Tolkien

New article on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Father Christmas Letters in The Conversation

I had a new (festive) article published yesterday on the The Conversation, titled: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christmas letters to his children bring echoes of Middle-earth to the North Pole”. In this article I discuss the letters from Father Christmas Tolkien sent…

By Dimitra Fimi | 22nd December 2017 | Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Christmas, Invented Languages, Myth and Folklore, The Hobbit, Tolkien | No Comments |

George MacDonald and one of Tolkien’s most quotable lines

I’ve been re-reading many of the works of George MacDonald recently, in preparation for my keynote lecture at the George MacDonald’s Scotland conference at the University of Aberdeen next week (https://gmdscotland.wordpress.com/). My lecture is titled “George MacDonald and Celticity”, and…

By Dimitra Fimi | 9th July 2017 | Books, Conferences, Fantasy Literature, Tolkien | 2 Comments |

Beren and Lúthien: Some First Thoughts (and radio interview)

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beren and Lúthien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, was published yesterday. The book is an attempt by Christopher Tolkien to extract one of the most beautiful, moving, and personal stories of his father’s ‘legendarium’ into a standalone book, allowing the…

By Dimitra Fimi | 2nd June 2017 | Books, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Interviews, Media, Myth and Folklore, Tolkien, Worldbuilding | No Comments |

Tolkien and the Art of Book Reviewing: A Circuitous Road to Middle-earth

The Tolkien Society has just uploaded on YouTube my talk for Oxonmoot 2016, titled: “Tolkien and the Art of Book Reviewing: A Circuitous Road to Middle-earth”. I thought, therefore, that it would be a good idea to publish the text of…

By Dimitra Fimi | 17th May 2017 | Books, Fantasy Literature, Public Lecture, Tolkien | No Comments |

Article on Invented Languages on the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Online

I have had a new article published today on the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Online, titled: “Inventing a Whole Language”. In this article I discuss imaginary languages, from early modern traveller’s tales and Victorian fantasy, to Tolkien, of course, as well…

By Dimitra Fimi | 17th March 2017 | A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, Books, Fantasy Literature, Invented Languages, Tolkien | No Comments |

“Twas the Night Before Christmas” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Tinfang Warble

Following family tradition, the bedtime book I read to my near-four-year-old son on Christmas Eve was “The Night Before Christmas”, aka “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, by Clement Clarke Moore*. I used my mum’s old copy of the poem, a…

By Dimitra Fimi | 31st December 2016 | Christmas, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Myth and Folklore, Tolkien | 2 Comments |

First impressions count? On academic book covers

Should you care whether your academic monograph or edited collection has an appealing cover? Does it matter? And can you/should you get involved? My answer to all of the above is yes! I know there are brilliant academic books out…

By Dimitra Fimi | 12th December 2016 | Books, Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Tolkien | 2 Comments |

Tolkien Sessions at IMC Leeds, July 2017

*Update – June 2017 I am very pleased to announce that all four sessions on J.R.R. Tolkien I proposed for the International Medieval Congress at Leeds 2017 have been accepted! This will be the third consecutive year of papers on…

By Dimitra Fimi | 30th November 2016 | A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, Books, Conferences, Fantasy Literature, The Hobbit, Tolkien, Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun | 1 Comment |

Tolkien’s A Secret Vice: first reviews

Since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages (ed. Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins), many readers have been sharing stories about the book, first reviews, as well as pictures of their own copy. Here is a selection!

By Dimitra Fimi | 30th June 2016 | A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, Books, Fantasy Literature, Invented Languages, Tolkien | No Comments |

Researching Tolkien’s ‘Secret Vice’

During the last few months I have been buried in my cave… er… office to finish the OTHER book, and I have gone through a pretty traumatic family emergency (all OK now!). Adding to this mix the mad marking load…

By Dimitra Fimi | 29th June 2016 | A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, Books, Interviews, Invented Languages, Tolkien | 4 Comments |