Anna Smol: A Single Leaf

Category: Research

Rereading The Notion Club Papers: Sauron and the Barber

Rereading Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers: Sauron and the Barber. Some thoughts on how evil makes inroads with decent people.

September 26, 2025
Grendel’s Mother Talks Back

“Grendel’s Mother Talks Back: Contemporary Women’s Mythopoeic Revisions” is a talk I gave for the Midsummer Online Seminar of the Mythopoeic Society in August. A link to the recorded talk is included.

September 5, 2025
Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2025

Tolkien studies sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 2025.

June 28, 2025
Some glimpses into Westmoot 2025

Some glimpses into Westmoot 2025 including a summary of my keynote and links to other talks that have been since uploaded.

May 28, 2025
Shortlisted for a Tolkien Society Best Article Award!

I’m thrilled to find that my article “Tolkien, The Battle of Maldon, and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth: Poetic Allusions and the Experience of Time” has been shortlisted for a Tolkien Society Award! Voting for TS members open until Friday 25 April.

April 23, 2025
Two new articles on Tolkien’s ‘The Homecoming’

Links to two articles available for free download on J.R.R. Tolkien’s play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” and a video recording of a conference presentation on Tolkien as a playwright. These essays discuss manuscript revisions, ideas about drama, and allusions to medieval poetry.

October 28, 2024
It’s here! The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: First Impressions

First impressions of the three-volume Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.

October 8, 2024
20th Annual Tolkien at UVM Conference

Final program for the 20th Annual Tolkien at the University of Vermont Conference. April 13, 2024.

April 6, 2024
Drawing your way into a fantasy landscape

Drawing your way into a fantasy landscape – John Howe’s process compared to J.R.R. Tolkien’s drawings of Shelob’s Lair and the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

January 28, 2024
Inclusive Perspectives on Tolkien & Religion

In an article published in 2014 in the journal Tolkien Studies, aptly titled “But What Did He Really Mean?” Verlyn Flieger points out the contradictory statements that Tolkien made about various issues, the most controversial being about whether or not The Lord of the Rings was an expressly Catholic work. Flieger states: Thus he could…

November 8, 2023