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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Birthdays in January ~ Tolkien, Milne, Carroll

For our first Sunday Mini-Challenge of 2014, I am inviting three writers of fantasy fiction to the Imaginary Garden.

J.R.R Tolkien
b. 3 January 1892
"Not all those who wander are lost."

J.R.R Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He could read by the age of four and write soon after. His mother was a great source of encouragement to him, his primary teacher before she died when Tolkien was 12 years old. The Hobbit was published in 1937, and his magnum opus, Lord of the Rings, was written between 1937 - 1949, much of it during World War 2.


A.A. Milne
b. 18 January 1882
"The things that make me different
are the things that make me."

A. A. Milne was born in Hampstead, England and grew up at Henley House School, where his father was Headmaster. One of his teachers was H.G. Wells. Milne was a prolific writer of plays, poetry and novels but these were over-shadowed by the success of his children's novels, Winnie-the-Pooh, published in 1926, and The House at Pooh Corner, published in 1928.

Lewis Carroll
b. 27 January 1832
"Why, sometimes I've believed in as many as
six impossible things before breakfast."

Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, in Chesire, England, Lewis Carroll is renowned for his novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, followed by Through the Looking Glass in 1872. Alice's story began as a piece of whimsy meant to entertain three little girls on a boating trip in 1862. Poets.org.

Each of these authors has provided the world with a legacy of literary treasure, which continues to impact on successive generations of children, who carry their tales into adulthood. Please follow the links below to peruse through many snippets of their writing on Goodreads.com.

J.R.R Tolkien
A.A. Milne
Lewis Carroll

The theme for this mini-challenge is FANTASY. Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. (wiki definitions)
You may choose a particular work, quote or character created by one of our featured authors, or create an entirely original piece. New poems are preferred for this challenge.


19 comments:

  1. great prompt Kerry... I am a Tolkien fanatic.. and some fantasy poetry will be fun...

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  2. This should be an easy one. I've been ripping off Tolkien for years!

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  3. Seems like I'm not the only Tolkien fan around. Looking forward to the others pointing out my mistakes, with love of course.
    Ciao my fantasy friends
    Pea.

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  4. Excited for this! My birthday is in January too!

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  5. I love all these authors. If only I could write as well...one can dream.

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  6. Thank you Kerry. I am very pleased to share a birth month with three of my favorite authors. The true test of good childrens' fiction is that it is also good adult reading, and all three of these pass that test--where reading aloud to a child is also reading to oneself.I will mull and brood and see what bubbles up.

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  7. Just on our way out, but when we get back, I know which one I'm choosing and it won't be Tolkien. LOL
    K

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  8. Right up my alley... I wonder if I can pull myself from the funk I've been wallowing in, as these 3 are big influences on me. We'll find out!

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  9. Thank you for the wonderful challenge Kerry ~ I wrote a sonnet, just for fun, smiles ~

    Happy weekend ~

    Grace

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  10. Hey Kerry-- a wonderful challenge and thank you for the information about each writer. I did not know that Tolkien was born in South Africa. I am just posting for the last challenge re African music, so I am a bit behind, and tomorrow a crazy day for me, but I will be on a train for at least a few hours of it, so maybe can come up with something then. Thanks much and happy new year. k.

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  11. Thanks for the info. I didn't know A.A Milne was taught by H. G Wells!

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  12. Well, this was a joy of a post, Kerry and I was pleasantly surprised by a story I had lurking that I didn't know about, prompted by a J.R.R. Tolkien quote.

    Thank you and happy weekend to everyone!

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  13. Like a dolt, I linked to this post instead of my own post. It's fixed now!

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  14. Great to come back to the garden and find it blossoming with so much poetry. Please bear with me as I reply to all poems linked to my challenges. I may be behind but there's no way I'll miss out on reading.

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  15. Kerry, I love the challenge. I went way out of my comfort zone for this one. :)

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  16. So pumped! Thanks to this, I wrote my third Alice in wonderland inspired poem!

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  17. I can't believe I haven't been able to write to this... something is very haywire in Middle Earth. depressing. I'm determined to, so Kerry, I'll let you know when it happens. SIGH.

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  18. Saturday I drove to the coast to pick up my daughter and Sunday just flittered away… will try and create something and post on Monday

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  19. Whew! I simply could not write one coherent line until now and it's 2:18am! Not even certain this is coherent ....... night, night, Pooh Bear wherever you are.

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Much time and effort went into this post! Your feedback is appreciated.