Dimitra Fimi (born 2 June 1978) is a Greek academic and writer. She became the Professor of Fantasy and Children's Literature at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 2023. Her field of research includes the writings of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and children's

fantasy literature Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...

Biography

Early life

From the island of Salamis in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

region of

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

, the daughter of teachers Pavlos Fimis and Theodora Papaliveriou-Fimi, she attended the 1st General Lyceum of Salamis from where she graduated in 1996. Fimi gained her BA degree at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

in 2000 before completing her MA in Early Celtic Studies (2002) and PhD in English Literature (2005) at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

Career

From 2009 to 2018, she was a lecturer in English at

Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

, having previously taught at Cardiff University and the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. In September 2018 she was appointed Lecturer in Fantasy and Children's Literature at the

, the first time the term “fantasy” has ever been used in an academic post title in the UK. In September 2020 she was appointed Co-Director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic at the

, to lecture on fantasy and children's literature. She is a Visiting Lecturer in English Literature at

Signum University Signum University is a non-profit, online graduate school based in New Hampshire, granting the degree of Master of Arts in Language and Literature. Its founder and president is Corey Olsen. Signum's master's degree program has four areas of co ...

, an online learning facility.

Tolkien scholar

Her doctoral thesis on the vexed issue of

Tolkien and race J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings have been said to embody outmoded attitudes to Race (human categorization), race. He was exposed as a child to Victorian attitudes to race, and to a literary tradition of monsters. In his personal ...

was published as the

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

'' Tolkien, Race and Cultural History'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). It won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literature, literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusia ...

Studies in 2010, and was shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award. With Andrew Higgins she is co-editor of '' A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages'' (HarperCollins, 2016) which won the Tolkien Society Award for Best Book in 2017.

Awards and distinctions

Fimi's other works include ''Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) which was the runner-up for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award. She was one of the judges of the

Wales Book of the Year The Wales Book of the Year is a Welsh literary award given annually to the best Welsh and English language works in the fields of fiction and literary criticism by Welsh or Welsh interest authors. Established in 1992, the awards are currently ...

Award 2017 and was selected for the Welsh Crucible in 2017. She has contributed chapters in '' A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien'' (Blackwell, 2014), and ''Revisiting Imaginary Worlds: A Subcreation Studies Anthology'' (Routledge, 2016). She is a member of

The Tolkien Society The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and literary society devoted to the study and promotion of the life and works of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien. It began informally in 1969, and held its inaugural meeting in 1970. It ho ...

and has written articles for magazines and websites including the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' and

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

. She appears regularly on

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Wales, Welsh national radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the Welsh opt-out service of BBC Radio 4. As of August 2022, the stat ...

Books

; Written * * ''Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy'' (

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

, 2017) ; Edited * (with Andrew Higgins) ''A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fimi, Dimitra 1978 births People from Salamis Island National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of Cardiff University Academics of the Open University Academics of the University of Glasgow People associated with Cardiff Metropolitan University Tolkien scholars The Tolkien Society members Greek academics Living people Greek emigrants to the United Kingdom Tolkien Society Award winners