Fall/winter Tolkien/LOTR events: your ‘go-to’ list

Updated 11/3/17 – From time-to-time you, the fans, email TORn about events of interest to other fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and/or Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. As a service to our readers, we decided to created this new feature: a listing of upcoming events to keep everyone apprised of where they can hook-up and commiserate with other fans, learn a thing or two, or just plain enjoy the fandom that we’ve all come to know and love. From Howard Shore concerts in Paris, to fan get-togethers in Kentucky and South Carolina, to exhibitions in Staffordshire, U.K., it’s all listed here! The list will be updated periodically as past events drop off and future events are added. If you know of an upcoming event, please let us know either in the comments section of this story, or by emailing spymaster@theonering.net. – TORn, ‘Together in Tolkien’

November 6, 2017 – Avent Park, Oxford, U.K.: Hobbit Walk

To promote literacy in an engaging and fun way for people of all ages, Meghan Gallagher is presenting a Hobbit Walk in Avent Park, Oxford, on Monday, November 6. Last year, Gallagher piloted the Wizarding Walk, an event to promote literacy that was focused around J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. Gallagher wanted to have another event centered around books that also had movies. The free event will run from 2-5 p.m. with treats, Hobbit-themed activites and music provided. In case of inclement weather, it will be moved to November 13.

Now through November 11, 2017 – Tamworth, Staffordshire, U.K.: J.R.R. Tolkien in Staffordshire exhibition

From The Tolkien Society website: The exhibition focuses on the time Tolkien spent in Staffordshire during the First World War. Visitors will be able to explore the writings, poetry, and artwork Tolkien wrote in the county, as well as learn more about life for soldiers in Staffordshire during the Great War. Copies of original artwork, of domestic scenes and landscapes drawn by Tolkien in 1918 in Staffordshire, will be on display as will photographs specially loaned by the Tolkien Estate and Bodleian Library. For more information: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/j-r-r-tolkien-in-staffordshire-exhibition/

November 9 to 10, 2017 – Greenville, SC, U.S.A.: Celebrate Tolkien conference – From the conference website: You are invited to attend the first annual Celebration of JRR Tolkien at the enchanting Old Cigar Warehouse in Greenville, South Carolina on November 9-10, 2017. This event will feature presentations by some of the world’s leading Tolkien experts, artists, performers, and authors of our day. The presentations are not the only part of the celebration. Also join us for a pipe smoking competition, Hobbit games, and Middle Earth themed food and music. For more information: https://www.celebratetolkien.com/#about

November 12, 2017 – London, U.K.: A Celebration of the Music from Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Live in Concert with Symphony Orchestra and Choir

They are the most beloved and recognisable big and small screen creations of all time – let alone just in the world of the Fantasy genre – and now, for the first time, the music of Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit will be celebrated in a one-off concert at the London Palladium. For more information and to purchase tickets: rutive.co.uk

November 14, 2017 to January 6, 2018 – Leek, Staffordshire, U.K.: J.R.R. Tolkien in Staffordshire exhibition

December 2, 2017 – Prague, Czech Republic & Lisbon Portugal: The Return of the King live to projection

– Howard Shore’s Academy Award®-winning Score performed live to the epic motion picture by symphony orchestra, chorus and soloists

From howardshore.com: the climactic chapter in Howard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King gathers all that has come before and sets it charging relentlessly towards conclusion. Each character theme, each cultural style, every motif associated with the precepts of Tolkien’s work must reach the destination set before it in the previous two scores. For more information: http://www.howardshore.com/works/concerts/the-return-of-the-king-live-to-projection/

January 3, 2018 – Tolkien Toast (world-wide – google or visit the Tolkien Society webpage for celebrations near you, or plan your own)! From The Tolkien Society website: Each year on 3 January, the Tolkien Society encourages Tolkien fans from across the world to celebrate the Professor’s birthday with a simple toast-drinking ceremony. At 9pm your local time, simply raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is simply: The Professor!

All you need to do is stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words “The Professor” before taking a sip (or swig, if that’s more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink. For more information: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/society/events/toast/

January 9, 2018 to March 3, 2018 – Marquis Drive Visitor’s Center, U.K.: J.R.R. Tolkien in Staffordshire exhibition

January 16 to 24, 2018 – Poland tour: The Fellowship of the Ring Live to projection

– Howard Shore’s Academy Award®-winning Score performed live to the epic motion picture by symphony orchestra, chorus and soloists

From howardshore.com: composer Howard Shore brings J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary imagination to vivid life with his Academy®- and Grammy® Award-winning score to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Shore’s music expresses Peter Jackson’s film as an immense symphonic work—a uniquely developed vision drawn from centuries of stylistic tendencies. For more information: http://royalconcert.pl/

February 9 to 25, 2018– Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A. – The Hobbit play: Valley Youth Theater in Phoenix will feature The Hobbit as part of their 2017-2018 season.

From the VYT website:; Bilbo, one of the most conservative of all Hobbits, is asked to leave his large, roomy and very dry home in the ground in order to set off as chief robber in an attempt to recover an important treasure. It’s the last thing that any sensitive Hobbit would want to do, but great benefit eventually results—not only for Bilbo but for all of the Hobbits who inhabit Middle Earth—and the hearts of those children and adults who continue to enjoy this kind of magic. Based on the classic by J.R.R. Tolkien, adapted by Patricia Gray. For more information: http://www.vyt.com/shows/the-hobbit/

March 6, 2018 to April 21, 2018 – Chasewater County Park, Staffordshire, U.K.: J.R.R. Tolkien in Staffordshire exhibition

June 1, 2018 to October 28, 2018 – Bodleian Libraries, Weston Library, University of Oxford, U.K.: Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition.

From the Bodleian Libraries website: The creative genius of JRR Tolkien will be the focus of a major new exhibition opening at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries in 2018. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth will explore the full breadth of Tolkien’s unique literary imagination from his creation of Middle-earth, the imagined world where The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and his other works are set, to his life and work as an artist, poet, medievalist and scholar of languages. For the first time since the 1950s, an unprecedented array of Tolkien materials from the UK and the USA will be reunited in Oxford and displayed together in this seminal exhibition, featuring manuscripts, artwork, maps, letters and artifacts from the Bodleian’s extensive Tolkien Archive, the Tolkien Collection at Marquette University in the USA and from private collections. Visit the Bodleian website here for more details.

Posted in: Share: