The One hundred and eighty-first Roving Ranger

Life & Works

All you need to know as south Birmingham's three new railway stations open (Abre numa nova janela) [Bromsgrove Standard; easier access to Moseley Bog]

The Tolkienist’s Roving Ranger and more nominated for ‘Best Online Content’ with the Tolkien Society Awards | THANK YOU!

Events & Shows

The new Schwarzman Centre in Oxford will host an open day festival (Abre numa nova janela) [April 25; have a look at the Tolkien bust]

Theatre in the Round (Abre numa nova janela) will stage the Hobbit [May 8-31; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA]

Given that my favourite Oxford-based publication mentions it - Lord of the Rings film trilogy marathon (Abre numa nova janela) (EE) at the Ultimate Picture Palace [Apr 25; Oxford, UK]¹

The Princeton Theological Seminary (Abre numa nova janela) is honouring three retiring faculty members - and the Dr. George Hunsinger Farewell Lecture is titled “Barth and Tolkien” [Apr 24; Princeton, New Jersey, USA]

Photos from the Tolkien Tapestries exhibition in Angers show them displayed in all of their glory (Abre numa nova janela) [Villactu.fr]

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

Parma Eldalamberon 16: Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 1 is available again on demand [Great British Bookshop (Abre numa nova janela) | Barnes and Noble (Abre numa nova janela)]²

Galen Miller-Atkins has Entiscum yrfe Ealdniflunga: Meter and Poetic Style in Tolkien’s Old English Attila (Abre numa nova janela) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Long Shadow of Bilbo (Abre numa nova janela) [Wordpress]

The Children's Literature Association Quarterly has a ‘special issue on Tolkien and childhood’: Volume 50, Number 2, Summer 2025 (Abre numa nova janela).

Kelly | TheMiddlePage has "A marvel of wizardry": Enchantment, longing, and sorrow in Tolkien's early poetry (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack; partially paywall]

The X International Conference on Myth in the Arts (Abre numa nova janela) has put out a CfP [deadline May 8; event itself Nov 17-20; hybrid]³

Jeff LaSala has Making The Silmarillion User-friendly: Characters (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “Then She Fell on Her Knees, Saying: ‘I Beg Thee!” Éowyn is So Desperate That She is Prepared to Humiliate Herself. (Abre numa nova janela)

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

Merchandise & Franchise

The social media channels of Warner Bros. and other involved parties (Abre numa nova janela) [FB reel] just shared this, reminding fans of Emiliana Torrini’s rendition of Gollum’s Song (Abre numa nova janela) [end titles to The Two Towers] and the still being from the prologue to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Check out the actors via Wikipedia: Ian McKellen (Abre numa nova janela) | Kate Winslet (Abre numa nova janela) | Jamie Dornan (Abre numa nova janela) | Leo Woodall (Abre numa nova janela) | Lee Pace (Abre numa nova janela) | Elijah Wood (Abre numa nova janela) | Andy Serkis (Abre numa nova janela)

The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy (Abre numa nova janela) is on auction, with some exceptional Tolkien items [For more information see Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela)]

Not sure how to put this into context but it feels incredibly cheap to ask for the building plans to a hobbit home for $50, right (Abre numa nova janela)? [Upwork]

Inter alia

Fun Fact A new fad of Youtube-published AI slop is “I built myself a hobbit hole!” A special field is turning steel containers into hobbitish living spaces… 🤪

Libraries Alliance formally launched at British Academy (Abre numa nova janela) [including the Bodleian Libraries, National Library of Scotland, the Cambridge University Library and many more.]

A loss, indeed: Journey’s End — Máire Brennan (1952–2026) and Clannad (Abre numa nova janela) [Foreshadowed & Foresung]

Always one of my favourites: the College Cats of Oxford (Abre numa nova janela) [Oxford Clarion]

Hollywood stars sign open letter against Paramount-Warner deal (Abre numa nova janela) [Inquirer.net (Abre numa nova janela)]

Fantasy Authors Are Not Playing: Creators Increasingly Call Out “Unfaithful” Adaptations (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter; on social media they added: Amazon Studios has to be at least a little thankful that J.R.R. Tolkien is no longer around.]⁴

Some people online have mentioned this banner reminds them of the Argonath in the Jackson trilogy.⁵

The Theory of Related-ivity: Segment I (Abre numa nova janela) starts serialized article(s) exploring the history of the Best Related Work Hugo category in its various names and versions. [File770]

Senior NHS officials warned staff over criticising rollout of Palantir platform (Abre numa nova janela) [Financial Times]

Alan Moore Interview: Magical Consciousness, Disowned Works, and the Long London Quintet (Abre numa nova janela) [RetroFuturista]

While the comics medium is an astonishing art-form, the full potential of which has been barely scratched, I fear that my personal experiences in the comics industry during a not especially enjoyable career, have led to me disowning all of the work that I do not own – around 95% of it – and not wishing to be associated with comics any longer.

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 Oxford Clarion (Abre numa nova janela), Apr 10, 2026. ↩

2. h/t Christopher Gilson, Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

3. h/t Robin Reid (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

4. h/t Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela), Hollywood Reporter. ↩

5. h/t Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela). ↩