The regular International Medieval Congress in Leeds is cancelled, but it’s being replaced by a pared-down virtual IMC, or vIMC. While many presentations have been withdrawn, there is still a healthy program of sessions from Monday to Friday, July 6 – 10 being offered online. Please note that registration is free but closes this Friday, June 26.
Although it’s still a draft program that may change, currently two Tolkien sessions remain, with a truly international roster of speakers. And of course, the times listed are in British time, so you’ll have to calculate the equivalent in your own time zone.
Monday 6 July from 14:15-15:45:
BORDERS IN TOLKIEN’S MEDIEVALISM, I
Organiser: Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar, Brighton
Moderator: Kristine Larsen, Geological Sciences Department, Central Connecticut State University
The Liminality of Tolkien’s Non-Human Species
Andrzej Wicher, Zakład Dramatu i Dawnej Literatury Angielskiej, Uniwersytet Łódzki
Warrior Maidens, Mounds, and Ancestral Swords in Lord of the Rings and in the Old Norse Hervarar Saga
Jan A. Kozák, Institutt for lingvistiske, litterære og estetiske studier, Universitetet i Bergen
Foraging for Sources: Sir Orfeo as the Origin of Medieval Romance Topoi Present in Mirkwood
Andoni Cossio, Facultad de Letras, Universidad del Pais Vasco – Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Vitoria-Gasteiz
Monday 6 July 16:30-18:00:
BORDERS IN TOLKIEN’S MEDIEVALISM, II
Organiser: Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar, Brighton
Moderator: Alaric Hall, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of English, University of Leeds
The Walls of the World and the Voyage of the Evening Star: The Complex Borders of Tolkien’s Medieval Geocentric Cosmology
Kristine Larsen, Geological Sciences Department, Central Connecticut State University
The Limits of Subcreation
Lars Konzack, Institut for Kommunikation, Københavns Universitet
A Preliminary History of Deadly Splinters
Victoria Holtz Wodzak, School of Humanities, Viterbo University, Wisconsin
Registration will give you access to lots of other sessions on diverse medieval topics. And make sure to check out the book fair, which will have discounts from a number of publishers, as well as the other markets and presentations that will soon be confirmed. As registration is free, this is a great time to experience the conference for those who wouldn’t normally be able to attend, and it’s at least some consolation for those who were originally planning to go.
Anna Smol: A Single Leaf 
5 responses to “Virtual IMC to include 2 Tolkien sessions”
I signed up for that last week and I am hoping I’ll be able to watch live.The paper on Sir Orfeo interests me in particular since I discussed in some depth, and its use in Mirkwood in particular, in my Tolkien Studies article a couple of years back.
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Hi Tom, I hope I’ll “see” you there! As I’ve said, this is a great opportunity to listen to papers we wouldn’t normally get to in person. I *was* planning to go to Leeds this year, but…. 2020. I withdrew my paper, as I didn’t want to have the normal presentation anxieties combined with techno-anxiety in having to use the conference program to present online. I’m happy other people weren’t as timid, though.
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I wish I had known about this sooner! Registration is closed now. But hopefully now that they know how popular these events are, they may do more virtual events?
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I’m sorry you missed the deadline! However, there’s a whole day of free presentations for the annual Tolkien Society Seminar, July 4, that is online this year. https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2020/
And don’t forget the Tolkien Society’s Oxonmoot Online in September (registration fee required): https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-online/
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Oh! Thank you so much. This looks great!
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