Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar Series

A series of free seminars to commemorate the death of J. R. R. Tolkien, to be held in 2023/2024 in the University of Oxford. The talks present an introduction and further background to Tolkien’s life, work, and legacy. They have an academic approach, but they are also aimed at those who have read Tolkien’s work but are interested in gaining a bit more insight into his life, career, and writings.
Type: Seminar Series
Series organisers: Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (University of Oxford), Grace Khuri (University of Oxford), Professor Simon Horobin (University of Oxford)
Timing: Mondays at 5.00pm
Web Address: https://tolkien50.web.ox.ac.uk/

Talks:

Monday 20 May 2024 (5th Week, Trinity Term)

"I am a link in the chain": Victorian Transformations of British Romanticism and their Influence on Tolkien
Date: 20 May 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 (Monday, 5th week, Trinity 2024)
Speaker : Will Sherwood (University of Glasgow)
Venue: Merton College, Merton Street OX1 4JD
Venue Details: Merton College, T.S. Eliot Theatre
Organisers: Professor Simon Horobin (University of Oxford), Grace Khuri (University of Oxford), Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 27 May 2024 (6th Week, Trinity Term)

Riddles in the Grass: the characterisation and narrative value of landscape over the fields of Rohan
Date: 27 May 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 (Monday, 6th week, Trinity 2024)
Speaker : David Bernabé (University of Oxford/University of the Basque Country)
Venue Details: Magdalen College (Summer Common Room)
Organisers: Professor Simon Horobin (University of Oxford), Grace Khuri (University of Oxford), Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 3 June 2024 (7th Week, Trinity Term)

A grandson's reflections on J.R.R. Tolkien
Date: 3 June 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 (Monday, 7th week, Trinity 2024)
Speaker : Michael G.R. Tolkien (Poet and Critic)
Venue: Merton College, Merton Street OX1 4JD
Venue Details: Merton College, T.S. Eliot Theatre
Organisers: Professor Simon Horobin (University of Oxford), Grace Khuri (University of Oxford), Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 10 June 2024 (8th Week, Trinity Term)

A Veritable “Middle Earth”’: Tolkien and the Palaeoanthropological Imagination
Date: 10 June 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 (Monday, 8th week, Trinity 2024)
Speaker : John Holmes (University of Birmingham)
Venue: Magdalen College, High Street OX1 4AU
Venue Details: Magdalen College (Summer Common Room)
Organisers: Professor Simon Horobin (University of Oxford), Grace Khuri (University of Oxford), Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Editors: Katy Terry, Hope Lukonyomoi-Otunnu