Tolkien Events 2010

[Bêthberry]

That interview is splendid. The extra details of Beruthiel are especially fun, as is hearing of Tolkien's two favourite parts of LotR.

Perhaps my favourite quotation is

Originally Posted by Tolkien

My heart is in my works, not on my sleeve.

[Lalwendë]

I'm outraged by the price for Festival In The Shire. £260 and no accommodation or feast?! You can get all that plus bed and board at Oxonmoot!

As for paying £50 for tickets to go and look at first editions, if anyone wants to come and look at some here you can have a special entrance offer price of £29.99, with a free cup of tea

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I'm outraged by the price for Festival In The Shire. £260 and no accommodation or feast?! You can get all that plus bed and board at Oxonmoot!

Its to keep the plebs out....

As for paying £50 for tickets to go and look at first editions, if anyone wants to come and look at some here you can have a special entrance offer price of £29.99, with a free cup of tea

(er, before the 'Treasure hunters' start getting excited may I just point out that the only 'First Editions' we have are The Sil & UT, & a A&U h/b set of LotR from 1965 - which does contain the first edition text, but is only worth about £75on a good day..... but Lal does still charge people £29.99 to see them......)

[Mithalwen]

These prices include general admission to the Festival, but not to the Collectors Exposition. The different entrance prices are geared toward different levels of interest; beginner to experienced, however we encourage you to become experienced by purchasing a Collectors Exposition ticket also.

Surely you can't buy experience (well... debatable)...but I can't believe gawping at first editions and even upmarket merchandising tat will do it..

After all the great thing about books is that they are essentially the same if you have a mint first edition or a tattered paperback..

[davem]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Surely you can't buy experience (well... debatable)...

That's the thinking behind this - as it was behind the Exeter College Tolkien do a few years back which cost £695 for a 5 day conference (but that was full board, admittedly). I'll be interested to see whether this gets many takers.

After all the great thing about books is that they are essentially the same if you have a mint first edition or a tattered paperback..

My feelings exactly. I get annoyed by the antics of this academic clique that seems to have claimed 'superior' knowledge. They seem to be doing exactly what Tolkien condemned in that quote I gave earlier:

He thinks that there is now a tendency both to believe and teach in schools and colleges that “enjoyment” is an illiterate reaction; that if you are a serious reader, you should take the construction to pieces; find and analyse sources, dissect it into symbols, and debase it into allegory. Any idea of actually reading the book for fun is lost.

Don't get me wrong - I've enjoyed a lot of the stuff Shippey, Flieger & Garth have produced, but what's coming out now is increasingly esoteric & obsessed with trivialities, & appears only in expensive journals & talks at these kind of conferences. Been there, done that, got the high price books (& they're all in the attic now). However, I recently bought a lovely old (1974) hardback set of LotR, (replacing a set I owned & lost in the early '80's) for £38, & am still basking in a nostalgic glow every time I look at them.

[davem]

Bad news for those planning to go to the Festival

http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/i/4453/

The Festival in the Shire which celebrates all things Tolkien, is a three-day event which was due to take place in August at Y Plas and was attracting celebrated academics, artists as well as film buffs and fans.


However, organiser Mark Faith said this week that the event had now been moved to Pafiliwn Bont, in Pontrhyfendigaid due to space problems and a lack of support from the Plas management.


Cllr Bob Dunn, who manages Y Plas on behalf of Machynlleth Town Council, said that every effort had been made to ensure suitable premises were offered for what he said was a “new and innovative event for the community”.


In a report, due to be discussed by Machynlleth Town Council at their full meeting next Monday (1 February), Cllr Dunn said: “Simply put, there is a difference of opinion between the organiser and us whereby he feels that we should virtually close Y Plas and its grounds for three days and turn them over to him, while I am mindful of the rights of our tenants and our public.”

New site is about 30-odd miles further away.....

[davem]

Festival Journal2 is up http://www.festivalintheshire.com/journal/index.html Nice stuff- Interviews with artists like Ted Naismith, John Howe, & one of my faves Rodney Matthews (for those unfamiliar with his work, here's his Rivendell)