Also Coming Up Soon: More Tolkien at Marquette

So, so long as I'm talking about interesting upcoming Tolkien events I won't be going to  --and considering that I'm going to Tolkien gatherings in March, April, May, and June, it isn't for lack of trying-- let's not forget about the third and final of the three events Marquette is hosting for this special 75th anniversary HOBBIT year. First was my talk back in October about the curious twists and turns of Marquette's acquisition of the Mss (combined with a great discussion earlier that day with Dr. Tim Machan's Tolkien class), followed a month later by Wayne and Christina's presentation on Tolkien's artwork for THE HOBBIT (a subject upon which they know pretty much all there is to know).

The third in the series, to be held on February 21st,  is a roundtable discussing the new Peter Jackson film (THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY). The panel looks to have some interesting people, all with strong backgrounds in Tolkien studies (all take part in the Tolkien Track at Kalamazoo on a regular basis) as well as a willingness to engage with the films (all four contributed to the Jan Bogstad/Phil Kaveny -edited volume PICTURING TOLKIEN: ESSAYS ON PETER JACKSON'S THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILM TRILOGY).* First up there's Richard West, who's been active in Tolkien fandom and scholarship since the sixties and who always has something interesting to say on whatever topic he writes about. Then there's Robin Reid, the former organizer of the Kalamazoo Tolkien Track who more recently launched a new Tolkien/fantasy/anime con, LeoCon, held down in Commerce, Texas.** Yvette Kisor and Edward Risden have been stalwarts at Kalamazoo, presenting on a range of topics; both are contributors to the forthcoming Shippey festshrift.*** It's certainly a roundtable I'd make sure to go to if I still lived in the area.

This is another of those events I'd love to hear a report on from someone lucky enough to attend.

--JDR


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"A Roundtable Discussion of Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT"
Thursday February 21st

Richard West
Robin Reid
Yvette Kisor
Edward Risden

Here's the link:

http://www.marquette.edu/library/news/2012/hobbit.shtml

*as did I, my piece being on the status within the films of scenes appearing in the book but not shown onscreen.

**which I got to attend last year for LeoCon I. Small, but looks poised to grow a lot over the next few years.

***as indeed are Richard and Robin.