Bree Crossroads 14th Edition
Special Tolkien Reading Day Edition
“Well, I’m back.”
I’m tempted to go into other quotes we all know and love, like a reference to Gandalf coming back at the turn of the tide, or something about being Roäc the White now… but I’ll skip all that and get to the main bit of this Special Edition: Tolkien Reading Day!
First though, I’d like to welcome all of the new folks who have joined me over the past several months—many of you, I suspect, thanks to the kind (and possibly overgenerous) recommendations of dear friends in the Tolkien community. I’m honored, humbled, and very lucky to be held in such good company. I know you’ve already received the welcome email, but I wanted to say personally: thank you for the follow, for the support, and simply for being here. This newsletter aims to promote other voices, make you aware of the brilliant people alongside of you in the Tolkien community, find new favorite Tolkien artists, and even help make folks aware of all of the Tolkien events that happen because connecting in person with other Tolkien folks is such a treasured, special experience. Whether you’re new to Tolkien or have been wandering Middle-earth for years, my hope is that this space helps you discover new ways to dive into his work, find a place where you feel you belong, and it continues to help build, uplift, and grow this wonderful community. So welcome! Please stay as long as you’d like, and I hope you find one or more of the above! And I’m so very glad to be in this Tolkien community with you!
Tolkien Reading Day
What is Tolkien Reading Day?
According to the Tolkien Society, Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year. The date of the 25th of March was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo’s quest and vanquishing Sauron.
It has been organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages. We particularly encourage schools, museums and libraries to host their own Tolkien Reading Day events.
And it’s expanded to grow into even more of widespread fandom event, including Middle-earth Enterprises and various businesses, cafés, individual events at bookstores and libraries, personal celebrations, and my personal favorite, online day-long events where you and others get to read and hear Tolkien’s works being read aloud together.
The theme this year is Unlikely Heroes. Let me know down in the comments who your favorite unlikely heroes from Tolkien’s works are!
(Some) of the Events Happening:
Tolkien Society:
As usual the Tolkien Society, along with having chosen the theme, is doing their usual Tolkien Reading Day Event on Zoom. You can find more details and sign up here!
Jordan Rannells’ Tolkien Reading Day Event:
Continuing with his fourth online Tolkien Reading Day Event this year, Jordan Rannells is running a massive event one week from today! You’re going to want to subscribe and turn notifications on for this and tune in as you can throughout the day (and no worries, it will be available afterwards—you can see previous ones here)!
Tolkien Day Ball:
The Lexington County Public Library in South Carolina is putting on a Community Event for ages 12 and up, featuring dancing, craftings, copious amounts of potatoes, and more! The best part is that you get to go in your favorite Middle-earth garb. Find more details here!
The Tolkienist’s Global Map of Events:
My inspiration and role model is putting together a global map of Tolkien Reading Day events happening around the world to make sure as many people are aware as possible so that they can get involved. Check it out!
Celebreabird’s Read-Through over on Many Partings:
Expertly timing the start of her brilliant community read-throughs of Tolkien’s works, Brea is diving into The Hobbit with folks over on her Many Partings Substack.
What better way to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day than joining in her insightful, eloquent, community-focused, welcoming, thought-provoking read-throughs, and starting with a work focused on Bilbo (one of my favorite unlikely heroes) is the perfect choice! She has a helpful, expectation-setting FAQ here:
Other Events Happening Around Tolkien Reading Day:
Tea with Tolkien’s Book Signing and Q&A:
Tea with Tolkien (Kaitlyn Facista) is having another book signing and author Q&A, this time at Neighbor Books in McKinney Texas! If you’re in the area and are looking for more things to do around Tolkien Reading Day (or even if you’re not), you might consider adding this to your schedule.
Dave Brons’ “The Fellowship” Album Launch Party:
Looking for a musical way to dive into Middle-earth? Dave Brons is having an Album Launch Party for his fourth album coming out: “The Fellowship”. If you’re not familiar with his work, Dave brings Middle-earth through a celtic prog rock style that is infused with not just his craftsmanship, but light, hope, and a emotion that reaches the depths of your soul.
Hobbit Fest:
Concord Public Library is holding a screening of The Hobbit on Saturday, March 21st! (May I just say that I love seeing libraries putting on these events?) Check out details here!
What Else Can You Do to Celebrate?:
Hold an event with your Tolkien Smial1! Can be as low effort or as elaborate as you’d like, whether you hold it online, in-person, or even do a hybrid event. Or join one if you haven’t yet!
Curl up with your favorite Tolkien book, ebook or audiobook or one you haven’t explored yet, your favorite drink, and lose yourself in his works—and find rest, recovery and consolation from them!
Listen to your favorite Tolkien podcast! Chances are they’re doing an episode dedicated to Tolkien Reading Day. I know the podcast I work for, The Prancing Pony Podcast, is doing a special episode (and has previous ones you can listen to!), and other podcasts might be as well!
Get together with friends and do Tolkien-y/Middle-earth-filled things!
Spend some time in Lord of the Rings Online!
Dive into some Tolkien scholarship, support your favorite Tolkien content creator, flip through some art from your favorite Tolkien artist.
Throw on some Middle-earth inspired music, one of the audiobooks, a Soundscape, or even nothing at all, and get outside!
Spend time working on that cosplay you’ve always wanted to do or one you have currently underway
Have a favorite moment in a Middle-earth adaptation, such as Rings of Power, Peter Jackson’s films, the Animated Hobbit? Pair it with a dive into Tolkien’s works themselves! Or if you’re like me, pair them together with a dive into Tolkien’s works themselves (I personally find I enjoy the adaptations most in tandem with each other and then diving into the original works after—it’s so enriching for me).
Join a read-through with others of Tolkien’s works! Besides the aforementioned one with Celebreabird, Kelly over at Themiddlepage has one running all year long, the Deep Roots Book Club has one, Kaley over at the Triangle Tolkienists is doing one, and there are so much more underway!
Create! Make a Middle-earth related thing, whether it’s art, a song, a dance, a piece of pottery, a poem, or something else!
No matter what you end up doing, I hope you take some time to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day, whether that’s with yourself or with others.
“Smials — named after the word Tolkien uses for hobbit-holes — are local branches of the Tolkien Society which meet on a regular or occasional basis.Although affiliated to the Society, they are independent organisations and run entirely on a voluntary basis. Meetings take many forms, from going to the pub or having lunch through to dedicated Tolkien reading groups. They are traditionally tied to a particular location, but some meet exclusively online.” -Taken from the Tolkien Society’s hub for Smials
Excuse me, "overgenerous"? 😐😑...😅😂🥰. This is all so wonderful, thank you so much as always. My go-to is creating, always writing and art in process 😅 And the PPP on as well 🙂↕️ Lastly, my unlikely heroes, always and forever (and I'm sure this will shock you to the core 💀): ÉOWYN AND MERRY 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Aah! Thank you for putting this together (and including me, I’m so honored!). Your work does NOT go unnoticed. ✨