Our friends from The Tolkien Society send along a call for papers and news about their latest seminar:
The theme for this year’s seminar is “Freedom, Fate and Choice in the Middle-earth writings of J. R. R. Tolkien”. Papers are sought on a wide range of topics related to this theme, including concepts such as free will and doom. The Middle-earth material ranges from The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin through the twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth and Tolkien’s Letters to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
For complete details and how to submit your paper, please visit the official Tolkien Society website. [Tolkien Society]
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Ringer Forum Member Diedye points us to this intriguing news today from the UK:
A rare collection of books and artefacts will be open to the public for the first time after a £5million donation was made to the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
Original manuscripts from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein will be among a number of national treasures put on display in a new exhibition hall.
The donation by Julian Blackwell, president of the Blackwell’s academic bookshop chain, is the largest yet made to a university library in the UK.
Add that to your tour plans when visiting Oxford! [Read the Full Story] [Bodleian Library Homepage]
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Susanne lets us in on a documentary ‘The Worlds of Fantasy’ airing on BBC4 in the UK. “The Worlds of Fantasy: Documentary series about fantasy fiction tells how, in the 1950s, JRR Tolkien and Mervyn Peake created texts that revolutionised and popularised the genre.”
Susanne continues: Great programme half of which is about Tolkein and other about Mervyn Peake. Watchers in the UK can access this via the BBC website for the next 6 days. Not sure if you can access it elsewhere but this the link. Very good interviews with other authors acknowledging their debt to Tolkein, TV footage of the Professor and comments from Tom Shipley and other Tolkein experts. Hope at least some Ringers can access this. Keep the good work and fingers crossed for the Hobbit! [Watch the Episode (UK Only)]
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Jan writes: If you have a section called Upcoming and recent events, you most likely have readers in and around Albany, NY, I wonder if I might impose and have you run
the following: Tuesday, 1 April at 6:30 PM in the William K Sanford Library, Colonie, NY there will be a panel discussion on The Worlds of Tolkien. Contact: +1-518-456-5242;
jfinder@nycap.rr.com.
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Message Board member ‘And Back Again’ pointed us to the following story at Times Online:
A rare first edition of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien is expected to raise £30,000 at auction. The last photograph of Tolkien is also being auctioned at Bonhams, London, on March 18. It was taken in 1973 by his grandson Michael in the Botanic Garden, Oxford, and shows him standing beside his favourite tree. A note on the back written by Priscilla, his daughter, says: “For Elaine with love from Priscilla.” The book is also dedicated to Elaine Griffiths, the friend who urged him to have The Hobbit published. Other lots include illustrations by Tolkien and a copy of Farmer Giles of Ham.
Read the full story at Times Online. [Read More]
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While this story is a few years old, it is pretty cool – so for those whom have not seen it before – this is ‘new to you!’
A spectacular, luminous ring offers the best evidence yet that a nearby star is circled by a newly formed solar system.
The ring is composed of dust particles in orbit around Fomalhaut, a bright star located just 25 light years away in the constellation Pisces Australis – or the Southern Fish. A recent image captured with the Hubble Space Telescope – which makes the system look uncannily like the Great Eye of Sauron from the blockbusting Lord of the Rings trilogy – confirms that Fomalhaut’s ring is curiously offset with respect to the star.
Read the full story and see a larger image over at The Register. Thanks to Smeagirl for the heads up! [Read More]
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