Photographs by Gabriel Schenk and Rob Judges (last two).
The photograph of Lev Grossman outside Pembroke recreates this photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien outside Pembroke.
We are delighted to announce that Lev Grossman will be delivering the third annual Tolkien Lecture at Pembroke College Oxford.
The lecture will take place at 6.30pm on Wednesday, 13th May, at the Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College. Admission is free, but please sign up here if you wish to attend.
Lev Grossman is a novelist and journalist. As a novelist, he is best known for writing the critically acclaimed Magicians Trilogy, comprising The Magicians (2009), The Magician King (2011), and The Magician’s Land (2014). The series has topped New York Times best-selling lists and there are plans to make it into a television series. As a journalist, Lev has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. He has been the Book Critic for Time since 2002.
Find out more about our speaker on his website.
If you have any questions about the upcoming lecture, please contact us here.
Thanks to everyone who came to another exciting Tolkien lecture at Pembroke!
For those who weren’t able to make it, or for those who just want to listen to Adam’s witty and stimulating lecture again, there is now a podcast available, which also includes the questions at the end:
Adam Roberts, ‘Tolkien and Women’, 2nd May 2014 (1 hour and 2 minutes; questions start 51 minutes in)
Thank you to everyone who came to the Tolkien Lecture at Pembroke yesterday evening, and for our speaker for such an interesting and engaging talk! We will be posting a recording of the lecture soon — in the mean time here are three photographs from the event.
The photograph of Professor Roberts outside Pembroke recreates this photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien outside Pembroke.
Both the lecture and the signing reception are free and open to the public, but due to demand, we kindly request that you complete this form to ensure places.
Please sign up using this form.
This year’s Pembroke Tolkien Lecture will be held at Pembroke College’s Pichette Auditorium at 7 pm on Friday, May 2nd. The lecture will be delivered by Adam Roberts, Professor of Nineteenth-century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published fourteen science fiction novels, the most recent of which are Jack Glass (Gollancz 2012), which won the BSFA and Campbell awards for best SF novel of the year; and Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea (Gollancz 2014; with Mahendra Singh). With his academic hat on, he has published articles and books on a range of topics including Tolkien. The Riddles of the Hobbit (Palgrave 2013) is the most recent.
The subject is ‘Tolkien and Women’, but Professor Roberts will also touch on the fantasy genre in general, as well as on his own work.
J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor and fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, for twenty years, during which time he wrote The Hobbit and the majority of The Lord of the Rings.
We are pleased to announce that science-fiction author Professor Adam Roberts will be delivering the second annual Pembroke Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature.
The lecture will take place at 7pm on Friday, 2nd May, at the Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College. Please sign up here if you wish to attend. We hope to welcome as many people as possible, both from inside and outside Oxford University.
Adam Roberts is Professor of Nineteenth-century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published fourteen science fiction novels, the most recent of which are Jack Glass (Gollancz 2012), which won the BSFA and Campbell awards for best SF novel of the year; and Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea (Gollancz 2014; with Mahendra Singh). With his academic hat on, he has published articles and books on a range of topics including Tolkien. The Riddles of the Hobbit (Palgrave 2013) is the most recent. The academic hat is purely metaphorical. He does not generally wear headgear.
If you have any questions about the upcoming lecture, please contact Gabriel Schenk or William Badger.
Photographs of Kij Johnson and the first Pembroke College Fantasy Lecture by Agnieszka Badger:
More photographs of the lecture by Adam Lindley, Pembroke MCR student:
Photographs of Kij Johnson’s Fiction Masterclass by Gabriel Schenk, Pembroke MCR student:
Finally, we found a photograph of Tolkien standing outside Pembroke. We’re not sure when it was taken, but we’d love to know if more photos of Tolkien at Pembroke exist! We made two other versions of the photograph — one that shows it in its modern context, and another that shows Kij Johnson, our first lecturer, standing near the spot! These photographs demonstrate how we are all, literally, walking in the footsteps of people from the past!
Thanks to all who came for a successful (and very packed!) first lecture in our series on Fantasy Literature at Pembroke.
A podcast version of the lecture is now available, for people to share with others, or listen to for the first time if you were unable to make it on Friday because of the snow storm!
Despite the heavy snowfall (see picture), the lecture will still be going ahead tonight at 6pm! The main roads in Oxford are currently clear, and most of the buses are still running, but please take extra care when travelling.
The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature 