This page lists my most recent scholarly activities for the last six years, including publications, conference presentations, invited talks and interviews. For a more complete list of my research activities, please see my Research page.
Tolkien and Alliterative Verse
Launched in November 2022. An open access, online resource including a Descriptive Bibliography of Tolkien’s Alliterative Verses, Tolkien’s Notes on Alliterative Verse; Online Guides to Alliterative Metre; a blog, Woven Words, and coming soon, a page of Secondary Sources on Tolkien’s alliterative verses.
A collaborative research project assisted by Gavin Foster, Jordan Audas, and MacKenzie Moore
Interviewed for Il Post, 18 Oct. 2022. “Le differenze tra ‘Rings of Power’ e i libri di Tolkien.” https://www.ilpost.it/2022/10/18/rings-of-power-canone-tolkien/.
Interview: Streaming Wars podcast, SaltWire Network, “Is The Rings of Power the One Fantasy To Rule Them All?” 11 Oct. 2022. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-the-rings-of-power-the-one-fantasy-to-rule-them-all/id1524803356?i=1000582293815.
“The Rings of Power: Every Adaptation is Re-interpretation so ignore the haters.” The Conversation, 11 Oct. 2022. https://theconversation.com/the-rings-of-power-every-adaptation-is-re-interpretation-so-ignore-the-haters-190481.
Interviewed for CBC Radio, Day 6, “Why Lord of the Rings endures as a pop culture touchstone.” 02 Sept. 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/lord-of-the-rings-cultural-touchstone-1.6568453
“The Lost Roads of Old English Poetry: Dramas of Time Travel in Tolkien’s Works.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, University of Western Michigan, May 2022.
Teaching Tolkien Roundtable. Invited speaker, Popular Culture Association. 15 April 2022.
“Tolkien, Old English, and Identity.” Popular Culture Association Conference, 14 April 2022.
“Tolkien’s Adaptation of the Old English ‘Seafarer.’ ” Invited speaker, Inkling Folk Fellowship, 4 March 2022.
“TEP #38 — Anna Smol.” Tolkien Experience Podcast, 3 Sept. 2021. https://luke-shelton.com/2021/09/03/tep-38-anna-smol/
Tolkien’s Alliterative Styles in The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth.” Leeds International Medieval Congress, Leeds UK. 8 July 2021.
The Future of Tolkien Studies Roundtable, Invited speaker. Popular Culture Association Conference, 4 June 2021.
Smol, Anna and Gavin (R.) Foster. “J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Homecoming’ and Modern Alliterative Metre.” Journal of Tolkien Research, 2021, Vol. 12, iss. 1, article 3. Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol12/iss1/3
“Tolkien the Playwright.” Tolkien Symposium, Tolkien at Kalamazoo group. 8 May 2021. For a slightly edited recording of the talk: https://annasmol.net/2021/05/24/tolkien-symposium-2021-tolkien-the-playwright/
“Bodies in War: Medieval and Modern Tensions in ‘The Homecoming’.” “Something Has Gone Crack”: New Perspectives on J.R.R. Tolkien in the Great War, edited by Annika Röttinger and Janet Brennan Croft, Walking Tree Press, 2019, pp. 263-83.
Review of Binding Them All: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on J.R.R. Tolkien and His Works, edited by Monika Kirner-Ludwig, Stephan Koser and Sebastian Streitberger, Zurich: Walking Tree Publishers, 2017. In Journal of Tolkien Research, vol. 7, no. 1, 2019. https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol7/iss1/2/.
“Allegory and Story: Poetic Time Travel in Tolkien’s Fiction.” Tolkien 2019 Conference, The Tolkien Society, Birmingham UK, 7 Aug. 2019.
Reina Green, D. Piccitto, and A. Smol. “When Everything Old is New Again: Experiential Learning in the Classroom.” Learning and Teaching Development Workshop Plenary Address, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB., 2 Feb. 2019.
“Adaptation as Analysis: Creative Work in an English Classroom.” Fandom as Classroom Practice: A Teaching Guide, edited by Katherine Anderson Howell, U of Iowa P, 2018, pp. 17 – 31 and 147-50.
“Tolkien’s Seers and Singers: Tolkien’s Typology of Sub-creators.” A Wilderness of Dragons: Essays in Honor of Verlyn Flieger, edited by John D. Rateliff, The Gabbro Head, 2018, pp. 258-79.
Green, Reina, Diane Piccitto, and Anna Smol. “When Everything Old is New Again: Experiential Learning in the Classroom.” Proceedings of the Atlantic Universities’ Teaching Showcase, vol. 22, 2018. https://ojs.library.dal.ca/auts/article/view/10183.
Reina Green, D. Piccitto, and Anna Smol. “When Everything Old is New Again: Experiential Learning in the Classroom.” Annual Atlantic Universities Teaching Showcase, Dalhousie University, 20 Oct. 2018.
“Tolkien’s Typological Imagination.” International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 2 July 2018.
MacLeod, Jeffrey J, and Anna Smol [equal co-authors]. “Visualizing the Word: Tolkien as Artist and Writer.” Tolkien Studies, vol. 14, 2017, pp. 115-131.
“Seers and Singers: Sub-creative Collaborators in Tolkien’s Fiction.” Tolkien Society Seminar, Leeds, UK., 2 July 2017.
“‘Backdreaming’ Beowulf’s Scyld Scefing Legend in Tolkien’s Notion Club Papers.” Asterisk Tolkien: Filling Medieval Lacunae session. International Congress on Medieval Studies, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI., 15 May 2016.
This is a list of my last six years of scholarly activities. For a more complete list of my research activities, please see my Research page.
Anna Smol: A Single Leaf 