The UNM Hobbit Society presents the 7th Annual SF/Fantasy/Popular Culture Colloquium – “Intellectual Hooliganism”

Short papers will be presented 5:30-8:30 pm April Fool’s Day at the University of New Mexico’s Honors College Forum. Past Intellectual Hooliganism presentations have been on such varied topics as: Star Trek, the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Ender’s Game, Artificial Intelligence, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Prydain, Terry Pratchett, Wizard of Earthsea, Doctor Who, and Star Wars.

Approximately 6:30 pm Wednesday, April 1, local fantasy author Jane Lindskold will give the keynote talk, entitled “Inverting the Rules, or Why We Love Fools.”

With the publication of The Hobbit in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien revolutionized fantasy as something acceptable for both scholars and ordinary readers. Since then, the literary genres of fantasy and science fiction have steadily gained attention in the academic world. Each year, the UNM Hobbit Society, in honor of Professor Tolkien, holds this colloquium to encourage UNM students to study fantasy and science fiction literature or other works of popular culture in a scholarly manner and share their findings with others.

The Colloquium is free and open to the public.  All presentations take place in the UNM Student Health Center Building (east of the Student Union Building), Ground Floor Room 21.

For more information, contact the UNM Hobbit Society at tolkien@unm.edu, or visit www.unm.edu/~tolkien