Triangle Tolkienists

Happy April! There is much news to report this month, so I’m posting this as a round-up rather than blowing up your inboxes.

Tolkien Society ‘Big Read’

First, beginning on Monday, April 6th, the Tolkien Society is running a year-long series of readalongs and discussions, which they’re calling the Big Read. These meetings will be hosted by Erik Jampa Andersson and Clare Moore, with guest presentations from a number of excellent speakers and scholars.

This coming Monday, we’re starting with On Fairy-Stories. If you haven’t yet read this one, this is a great opportunity to do it! It’s the seminal text to understanding Tolkien’s creative process, and it’s somehow been five years since the last time we discussed it in our book club. (??)

This program is available only to Tolkien Society members, so if you haven’t joined, this is an excellent time to do so. You can find more information about the Big Read here, and if you want to participate, you’ll need to sign up here (you must be logged in). The Tolkien Society will send you Zoom links for the live sessions. The lectures will be recorded, so feel free to sign up even if you can’t make all of the live meetings! (The breakout rooms will not be recorded.)

April 11th Meetup: NC Botanical Garden

For this month’s in-person meetup, we’ll be visiting the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. The NCBG, which is operated by UNC (go Heels!), is a conservation garden focusing on native southeastern plants.

This will be a casual social event – we’ll just be walking around the gardens and chatting. For safety reasons, please check Discord to see what time we’ll be meeting up.

Click here for accessibility information provided by the NCBG. There is also a PDF map showing the most accessible paths for people using mobility aids here.

If there’s time and interest, we can also head over to Franklin Street to browse the books and have a drink and snack at Epilogue.

If you’re planning to attend, please let me know!

April 27th: Students of Aulë In-Person Class

On Monday, April 27th, Jessica and Nicole will be running a beginners’ session on knitting and crochet. We’ll meet in the heart of Downtown Cary in the evening. Please check Discord for the specific time and place, and stay tuned for any updates.

Please RSVP if you’re planning to attend! The space where we’re meeting can only accommodate a certain number of people, so we need to keep track of how many folks are coming. Also, please consider wearing a mask to this meetup to help protect our covid-conscious friends!

Other April Events

Here are some of the other things we’ve got going on this month:

• Virtual Coworking – every other Thursday
• Virtual Craft Night – Monday, April 6th
• Monthly Movie Night – Friday, April 10th (D&D: Honor Among Thieves)
• Monthly Virtual Trivia – Wednesday, April 15th
• Leaf by Niggle Book Club – Sunday, April 19th
• AGM and Springmoot – Saturday, April 25th