@dimitrafimi.bsky.social
#Tolkien expert, Professor of #Fantasy and Children’s Literature at the University of Glasgow. Substack: https://dimitrafimi.substack.com Website: http://dimitrafimi.com
In this piece I’m ruminating on the Mirror of Galadriel, and how this memorable scene in The Lord of the Rings may have come out of the “leaf-mould” of Tolkien’s mind, resurfacing out of his own early creative invention.
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/tracing-a-...
Submitted today! Following a few years of rigorous peer-review and working with my co-editor @lukebshelton.bsky.social and many Tolkienists!
- 44 chapters
- 46 Tolkien scholars globally
- over 280K words overall
Still tons of work to do as proofs arrive, but feels like a moment to celebrate. ☺️
and the Lumsden’s Toy Books, a collection of early 19th-century chapbooks for children.
Shelf marks: Sp Coll Hepburn 99, Sp Coll RB 556, Level 4: JF MACDO8, and Sp Coll Bh13-c.28
3/3
Early edition of the Grimms' Fairy Tales (Edgar Taylor’s landmark translation, illustrated by George Cruikshank) and George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin (illustrated by Charles Folkard), 2/3
29.01.2026 17:16 — 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Thread: 🧵
Today’s Children’s Fantasy class was held at the Special Collections seminar room, Glasgow University Library. Among other rare books, we looked at:
a first edition of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871), with fifty illustrations by Tenniel, 1/3
This week I’ve taught Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl's Moving Castle, set in the fairy-tale world of Ingary with occasional visits to Wales! (and yes, my classes sang “Calcifer’s silly saucepan song” in Welsh! 🏴)
Art by Lulu Chen, Kateřina Čupová, Alejo and Vivian de los Rios Marietta, and Anna Wojtczak.
Some of the gorgeous cats at Meow Cat Cafe in Glasgow’s West End!
🐈⬛ 🐈 🐾
First snowdrops spotted in the garden! Spring can’t be too far away!
24.01.2026 11:03 — 👍 13 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Agreed!
24.01.2026 09:08 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In this new piece I’m ruminating on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and the complexities of Neverland: Is it a magical land or a construct of the imagination? And how does the idea of a window as a portal complicate things?
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/where-or-w...
No spoilers please, but…
…lovely reference to the Doors of Durin in Stranger Things, S5E7!
If you know, you know!
#StrangerThings5 #Tolkien
🤣
16.01.2026 22:24 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Watching Meriadoc Brandybuck as a juvenile delinquent turned assistant detective wasn’t quite on my Bingo card this evening! (What a great concept for a series, though! We need more intergenerational stuff on TV!)
#HettyWainthroppInvestigates
Oh yes, that was my first ever copy too!
15.01.2026 19:20 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0You, so did the first edition! (Can’t find a good quality image of that)
15.01.2026 17:50 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Oh wow! I might have switched my keyboard from Greek to English before I started typing.
15.01.2026 17:49 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I taught Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan this week - here are some of the many covers over the years. It’s interesting what each of them chooses to depict, isn’t it?
15.01.2026 17:19 — 👍 23 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0
The #Tolkien Family Album was published 34 years ago this week. Here are a few gems from this rare book:
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/a-few-gems...
Included are some thoughts about the early years of the @tolkiensociety.org and an absent friend…
Happy birthday J.R.R. Tolkien! Here’s my latest tribute to “On Fairy-stories” and the way it shaped the thinking (and writing!) of later fantasy authors.
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/in-tolkien...
@tolkiensociety.org @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social
Tree on fire 🌳 🔥
(Seriously, 2026 has been treating us to some amazing skies so far!)
First sunrise of the year! Happy New Year everyone! 🔔❄️☀️
01.01.2026 08:47 — 👍 21 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Reflections
(Forth and Clyde Canal)
Lovely Boxing Day walk. Cold but sunny! Somewhere in there is our house, with the Campsie Fells in the background. 🏴🌞🎄
26.12.2025 13:45 — 👍 14 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Christmas sunset for you all 🎄
25.12.2025 19:11 — 👍 19 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
“Twas the Night before Christmas” (aka “A Visit from St. Nicholas”) by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline, Arthur Rackham, Jessie Willcox Smith, and P.J. Lynch.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
🎅🎄
General Christmas sugar business by my amazing husband @andyd99.bsky.social! 🎄❄️🧁
22.12.2025 15:15 — 👍 13 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0And yet another book review at the Journal of Tolkien Research before the end of the year! This time it's The High Hallow: Tolkien's Liturgical Imagination (Ben Reinhard, 2025). A day may come when I stop writing article-length reviews, but it is not this day.
20.12.2025 22:12 — 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
He’s had another hard day… 🐈⬛ 🐾
19.12.2025 17:42 — 👍 15 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0✨GIFCon is back for 2026! ✨
We’re very excited to launch the Call for Papers for GIFCon 2026, with the theme “Technologies of the Fantastic”
You can find out more here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20...
Auto-reply now on till January 2026! On couch, under old duvet, on to serious business! 🐈⬛ 🎄
18.12.2025 20:42 — 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
