Tolkien Reading Day
Next: March 25, 2027
Read your favourite page aloud.
The story
Where it comes from
The Tolkien Society has organised Tolkien Reading Day every 25 March since 2003. It was first announced as a way to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's books into education, asking teachers and librarians to read his work to their classes and in their libraries, and it now invites everyone to celebrate his life and writing by reading favourite passages. The date comes from the story itself: in The Lord of the Rings, 25 March is the day the Ring is destroyed, Frodo's quest is complete and Sauron falls.
How it's celebrated
The Society encourages schools, museums and libraries to host their own readings, picks a theme each year, and has run free online sessions so that readers in every time zone can join in. Fans share their favourite passages and what the books mean to them online. At home, it is a good evening to read a chapter of The Hobbit aloud to a child, or to send a friend the line that stayed with you.
Did you know
- Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on 3 January 1892, and grew up in Sarehole, a village outside Birmingham that later inspired the Shire.
- The Hobbit was published in 1937 as a children's book, and The Lord of the Rings followed in 1954 and 1955.
- He was a professor at Oxford for 34 years, teaching Old English, Old Norse and other early languages, and he invented whole languages for Middle-earth.
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