TRIBAL
There is a Moomin theme park, museum, Moomin T-shirts, even a Moomin movie. On the centenary of her birth, we celebrate the globally popular trolls’ Finnish creator.
John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, with an ebook forthcoming. As a freelance journalist, John Garth has recently interviewed Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, British Turner Prize-winning artist Elizabeth Price, and Carnegie Medalist Alan Garner.
HOBBITRY
It’s 60 years since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first volume of The Lord of the Rings. Why was he so inspired by the Great War—and a group of school friends?
Tangled History
On November 22, 1963, three towering figures of the 20th century died. John F. Kennedy is the one that we all remember, but let’s consider the others.
Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series was an important link between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. John Garth talks to the fantasy writer about her new novel.
Return of the King
One of Tolkien’s abandoned projects was an epic poem about the legend of King Arthur. Laid aside for decades, The Fall of Arthur has finally been published. Tolkien biographer John Garth on how it paved the way for The Lord of the Rings.