Although founded in 2002, the First Tolkien Reading Day wasn’t until March 25th 2003. This is because a journalist from New York enquired as to whether or not there was such an event for Tolkien in January 2002 and the society liked the idea so much they adopted it – although they didn’t have time to prepare anything for that year and postponed it.
History of Tolkien Reading Day
The society chose an important date from the book for the reading day. March 25th is the Downfall of Sauron.
In recent years The Tolkien Society have provided information packs, bookmarks and posters for schools taking part in this event. They have also provided free posters for events held by libraries and the general public taking place near to the event, rather than on the 25th.
How to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day
With the popularity of the Lord of The Rings film triliogy firmly influencing the popularity of the books, Tolkien Reading Day was set up with hopes of getting even more people reading and discovering that there is much more to Tolkien than just The Lord Of the Rings.
Typical events consist of readings and discussions, but some groups re-enact scenes from the Lord of the Rings books.
