An international co-operation between the German and Dutch Tolkien Societies (DTG & Unquendor) has started 3 January 2012.
On the occasion of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 120th birthday, members of both Societies, met for a joint dinner. The celebration marked the start of a whole host of share events taking place in the Hobbit Year 2012.
The year will be dominated by the Hobbit: the 75-year anniversary of the children’s book’s first publication date will receive even more publicity through the release of Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” film at the end of the year. The literary societies will accompany this exciting year with a whole host of exceptional events.
The first International Tolkien Day Germany/Netherlands in the CJD educational centre Castle Walbeck will form one of the highlights. Two regional meetings of regulars’ tables in Geldern and Nijmegen will take place. And the year will be completed by a Hobbit Party in Castle Arcen. All events will feature programme in German and Dutch.
For the cross-border co-operation, the societies have filed for aids from the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg IV A Deutschland-Nederland programme. The project is accompanied by the programme management of the euregio rhein-maas-nord.
Tolkien and fantasy enthusiast can look forward to an especially fantastic year 2012!
Event dates and venues:
19 April – Regional Meeting of regulars‘ tables in Geldern (Germany)
2-3 June – International Tolkien Day at Castle Schloss Walbeck (Germany) with lectures, readings, workshops, supporting programme, introductions to handicraft techniques and Middle-earthian imaginary worlds (camp sites, music, tailoring, cooking, calligraphy, archery, axe throwing)
7 September – Regional Meeting of regulars‘ tables in Nijmegen (Netherlands)
17-18 November – Hobbit Party at Castle Arcen (Netherlands) with lectures, readings, workshops and supporting programme, costume groups, anticipating the upcoming “Hobbit” films
About DTG:
The non-profit organisation Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft e.V. (German Tolkien Society) advances the academic engagement and circulation of the works of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, and other works that invoke comparison. It fosters the collaboration of different academic disciplines, organises regional Tolkien Days, the nation-wide Tolkien Thing, an annual Tolkien Conference, lectures, readings and exhibitions and publishes members’ journal Der Flammifer von Westernis as well as the academic yearbook Hither Shore, which has received the German Fantasy Award twice in the secondary literature category.
For further information: www.tolkiengesellschaft.de
About Unquendor:
The (Dutch) Tolkien Society Unquendor was formed on the 22th of September, 1981. Members express their interest in Tolkien in many ways. Educative, by discussing or writing about Tolkien and his work; creative, by making drawings and clothing or writing poems and stories based on Middle-earth; but it can also be a more active involvement, such as visiting smials (local meetings) and annual parties, or by reading the magazine ‘Lembas’. This combination of activities makes Unquendor not only interesting for those who admire his written works, but for people who want to express their interest in Middle-earth in other ways as well.
For further information: www.unquendor.nl
