The One hundred and eighty-third Roving Ranger

Life & Works

Tolkien would have appreciated this: A New Early-Ninth-Century Manuscript of Cædmon’s Hymn (Opens in a new window) [also Guardian (Opens in a new window)]¹

Tolkien Society Award Winners

Best Artwork “The Long Winter, 1158: Gandalf Helps the Hobbits (Opens in a new window)” by Miriam Ellis
Best article ‘The Tides Of Time, The Tides Of Fate, And The Power Of Song (Opens in a new window)‘ by Tom Hillman (published in Journal of Tolkien Research)
Best book The Tower and the Ruin, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation by Michael Drout
Best Online Content Tea with Tolkien (Opens in a new window) (Kaitlyn Facista)
Outstanding Contribution Award Jessica Yates

Congratulations to the winners, all of them well-deserved! I am particularly happy to say that - except for Miriam, we should remedy that! - I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting all of these amazing people. Thus I can add that they are also quite wonderful in person, besides being incredibly creative and diligent in all of their work! [Jessica has earned her award many times over, congratulations!]

As for me: third time pays for all! Keep nominating me, it may work next time - thank you! 😇

Events & Shows

Donato Giancola will be at LobsterCon (Opens in a new window) [May 1-2; Cambridge, Mass., USA]

The burlesque community has taken a liking to certain parts of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [May 9, +bingo!; Orlando, Florida, USA]

Middle Earth [sic] is coming to Utah: Hale Centre Theatre announces 2027 season with ‘Lord of the Rings’ headliner (Opens in a new window) [ABC4]

Please note I am the Guest of Honour of this year’s Lustrum of the Dutch Tolkien Society, Unquendor.

Registration is now open (Opens in a new window) for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

Luna Press will be publishing A Hobbit’s Holiday: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Journeys in the Belle Époque (Opens in a new window).

The Piano Makers: An exploration of the musical history of the Tolkien family (Opens in a new window) [IAML]

doubtfulsea has Planting (Opens in a new window).

Will Tell has The Two Chairs: An Extreme Tolkien Theory (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Mercury Natis has Updates from the Road (Opens in a new window): GIFCon + Publications [Substack]

Tea with Tolkien has won (Opens in a new window) the 2026 Tolkien Society Award for ‘Best Online Content’ [also: What We Can Learn From Tolkien’s Catholic Imagination with Kaitlyn Facista (Opens in a new window); Jesuits.org]

Stephen C. Winter has “Here is a Thing Unheard of! An Elf Will Go Underground and a Dwarf Dare Not!” Gimli’s Secret and Very Personal Dark Journey (Opens in a new window).

Connor Salter (Opens in a new window) was kind enough to mention to me that the romance bookstore, The Ripped Bodice, is selling Martina Juričková (Opens in a new window)’s Cardinal Vices in Middle-earth, with ‘vices’ possibly having been misunderstood.

Iowa Professor Explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s Influence on ’60s Counterculture (Opens in a new window) [For Iowa]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Opens in a new window). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Active development on Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria (Opens in a new window) has ended.

The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) is still offering late pledge options, after having gathered more than $900k+ with close to 3,000 supporters [GameFound]

Office Dog games has Interview with artist, Lorenzo Colangeli (Opens in a new window) [The Hobbit: There & Back Again]

NZ tourism up against the algorithm (Opens in a new window) [Otago Daily Times]

Andy Serkis shares Viggo Mortensen's reaction to Jamie Dornan being cast as Aragorn in LOTR: The Hunt for Gollum (Opens in a new window) [Entertainment Weekly]

Stone Blade Entertainment will crowdfound The Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Opens in a new window) later this year [the precursor (Opens in a new window)]

The Spectator (Opens in a new window) invited people to write critiques on fictional hotels, restaurants, or pubs - with the Prancing Pony getting special mention, but not a review.

Uttar Pradesh (Opens in a new window) (largest state in India) is planning on increasing tourism to their part of the world - and part of their campaign shall be hobbit houses (Opens in a new window) [Travel Trade Journal]

Inter alia

This was not the marketing campaign’s consequences as imagined, I am sure: moleskine’s ai lord of the rings collection can only mock (Opens in a new window).

Starting May 2, the Oxfordshire Artweeks (Opens in a new window) are happening [Oxford Clarion; three weeks in all]

'A remarkable time capsule': The enchanting history of Oxford University's 750-year-old medieval library (Opens in a new window) [BBC]

Predating the Aztec Empire, Merton College Library in Oxford has been used by everyone from celebrated 14th-Century mathematicians to JRR Tolkien. In an exclusive interview with the BBC for its 750th birthday, its librarian describes what makes it so special.

Science Fiction at 100 (Opens in a new window) [University of Liverpool Library]

Fun Fact from Digital Tolkien Project (Opens in a new window) creator James Tauber who is moving to Germany on a research project (the German Tolkien fandom is rather excited!):

Author Lavie Tidhar (Opens in a new window) made note that Tolkien is mentioned in A Man Lies Dreaming (Opens in a new window).

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

Then do consider using Steady (Opens in a new window) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Opens in a new window), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Opens in a new window) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) and start with three months fee-free.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

According to German law I have to inform you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Threads (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

As this is 2026 I would like to note that this newsletter is 100% human-made, curated by me, Marcel R. Bülles. This also holds true for everything I write with my blog and here at Steady. Also, the minimum time of curating this newsletter ranges from 8-12 hours every week. Please consider supporting me so I can continue offering the Roving Ranger - thank you.

1. h/t Nelson Goering (Opens in a new window) with the TS FB group ↩