The One hundred and eighty-first Roving Ranger

Life & Works

All you need to know as south Birmingham's three new railway stations open (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [April 25; have a look at the Tolkien bust]

Theatre in the Round (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (EE) at the Ultimate Picture Palace [Apr 25; Oxford, UK]¹

The Princeton Theological Seminary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

Parma Eldalamberon 16: Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 1 is available again on demand [Great British Bookshop (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Barnes and Noble (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]²

Galen Miller-Atkins has Entiscum yrfe Ealdniflunga: Meter and Poetic Style in Tolkien’s Old English Attila (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Long Shadow of Bilbo (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Wordpress]

The Children's Literature Association Quarterly has a ‘special issue on Tolkien and childhood’: Volume 50, Number 2, Summer 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Kelly | TheMiddlePage has "A marvel of wizardry": Enchantment, longing, and sorrow in Tolkien's early poetry (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Substack; partially paywall]

The X International Conference on Myth in the Arts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has put out a CfP [deadline May 8; event itself Nov 17-20; hybrid]³

Jeff LaSala has Making The Silmarillion User-friendly: Characters (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Si apre in una nuova finestra). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

The social media channels of Warner Bros. and other involved parties (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB reel] just shared this, reminding fans of Emiliana Torrini’s rendition of Gollum’s Song (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Kate Winslet (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Jamie Dornan (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Leo Woodall (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Lee Pace (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Elijah Wood (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Andy Serkis (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is on auction, with some exceptional Tolkien items [For more information see Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)? [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Foreshadowed & Foresung]

Always one of my favourites: the College Cats of Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Oxford Clarion]

Hollywood stars sign open letter against Paramount-Warner deal (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Inquirer.net (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Fantasy Authors Are Not Playing: Creators Increasingly Call Out “Unfaithful” Adaptations (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Financial Times]

Alan Moore Interview: Magical Consciousness, Disowned Works, and the Long London Quintet (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Si apre in una nuova finestra), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Threads (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Apr 10, 2026. ↩

2. h/t Christopher Gilson, Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

3. h/t Robin Reid (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

4. h/t Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Hollywood Reporter. ↩

5. h/t Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩