It’s springtime, and that means that Tolkien conference season is picking up momentum. If you can’t attend the Tolkien in Vermont conference this weekend, then maybe California is closer or more convenient. The annual Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference will be held April 12-15 this year in San Diego, with the Tolkien Studies area organized once again by its founder, Robin Reid. The Tolkien sessions are scheduled for April 13-14.

There’s a public Facebook group where you can keep up with announcements or contact others in the Tolkien Studies area. More conference information is available on the PCA/ACA site. I’ve copied the list of Tolkien sessions from the PCA/ACA Tolkien Studies conference schedule page.

I. TOLKIEN STUDIES: 20th CENTURY LITERATURE AND HISTORY
Thursday, April 13, 2017 – 8:00am to 9:30am (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Victoria L Holtz Wodzak

Presenters

• The Real Business of Bilbo; the Dreams of Conan: Sword and Sorcery, Epic Fantasy, and the Rhetoric of the Ordinary. Jason Ray Carney
• Strange Bedfellows: Tolkien and Eddison. Peter Grybauskas
• There Was a Merry Band of Men, A Gardener, an Invalid, and the Lords Who Loved Them So: The Portrayal of Soldier-Servant Relationships and Their Reflections of War. Alicia Fox-Lenz
• Tolkien Underground: Reimagining World War I Bunkers and Tunnels. Victoria L Holtz Wodzak

 

II. TOLKIEN STUDIES: INFLUENCES AND CONNECTIONS
Thursday, April 13, 2017 – 9:45am to 11:15am (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Brad Eden

Presenters

• The Dreamflower: Lothlorien in Middle-Earth Space-Time.  Brian Walter
• Tolkien and Pre-Vatican II Catholicism 101. Michael Wodzak
• The ‘Third Spring’: a neglected thread of Tolkien scholarship. Brad Eden

 

III. TOLKIEN STUDIES ROUNDTABLE: TOLKIEN AND ALTERITY
Thursday, April 13, 2017 – 11:30am to 1:00pm (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Kristine Larsen

Presenters: Kristine Larsen, Brad Eden, Stephen Yandell, Robin Anne Reid

 

IV. TOLKIEN STUDIES: FAN STUDIES 1
Friday, April 14, 2017 – 8:00am to 9:30am (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Mikhail Skoptsov

Presenters

• Making or Creating: Fans Transforming Orcs. Robin Anne Reid
• Deconstructing Durin’s Day: Science in the Service of Fan-Scholars. Kristine Larsen
• Lord of the Rings and Fans panel. Maggie Parke
• The Hobbit Variations: Publication, Adaptation, and Fan Revision. Mikhail Skoptsov

V. TOLKIEN STUDIES: CULTURAL AND FILM STUDIES
Friday, April 14, 2017 – 9:45am to 11:15am (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Janice Bogstad

Presenters

• The Sacred Nature of Enchantment and Loss: Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit as an Ecotheology of Transformation. Kellianne H Matthews
• Wood and Water, Stock and Stone: Rediscovering English Landscapes through Walking. Christopher Cameron
• Visually Monstrous: Jackson’s Iconic Revisualizations of Hobbit Heroes and Villains. Janice Bogstad

 

VI: TOLKIEN STUDIES: FAN STUDIES 2
Friday, April 14, 2017 – 11:30am to 1:00pm (Torrey Pines 3)
Session chair: Sarah Coates

Presenters

• Whispers of a Tenth Walker: Lord of the Rings Fanfiction and Feminine / Feminist Interventions in Middle-Earth. Eva Wijman
• Bagginshield: An Exploration of Portrayals of Romantic Relationships between Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield in Fanfiction. Sarah Coates

 

The PCA conference is a huge event. If you’re interested in popular culture, you’re sure to find sessions of interest, even outside the Tolkien Studies area — browse the conference webpages to find out more.