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The Tolkien Experience Podcast


The Tolkien Experience Podcast (TEP) is an attempt to bring the fan and scholarly communities together around our shared passion: the works of J.R.R. Tolkien! Each episode features a notable scholar or member of the fan community sharing their responses to the original Tolkien Experience Project questions.

The podcast is only possible because of our supporters and patrons. Please consider supporting the us on Patreon!

Since 2018, Luke Shelton's Tolkien Experience Project has been collecting stories from scholars and fans. Now, I have partnered with Dr. Sara Brown and Sarah Westvik to create the TEP!

The podcast is available from all of your favorite streaming services, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and YouTube! Please subscribe and leave us feedback on your streaming service to help others find the podcast!

We also have an RSS Feed available, if you would like to use your own podcast player!

We are also on social media! You can find our official podcast accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and also follow the hosts on Twitter: Sara Brown, Sarah Westvik, and Luke Shelton.

Jun 25, 2021

For this episode, Sara sat down with our good friend and 'Tolkienian Astronomer': Dr. Kristine Larsen!

Kristine is a professor of astronomy at Central Connecticut State University. Her research and teaching focus in the sometimes uncomfortable points of intersection between science and society, including: women in science,; misconceptions, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience; the popularization of science for general audiences; and the uses/misuses of science in popular culture (including zombie films, science fiction TV series, and the fiction of Tolkien, Lewis, Gaiman and more). She has been writing on Tolkien since the early 2000s, and her paper Deconstructing Durin’s Day: Science, Scientific Fan Fiction, and the Fan-Scholar won the 2020 Tolkien Society Award for best article! We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did!