Peter Gilliver to Attend ‘The Return of the Ring’

Peter, who is Associate Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, will be coming to The Return of the Ring and delivering a talk titled “Making the Music: a possible source for the Ainulindalë”. Peter is well-known to Tolkien fans as he co-wrote the book The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary with Jeremy Marshall and Edmund Weiner; Peter has described Tolkien’s time at the OED as “crucial” in shaping Tolkien’s works. In an interview with The Tolkien Society Peter described the appeal of Tolkien’s work: “I think there are so many reasons: the richness of the world he created, which draws you in with its incredible level of detail (some of it only glimpsed); his amazing skill at telling a good story, and his command of many different kinds of language in achieving that.”

The Return of the Ring takes place at Loughborough University, England on 16th-20th August 2012 with Peter being in attendance from Friday to Sunday. The Return of the Ring celebrates the forthcoming films and 75 years of The Hobbit. It is the follow-up to Tolkien 2005 that commemorated 50 years of The Lord of the Rings and which was recently described by Ring*Con founder Marcel Bülles as “probably the best Tolkien-related event in history”.

Peter continues to expand the impressive line-up of guests that includes: author and Tolkien’s grandson Michael Tolkien; performer of ‘One Man LOTR’ Charlie Ross; authors and academics Brian Sibley, Tom Shippey, Verlyn Flieger, Colin Duriez, John Garth and Corey Olsen; artist Ted Nasmith; directors of Born of Hopeand The Hunt for Gollum Kate Madison and Chris Bouchard; and French Middle-earth re-enactment society The Company of the Green Dragon. To view all our guests, including Michael Tolkien, please go to: http://www.returnofthering.org/guests.php.

Shaun Gunner, Tolkien Society trustee, said: “Peter brings such a fascinating and different aspect to Tolkien scholarship that it will be a delight to host him. He’s insight stems from working on the very same publication that Tolkien himself worked on, so Peter is able to appreciate Professor Tolkien’s life and works from a completely different angle to many other academics. I am sure that all attendees are looking forward to hearing his rather unexpected and intriguingly-titled talk.”

To book your place at The Return of the Ring, please visit: http://www.returnofthering.org/register.php.