And the Winner Is . . .

. . . Carl Phelpstead, for TOLKIEN AND WALES, which has just* been awarded the Mythopoeic Award for the year's best work in Inklings Scholarship.

Congr. to Dr. Phelpstead and also to all the finalists.**

This is an interesting book, and I hope winning the award brings it to the attention of a wider audience, especially over here (given that it's a University of Wales Press book). It carries on a theme of renewed attention to Tolkien's Celtic sources and influences that began with Verlyn Flieger's INTERRUPTED MUSIC and Marjorie Burns' PERILOUS REALMS, then was developed by Dimitra Fimi's TOLKIEN, RACE, & CULTURE; now the focus narrows in specifically on Welsh. We've learned a lot about Tolkien's 'Celtic Library' in recent years, and it's been illuminating. And Phelpstead's book carries on that tradition.

So, well done, and congratulations.

--JDR

*actually, I think the winner was announced last Sunday night, but for some reason the news seens slow to perculate out.

**disclosure alert: I was a contributor to one of the other finalists, the Jason Fisher edited volume TOLKIEN & THE STUDY OF HIS SOURCES