"This three day festival caters to serious Tolkien fans as well as families and everyone else by holding three separate events for different audiences.

Tolkien literature enthusiasts will have the opportunity to delve deeper into Tolkien's work with a three day conference entitled 'Welsh influences on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien'.

This will feature internationally respected speakers such as Jane Chance, Douglas Anderson, Tom Shippey, Colin Duriez, John Garth, and Verlyn Flieger and includes experts from Welsh universities such as Dimitra Fimi from Cardiff University, a specialist on Tolkien's Welsh connections and his use of the Welsh language.

Keen collectors of Tolkien's books and Tolkien inspired art will be delighted at the exhibition element of the festival.

The exhibition will showcase rare first editions of Tolkien's books, original art and other Tolkien artefacts.

Many of these pieces are from private collections and unlikely to be shown again.

In addition to displaying their paintings some of the famous artists who have illustrated Tolkien's books will be present at this event and attendees will have the exciting opportunity to meet them and discuss their work.

Artists attending include Roger Garland, Ted Nasmith, Jef Murray, Peter Pracownik and Ruth Lacon.

For more casual fans, families and anyone looking for a fun day out the festival offers a daily programme of entertainment as well as a large fair with arts, crafts and food.

The entertainment will include talks, Tolkien inspired re-enactments and other performance art, music and a myriad of fantasy related events.

It is hoped that many local vendors and artists will participate in the entertainment and fair and the organisers would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in taking part.

The idea for Festival in the Shire was dreamed up by myself. I am a local book dealer specialising in Tolkien's books.

After the success of the Lord of the Rings films and with the release of the new Hobbit film in the next couple of years, the time seemed right for a Tolkien festival.

I also felt that it was important that Festival in the Shire should be held in Machynlleth. Not only did the setting seem ideal for a Tolkien event but I hope the town and surrounding communities will benefit economically.

My love for the geography and culture of this area is in part connected to my love of Tolkien's books.

Why a conference on Tolkien's Welsh influence?

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is an author of world reputation, but not many people know of his love for the Welsh language and his debt to Celtic literature. Tolkien was fascinated by Welsh from childhood, when he first encountered Welsh names on coal-trucks arriving to the railway station at the back of his house in Birmingham. In his youth he started creating an invented language based on Welsh phonology and grammar, which was later to become Sindarin, the language of the Grey Elves of Middle-earth.

Tolkien was familiar with medieval Welsh texts such as the "Mabinogion" and was fascinated by the Arthurian legend and knew of its Welsh origins. He made a number of trips to Wales, developed friendships with Welsh academics, and published his long narrative poem "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" in the New Welsh Review. Tolkien's shorter works like Farmer Giles of Ham and Roverandom also betray his knowledge of the topography and legends of Wales.

Perhaps the most important proof of the role of Welsh on Tolkien's imaginative mythology and his linguistic sensibilities is his 1955 O'Donnell Lecture "English and Welsh". In this lecture, which was delivered just a day after the publication of The Return of the King, the third part of his novel The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien commented on the Welsh flavour of many proper and place-names of Middle-earth, claiming that this linguistic style gave pleasure to his readers more than anything else.

This conference, which will take part in the heart of Wales, will concentrate on "Welsh influences in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien" and will explore all of Tolkien's Welsh connections and inspirations mentioned above and many more.

I hope that this will turn into an annual event that will help local business and our community."

For information or to participate in Festival in the Shire visit the website which is linked on the right hand side of this page.

Article written by Mark Faith