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Tolkien Seminar 2021 - "Tolkien and Politics"

Information and Registration

The Philipps University of Marburg (founded 1527) is hosting the 17th Seminar of the Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft (DTG) from 29 to 31 October 2021 on "Tolkien and Politics" with talks in German and English.

The DTG conferences traditionally reach out across the linguistic and academic boundaries. They provide a platform for international Tolkien scholars to present their research, to exchange ideas and lay the foundations for international co-operations. The speakers of the Jena conference hail from, amongst others, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the Ukraine and the USA. The official conference languages are English and German.

The Tolkien Seminar of the DTG is hosted for the first time in Marburg. Dr Evelyn Koch, who organizes the conference in Marburg, regularly offers courses on Tolkien’s work or on related subjects. The Department of English and American Studies and the Philipps University of Marburg also support events such as the DTG conference by providing lecture rooms, technical support, infrastructure etc. – which allows us to keep the conference free of charge and open to the public. Due to the current situation, the seminar will take place in a hybrid fashion in 2021. Participants can decide whether to travel to Marburg or whether to participate online. If you would like to come to Marburg, please use this registration form. If you'd like to register online, please visit this website.

Due to the current pandemic, the 3G rule applies. You can only join our seminar in Marburg if you are fully vaccinated, recovered or tested. Furthermore, social distancing and hygiene rules apply as well as wearing face masks indoors. If there are changes to these arrangements, we will inform you. In 2021, there won’t be a guided tour through Marburg, but if you would like to explore Marburg’s inner city as well as Marburg Castle, you can walk the so-called “Grimm-Dich-Pfad” that guides you across town on a fairytale route from the Old Botanical Garden to Marburg Castle. At the station of the ‘Sterntaler’, you will also find a bronzen book of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  

Today, Marburg offers a varied and vibrant cultural life. The city, with its 76’000 inhabitants, is the home of almost 23’000 students, which means that the character of the town is greatly influenced by student-life. Marburg’s central and compact location offers easy access to train connections and within town all places of importance and relevance for the conference can be reached on foot within 5 to 15 minutes.

A selection of papers is going to be published in revised form in Hither Shore, the bilingual yearbook of the DTG.