The West Virginia University Press will begin publishing a new journal Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review at the end of April. The first of its kind, this journal will include critical commentary and scholarship about the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Since publication of The Hobbit in 1937, the works J. R. R. Tolkien quickly established the author as one of the most important fantasy writers of our time. Tolkien is now a popular subject in college and university English classes where his works are taught as entries into fantasy and medieval literature. And the recent release of the Lord of the Rings films has caused a renewed popular interest in his works.

The founding editors of the journal are all notable Tolkien researchers and include Michael D. C. Drout ( Beowulf and the Critics ), Douglas A. Anderson ( The Annotated Hobbit ), and Verlyn Flieger ( Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World ). The first volume includes essays by Tom Shippey ( J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century and The Road to Middle-earth ), each of the founding editors, and other noted Tolkien scholars.

In addition Tolkien’s previously unpublished edition of the Middle English poem Sir Orfeo (edited by Carl Hostetter) is included. This first volume also contains a bibliography of scholarly works written on Tolkien in 2000 and 2001. The complete table of contents is available at www.tolkienstudies.com.

Subsequent volumes are projected to includeThe Years’Work in Tolkien Studies: 2000-2001and a major essay on Tolkien’s Elvish languages. Volume II will be published in 2005. The hardbound journal will be out each spring and beginning in 2005 the journal will also be available electronically on Johns Hopkins’Project Muse.

For more information on this or other publications, contact the WVU Press at 304-293-8400 or visithttp://www.wvupress.com.