Oxford: Tolkien festival celebrates Lord of the Rings author

JRR Tolkien remains one of the most celebrated fantasy authors of all time

Hundreds of fans of JRR Tolkien have gathered in Oxford for a festival to mark the 50th anniversary of the author's death.

Members of the Tolkien Society are meeting at St Anne's College from 31 August until 3 September to celebrate their love of the Lord of the Rings writer.

Oxonmoot, first held in 1974, annually hosts more than 500 Tolkien fans.

Society chair Shaun Gunner said it would be "a fantastic weekend".

More than 350 people from 25 different countries will take part in games, quizzes and talks.

Mr Gunner said: "There may be a few confused tourists but hopefully they know they're in the right place for Tolkien."

The Lord of the Rings has been translated into over 50 languages and has sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

The Lord of the Rings series was turned into three fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson

This year's guests are Brian Sibley, who co-wrote BBC Radio 4's adaptation of the novel, Bear Mcreary, composer of the score of Amazon Prime show The Rings of Power, and Tolkien scholar John D Rateliff.

The organisation, founded in 1969, was supported by Tolkien himself who gave it his seal of approval by agreeing to become its president.

Mr Gunner said it does not only want to focus on the popular Lord of the Rings series, but also "promote research into and promote all of the works".

He said: "There's some fantastic children stories. One of my favourite ones is called Roverandom, which is about a little dog who goes to the moon and back and under the sea.

"It's a fun little series completely unrelated to Middle Earth."

The sold out weekend will conclude with Enyalie, the annual ceremony of remembrance at Tolkien's grave in Wolvercote Cemetery on Sunday afternoon.

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