Tolkien Reading Day is an annual event held on the 25 March to celebrate and promote the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. It was founded by The Tolkien Society.[1]
In late 2002, journalist Sean Kirst contacted The Tolkien Society to enquire "is there any day devoted informally to readings from the trilogy, in the way that 'Bloomsday' is devoted to Joyce?"[1] Although Kirst published the article in Syracuse's The Post-Standard anyway,[2] The Tolkien Society committee liked the idea so much that they announced that the 25 March 2003 would be the very first "Tolkien Reading Day".[3] It has been held annually ever since.[1]
The 25 March was chosen by the Society as the "auspicious" date of the destruction of the One Ring and the Downfall of Sauron as recorded in The Lord of the Rings.[4][5]
A theme of the Tolkien Reading Day is chosen by The Tolkien Society every year. In the recent years the themes have been:
- 2013: Tolkien’s landscapes
- 2014: Hope
- 2015: Friendship
- 2016: Life, Death, and Immortality
- 2017: Poetry and Song
- 2018: Home and Hearth
- 2019: Tolkien and the Mysterious
- 2020: Nature and Industry
- 2021: Hope and Courage
- 2022: Love and Friendship
- 2023: Travel and Adventure
References
| The Tolkien Society
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| President: J.R.R. Tolkien · Vice-president: Priscilla Tolkien · Chair: Shaun Gunner
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| Topics
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History (Letter to Vera Chapman and the Tolkien Society) · Archives · Awards · Enyalië · Smials · Tolkien to the World · Tolkien fandom
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| Chairs
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Vera Chapman (1970) · Keith Bridges (1970-1973) · Hartley Patterson (1973-1974) · Jonathan Simons (1974-1984) · Brin Dunsire (1984-1988) · Alex Lewis (1988-1992) · Amanda Fingleson (1992-1996) · Chris Crawshaw (1996-2008) · Matthew Vernon (2008-2009) · Sally Kennett (2009-2013) · Shaun Gunner (2013-present)
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| Annual Events
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Birthday Toast (3 January) · Tolkien Reading Day (25 March) · AGM and Springmoot (April) · Seminar (July) · Oxonmoot (September)
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| Conferences
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Oxonmoot (annual, 1974-present) · J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference (1992) · Tolkien 2005: The Ring Goes Ever On (2005) · The Return of the Ring (2012) · Tolkien 2019 (2019)
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| Publications
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Journals
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Belladonna's Broadsheet (1969-1970) · Mallorn (1970-present) · The Tolkien Society Bulletin (1970-1971) · Andúril (1972) · Amon Hen (1972-present) · Quettar (1980-1995)
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| Books
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An Extrapolation on The Silmarillion (1975) · The Trees, the Jewels and the Rings (1977) · Tolkien in Oxford: The Tolkien Society Guide (1978) · The Tolkien Society Songbook (1985) · Tolkien and Romanticism (1988) · Proceedings of the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference (1995) · The Oxonmoot Songbook (1997) · The Filking Songbook (2001) · The Tolkien Society Guide to Oxford (2005) · Proceedings of the Tolkien 2005 Conference (2008) · Tolkien 2005 Souvenir Book (2009) · Proceedings of the Tolkien Society Conference 2012 (2016)
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| Peter Roe Books
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1. Some Light on Middle-earth (1985) · 2. Leaves from the Tree (1991) · 3. The First and Second Ages (1992) · 4. Travel and Communication in Tolkien's Worlds (1996) · 5. Digging Potatoes, Growing Trees, vol. 1 (1997) · 6. Digging Potatoes, Growing Trees, vol. 2 (1998) · 7. Tolkien, the Sea and Scandinavia (1999) · 8. The Ways of Creative Mythologies (2000) · 9. Tolkien: A Mythology for England? (2000) · 10. The Best of Amon Hen, vol. 1 (2000) · 11. Digging Potatoes, Growing Trees, vol. 3 (2001) · 12. Sindarin Lexicon (2001) · 13. The Best of Amon Hen, vol. 2 (2002) · 14. Tolkien: Influenced and Influencing (2005)· 15. Freedom, Fate and Choice in Middle-earth (2012) · 16. Journeys & Destinations (2015) · 17. Death and Immortality in Middle-earth (2017) · 18. Poetry and Song in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (2018) · 19. Tolkien the Pagan? (2019) · 20. Adapting Tolkien (2021) · 21. Twenty-first Century Receptions of Tolkien (2022) · 22. Tolkien and Diversity (2023)
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