself!) here’s what Tolkien Society membership has to offer.
Joining a worldwide fellowship
The Tolkien Society is a tight-knit community who all share a passion for Tolkien. By joining that community your loved one will likely meet lots of new people and make many new friends (in thier country and others). Not only that, but aspiring scholars will get the chance to meet academics to discuss their works, whilst artists, writers, cooks, costumers, linguists and webmasters will likely meet collaborators who will be able to help them on their projects. There is a huge pool of friendly talent that they can be a part of.
Promoting Tolkien across the world
Does your friend or relative want to see J.R.R. Tolkien’s memory protected and his works spread across the world? The Society was founded in 1969 with Tolkien later becoming our president (and remaining so to this day), which is why our legally-binding constitution states that the main aim of the Society is to “educate the public in, and promote research into, the life and works of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE.” For every person who supports the Society, we are able to do that little bit extra in promoting Tolkien; so sign someone up today to help us spread Tolkien around the world.
Amon Hen and Mallorn
Amon Hen is our bimonthly bulletin which has been published continually since 1972. Each Amon Hen contains news, information about events, articles, features and book reviews; the only way to be guaranteed to receive Amon Hen is by being a member of the Society, which also gives them the opportunity to contribute to it.
Mallorn is our annual journal: a glossy A4 journal including in-depth reviews, scholarly articles and interviews. Having been published since 1970 it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running journals in Tolkien scholarship. As such, over the years Mallorn has featured an impressive range of contributors including: Douglas A. Anderson, Bob Blackham, David Bratman, Dimitra Fimi, John Garth, Henry Gee, Wayne G. Hammond, John Rateliff, Christina Scull, Tom Shippey, Michael Tolkien, and Christopher Tolkien. As if that isn’t enough, several Mallorns have published poetry by Tolkien as well as copies of several letters.
Events and Smials
You have probably already heard about Oxonmoot – our annual long-weekend in an Oxford college – but this is certainly not the only event we hold. There’s the international celebrations of the Tolkien Birthday Toast in January and Tolkien Reading Day in March. We take hold a Seminar in July most years and have a Springmoot (combining our AGM) in March.
If you have any questions about gift membership just contact the Membership Secretary. You can bring the same joy to someone else by purchasing gift membership today.
