Realms of Imagination: Essays from the Wide Worlds of Fantasy Hardcover
1st November 2023 by Ed. Tanya Kirk and Matthew Sangster (Author), Tanya Kirk (Editor), Matthew Sangster (Editor)
Fantasy is an expansive genre, encompassing sprawling epics, ancient folklore, impossible worlds and forays into the dark and horrifying. In this new volume, twenty authors have mustered for a journey across four vast realms: Fairy and Folk Tales, Epics and Quests, the Weird and Uncanny, and Portals and Worlds.
Prepare to delve into the heart of Fantasy, with explorations of the art of world-building, the undying appeal of the quest narrative, the diversity and interconnectedness of the world’s fairy stories and weird tales, and the unique power of the uncanny in videogames. Here, you will find contributions from a host of writers including Maria Dahvana Headley, China Miéville, Sofia Samatar, Marina Warner and Terri Windling, alongside sage insights from expert British Library curators and Fantasy literature specialists.
Featuring awe-inspiring illustrations and representing the gamut of fantastic creativity from Gilgamesh to Ursula K. Le Guin, from Beowulf to the Brontës, and from The Dark Crystal to the Dark Souls franchise, Realms of Imagination is a treasure trove of new perspectives and fresh discoveries.
It also has a chapter by Dr Dimitra Fimi Fantasy Worlds: Crossing Borders of Otherness
British Library, London. Tuesday 9th January 2024, 7:30pm - 8:45pm GMT
Exploring the achievement and legacy of the creator of Middle Earth.
This is an online only event streamed on the British Library platform. Bookers will be sent a viewing link shortly before the event and will be able to watch at any time for 48 hours after the start time.
J.R.R. Tolkien is a colossal figure in fantasy fiction: his visionary creation Middle-Earth and its inhabitants has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. It’s origins were closely interwoven with his own life experience and deep study of language and literature, but went on to be a cultural phenomenon, with adaptations including Peter Jackson’s blockbuster films of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and more recently the TV series The Rings of Power.
Nick Groom's book Twenty-First-Century; Tolkien What Middle-Earth Means To Us Today is an engaging and radical reinterpretation of the beloved author’s work. He is joined in conversation by Dimitra Fimi, author of Tolkien, Race and Cultural History, and one of the pre-eminent illustrators of our time, John Howe. They are chaired by Adam Roberts, an award winning novelist, and historian of literature.
Half price tickets available for Members
Dimitra Fimi is Professor of Fantasy and Children's Literature at the University of Glasgow, where she is also co-Director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. She has published monographs on J.R.R. Tolkien and Celtic-inspired children’s Fantasy, as well as articles and essays on myth and Fantasy, medievalism, world-building, adaptation, artlangs, and visual culture. She has co-edited Tolkien’s manuscripts on invented languages, and has won awards for her books and essays.
Nick Groom is an academic and writer. He is currently Professor of Literature in English at the University of Macau, having previously held positions at the universities of Chicago, Stanford, and Exeter, where he holds an Honorary Professorship. He is the author and editor of many other books, including The Forger's Shadow, The Union Jack, The Gothic, The Seasons: An Elegy for the Passing of the Year and The Vampire: A New History.
John Howe is a Canada born, Swiss-based illustrator celebrated for creating fabulous imagery for many works of J.R.R. Tolkien as well as working together with Alan Lee as chief conceptual designer as on both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series. Both have cameo appearances in the films. He returned as an artist for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television series. Apart from multiple Tolkien editions, John has illustrated Robin Hobb, Robert Holdstock, Beowulf, Arthurian legend and many children’s books.
Adam Roberts combines careers as one of Britain's leading science fiction authors, and as Professor of Nineteenth Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he teaches both Literature and Creative Writing. He has published critically on a wide range of topics, including nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, science fiction and fantasy. He is the author of over twenty novels, receiving Arthur C. Clarke Award nominations for Salt, Gradisil and Yellow Blue Tibia. He won both the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, for Jack Glass.
This event accompanies the British Library exhibition Fantasy: Realms of Imagination 27 October – 25 February supported by Wayland Games and Unwin Charitable Trust:
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