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 (Abre numa nova janela) [also Guardian (Abre numa nova janela)]¹

Tolkien Society Award Winners

Best Artwork “The Long Winter, 1158: Gandalf Helps the Hobbits (Abre numa nova janela)” by Miriam Ellis
Best article ‘The Tides Of Time, The Tides Of Fate, And The Power Of Song (Abre numa nova janela)‘ 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 (Abre numa nova janela) (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 (Abre numa nova janela) [May 1-2; Cambridge, Mass., USA]

The burlesque community has taken a liking to certain parts of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela) [ABC4]

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

Registration is now open (Abre numa nova janela) for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship & Fandom

Luna Press will be publishing A Hobbit’s Holiday: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Journeys in the Belle Époque (Abre numa nova janela).

The Piano Makers: An exploration of the musical history of the Tolkien family (Abre numa nova janela) [IAML]

doubtfulsea has Planting (Abre numa nova janela).

Will Tell has The Two Chairs: An Extreme Tolkien Theory (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Mercury Natis has Updates from the Road (Abre numa nova janela): GIFCon + Publications [Substack]

Tea with Tolkien has won (Abre numa nova janela) the 2026 Tolkien Society Award for ‘Best Online Content’ [also: What We Can Learn From Tolkien’s Catholic Imagination with Kaitlyn Facista (Abre numa nova janela); 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 (Abre numa nova janela).

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

Iowa Professor Explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s Influence on ’60s Counterculture (Abre numa nova janela) [For Iowa]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Abre numa nova janela). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Active development on Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria (Abre numa nova janela) has ended.

The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela) [The Hobbit: There & Back Again]

NZ tourism up against the algorithm (Abre numa nova janela) [Otago Daily Times]

Andy Serkis shares Viggo Mortensen's reaction to Jamie Dornan being cast as Aragorn in LOTR: The Hunt for Gollum (Abre numa nova janela) [Entertainment Weekly]

Stone Blade Entertainment will crowdfound The Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Abre numa nova janela) later this year [the precursor (Abre numa nova janela)]

The Spectator (Abre numa nova janela) invited people to write critiques on fictional hotels, restaurants, or pubs - with the Prancing Pony getting special mention, but not a review.

Uttar Pradesh (Abre numa nova janela) (largest state in India) is planning on increasing tourism to their part of the world - and part of their campaign shall be hobbit houses (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela).

Starting May 2, the Oxfordshire Artweeks (Abre numa nova janela) are happening [Oxford Clarion; three weeks in all]

'A remarkable time capsule': The enchanting history of Oxford University's 750-year-old medieval library (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela) [University of Liverpool Library]

Fun Fact from Digital Tolkien Project (Abre numa nova janela) creator James Tauber who is moving to Germany on a research project (the German Tolkien fandom is rather excited!):

Author Lavie Tidhar (Abre numa nova janela) made note that Tolkien is mentioned in A Man Lies Dreaming (Abre numa nova janela).

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

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

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), 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 (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

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 (Abre numa nova janela) with the TS FB group ↩