MiddleMoot 2021 will be held at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa, and is co-sponsored with Signum University, with support from the Tolkien Society of Iowa City, Smial of Avallónë. Our keynote speaker and guest-of-honor is Michael Drout, philologist and pre-eminent Tolkien scholar. We are also honored to have Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor and president of Signum University, in attendance. The theme of the conference is “Philology: Lover of Words, Friend of Words.” Come join us as we explore various aspects of the importance of language, linguistics, and philology among other topics in Tolkien’s work! Please be aware that the registration fee includes a hot lunch and access to all activities and materials associated with the conference. We plan to follow current (early October) CDC and Iowa public health guidance pertaining to mask-wearing and other pandemic-related protocols for indoor gatherings.
9:15 Session I: David Emerson “Some Thoughts on Elvish Technology”
10:05 Session II: Janet Brennan Croft “The Name of the Ring: Or, There and
Back Again, Again
11:00 Session III: Aidan Aannestad “Imitating Form rather than Substance:
Echoes of Sindarin Phonology in Post-Tolkien Fantasy”
11:50-12:50 Lunch (with live music from The Nitpickers)
1:00-2:00 Keynote Address: Dr. Michael Drout “‘You might want to see a
Philologist about that’ : Language in fantasy and how we understand it.”
2:10 Session IV Christopher Bartlett “Rings, Jewels, and Will: the Shape of
Magic in Middle-earth”
3:00 Session V: Dr. Jerey Tharsen “Comparative Space Vector Modeling of
Tolkien’s Works”
3:55 Session VI: James Tauber “Grammar, Philology, Linguistics, and Tolkien”
4:50 Session VII Patrick Lyon “Roots and Branches: The Interrelationship
between Tolkien’s Eärendil and Kullervo” (in-person)
