A week from today, on Sunday, Sept. 22 — on Hobbit Day, the shared birthday of the two most famousest of Bagginses — I will be participating in the first-ever Mythgard Institute student-produced webathon. The event will run from elevenses to elevenses (EST) and will feature a variety of original live and prerecorded content created by Mythgardians from across the world, including:
- Portions of The Hobbit read in different languages (including some by my good friend Dave Maddock)
- Discussions about of the modern fantasy and sci-fi works of literature
- Discussions with the founder of the Mythgard Institute, Dr. Corey Olsen – aka, The Tolkien Professor – and Dr. Amy H. Sturgis
- A dragonish rumble royale
- Trivia contests
- And more…
For my part, I’m co-hosting the 3 – 5 p.m. portion. During part of that time, Kat will be joining us for a special live edition of Kat & Curt’s TV Re-View, in which we’ll be talking about my favorite episodes of Firefly, “Out of Gas.”
While the webathon will be fun and exciting, I should also note that in the grand tradition of -athons, it’s also a fund raiser. Specifically, throughout the day we’ll be checking in on the status of Mythgard’s IndieGoGo campaign. The campaign is raising funds to develop free, high-quality educational content to further the critical study of imaginative literature. The more money raised, the more content will be made available later.
Whether you contribute to the campaign or not, we hope to see you at the webathon. More information, including a full schedule and registration link, are available at the Mythgard webathon page.