HarperCollins is starting its celebrations for the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit ahead of time, with the publication of a collection of Tolkien’s artwork and a “cute” pocket-sized edition of the novel at the end of this month.

The Hobbit was first published in September 1937, but HarperCollins estates publisher David Brawn said it was beginning its celebrations early to pre-empt the excitement about Peter Jackson’s film version, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, which will be released in December 2012.

HarperCollins estimates around one third of the UK population will see “The Hobbit” film. Brawn said: “Since ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films, The Hobbit has played second fiddle—now it’s going to be the turn of The Hobbit to have that focus on it. We said: ‘Let’s jump in there and celebrate Tolkien before everyone starts to celebrate Peter Jackson as director of the film.'” More..

*Programming Change to 4:30pm PDT* Tomorrow’s installment of “TORn TUESDAYS live with Quickbeam” (our weekly streaming video call-in show) will feature a special guest producer from 4 TANKS AND A HEALER, the lovely Marisa Zakaria! We will discuss the history of fandom related to Fantasy Gaming, and how difficult it is to start up a brand new animated series! You can interact live and pose your questions in our Barliman’s chatroom, built-in to our LIVE event section at 4:30PM Pacific Daylight Time! [LIVE Event Area] (TORn Tuesday will take place from approx 4:30-5:30pm PT – See All Times)

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Lydia writes: TheOneRing.net very kindly posted a press release I submitted on June 20, 2010 entitled ‘British artist, who drew the maps for J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ visits the USA’ and I am writing hoping that you will upload another article.

I am the daughter of Stephen Raw, (said British artist) and have been tasked to promote the limited edition copies of the original maps. Looking on your blog, I am astounded that the real story of the map does not appear to be common knowledge among your readership. In a bid to change this I have written the following article in response to a posting from September of 2010, ‘Why are there no ‘towers of a distant city‘ by Ringer Squire.

This is in part a response to the essay posted on this site in September of 2010, ‘Why are there no ‘towers of a distant city’ on the map of Middle-earth. In his piece, Ringer Squire shares his surprise at how Tolkien, despite his visual talents, failed to use the maps to their full potential, describing them as ‘a rather unsatisfactory use of space’. He explains that his disappointment steams from the idea that Tolkien ‘resisted seeing a map as another excellent way to sub-create a world. [Rather they] were always just organizers: they only echoed the text, they never extended it. They don’t tell us, all by themselves, that further stories exist’ Continue reading “The Lord of the Rings Maps: The Real History”

On Saturday October 8th well over 100 visitors came to the Tolkien Shop in Leiden (Holland) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the only store in the world, entirely dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien. The shop was cramed with people chatting, drinking and buying. The latter was even more frantic when it was announced that as part of the festivities a store-wide discount of 25% was available.
Continue reading “25th Anniversary of Tolkien Shop Report”

*Programming Change to 5:30pm PDT* Welcome Ringer fans! For today’s installment of TORn TUESDAYS (our weekly streaming video call-in show) we are thrilled to bring you an exclusive LIVE interview with legendary fantasy author Peter S. Beagle — co-scripter of the Ralph Bakshi 1978 LORD OF THE RINGS animated epic and author of THE LAST UNICORN — ahead of his appearance alongside TheOneRing.net at New York Comic-Con! We will converse on many Hobbity things, but expect a *huge announcement* or two for LAST UNICORN fans especially. You can interact live and pose your  questions to Mr. Beagle in our Barliman’s chatroom, built-in to our LIVE event section at 5:30PM Pacific Daylight Time! [LIVE Event Area] (TORn Tuesday will take place from approx 5:30-7pm PT – See All Times)

How cool would this be to watch?

from scoop.co.nz: A one point five metre high ‘Showgirl on A Dragon’ will begin to appear in the SKYCITY Atrium tomorrow as Weta Workshop sculptor Craig Campbell gets to work on the masterpiece which will take him ten days to complete.

From 12-16 October and 19-23 October NZ, the American artist with fifteen years practice in his craft will create the sculpture as the public look on. Based in the heart of SKYCITY, at the top of the stairs the lead to the Sky Tower lifts, the live demonstration will give locals and the many tourists in town the chance to chat to Craig about his creation and the work of Weta Workshop.

Tim Launder from Weta Workshop says: “This is the thrilling sequel to the opening of the Weta Cave at the end of August. We’ve had such a great response from the Auckland public to the shop; it’s special to be able to add that little bit more magic.”

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