Having a 17-month-old toddler means that I was well awake and CBeebies was on at 7:40 am this Sunday. I was pulled out of my half-awake, half-asleep state, when in this morning’s Q Pootle 5 episode a monolith suddenly appeared in…
Mythgard classes, Tolkien’s Beowulf, JTR, Tolkien Companion and Kalamazoo
It’s been a while since my last update: I am back to lecturing full-time now, and I really hit the ground running this term! Among other modules, I taught Literary Transformations (Year 2), Gothic and Science Fiction (Year 3) and…
Science Fiction Festival, new Mythgard Course and “things Celtic”
It’s been a busy autumn, with my first public lecture after having a baby, new publications in the pipeline and new, exciting academic ventures. On 18-19 October I took part in Literature Wales’ Space, Time, Machine and Monster festival at…
A much delayed update: Salem Press’ The Fantastic, (re) reading The Hobbit and Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur
It’s been a while since I have had a chance to update the News section (I am on maternity leave, with all the joys and tribulations that this encompasses!) so some most of the announcements here are a few months/weeks…
Dublin, Wurzburg and Hobbit Day
In the last few weeks I took part in two brilliant conferences in Ireland and Germany. Tolkien: The Forest and the City was held at the School of English at Trinity College Dublin, on 21st-22nd September 2012. I presented a…
Return of the Ring and Tolkien Library Interview
This August I took part in the Tolkien Society’s major event since 2005, The Return of the Ring (16-20 August), a celebration of Tolkien on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. This was a…
Cardiff Met Student Led Teaching Fellowship
My University (Cardiff Metropolitan University) launched a series of Student-led teaching fellowships this year, giving students the opportunity to recognise and reward good teaching practice. The students were asked to nominate lecturers for the following award categories: Best Feedback, Innovative…
Recent publications, conferences and other news
The last few months too many things have happened that I have not managed to report in a timely fashion – I have been getting into the habit of using facebook for daily and weekly updates, so feel free to…
Exciting new one-day courses at UWIC: Folklore, Literature and Tradition Through the Seasons
I am thrilled to announce an exciting new series of four thematically linked Day Schools at UWIC, which will explore Folklore, Literature and Tradition Through the Seasons. The Day Schools will focus on some of the most influential festivals, customs…
Online Tolkien course running again in October
I am very pleased to announce that the Tolkien online course (Masters Level) I have been teaching at UWIC will run again in October 2011! The course is entitled J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth and Middle-earth in Context, it is taught entirely…