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| Imladris by Cat Sparsidis |
In its 10-year history, the society was awarded "Smial of The Year" at The Tolkien Society's Oxonmoot 2002, and successfully organized and hosted all the academic programming at "The Gathering of the Fellowship 2003" in Toronto, Canada and are honored to have been chosen as Programming Directors for The Gathering's 2006 event. Its membership ranges both nationally and internationally. Heren Istarion is proud to have members as far outside New York City as Nashville, Tennessee, and even farther outside the United States as Stockholm, Sweden. The Society develops and hosts Tolkien events around the New York City Area, and publishes a bimonthly journal Parma Nölé. The name Heren Istarion, inspired by Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, means "Order of Wizards" in Sindarin, one of Tolkien's invented Elvish languages.
Anthony S. Burdge and Jessica Burke are Co-chairs, respectively, of Heren Istarion. They regularly collaborate on a range of academic and critical pieces about the life and works of Professor J.R.R Tolkien. They were awarded the 2005 Beyond Bree Award "In recognition of outstanding contribution to the study of JRR Tolkien, from the Readers of 'Beyond Bree'".
Anthony and Jessica Curriculum Vitae
ANTHONY S BURDGE
• “The Professor’s lessons for the Doctor: The Doctor’s sub-creative journey toward Middle-earth” The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who Kitsune Books 2010
• Cornelius Kolff: Staten Island’s Most Obedient Servant
Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island Newsletter Spring 2009
• Glistam Manitto: Hearkening to the Spirit(s) of Early New Yorkers
Fantasy and Native America, Mythopoeic Press 2009
• Performance Art in a Tunnel: Sub-Creation in the Tradition of Tolkien.”
Middle Earth Minstrel: Essay on Music in Tolkien MacFarland Press 2010
• Foreword: Dragons of Fantasy 2nd Edition, by Anne Petty. Kitsune Books 2008
• “Say Hello Gandalf...” Gandalf Who? A Tolkien fan surfs the Whoniverse
(Parma Nole: Journal of the Northeast Tolkien Society, 2008)
• The Pirate Loop Review (Doctor Who New York Magazine, 2008)
• The Twilight Streets Review (Doctor Who New York Magazine, 2008)
• “SK Thoth, Modern Mythmaker, and the Rites of Sub-creation” www.skthoth.com/articles
• Contributor: JRR Tolkien Encyclopedia Numerous articles, Routledge 2006
• Co-author: “The Maker’s Will...Fulfilled?” Tolkien and Modernity edited by Thomas Honneger and Frank Weinreich. A Walking Tree Press Publication (Summer 2006)
• Contributor: The Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (Oxford University Press 2005)
• Co-author: “Humiliated Heroes: Peter Jackson's Interpretation of the Lord of the Rings.” Translating Tolkien edited by Thomas Honneger and Frank Weinreich. A Walking Tree Press Publication. (Summer 2004)
• Tolkien Advisor: The Siege of Gondor Games Workshop Strategy Battle Game Supplement (USA/UK 2004)
• Tolkien Advisor: The Scouring of the Shire Games Workshop Strategy Battle Game Supplement (USA/UK 2004)
• As a Driven Leaf Review
The Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue Bulletin November 2000
LECTURES
• “Staten Island’s Lonnrot: Cornelius G. Kolff as Historian and Folklorist”
Staten Island’s Fairyland: The Folklore of Cornelius Kolff.
Historic Richmondtown/Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island
April 2009
• “Shards of Creativity: The Inklings, sub-creation, and the evolution of human consciousness”
The Inklings: A Discussion of the Literary and Theological Perspectives of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield: St Luke in the Fields, NYC October 2007
• “Native New Yorkers: Native American Myth and Fantasy of New York City and State.” MythCon 37: University of Oklahoma, OK August 2006
• “The Mystical Imagination of the Inklings.” Tolkien 2006 University of Vermont (April 2006)
• “J.R.R. Tolkien as a Catholic Mystic.” Holy Family University, PA (April 2005)
• “The Biblical Allusions in the Lord of the Rings.” Stonybrook University (March 2002)
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2000- present Heren Istarion: Northeast Tolkien Society –SI, NY
(Previously The New York Tolkien Society)
Co-chairman
• Webmaster and Society Founder
2007-2008 Mythopoeic Society—MythCon XXXIX
(Central Connecticut State University
August 15-18, 2008)
Conference Chairman
2002-2006 The Gathering of the Fellowship –Toronto, Canada
Co-Director of Academic Programming North America's largest Tolkien Convention/Conference in 2003
Vice President Director of Programming & Interim Member of the Board of Directors for the 2006 Convention
• Coordinator for all programming at event: includes planning programming (lectures to panels to presentations and events), scheduling and finalizing programming, inviting all guest lecturers, arranging for celebrity guest appearances
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Mythopoeic Society Starving Scholar Award; MythCon 37 2006
• Beyond Bree Award 2005 “In recognition of outstanding contribution to the study of JRR Tolkien, from the Readers of "Beyond Bree” Newsletter of the JRR Tolkien Special Interest Group of American MENSA
• Smial of the Year Oxonmoot 2002
JESSICA BURKE
EDUCATION
M.A., English, City University of New York, College of Staten Island, 2008
Concentrations: 19th Century Arthurian revival, Arthurian and Medieval Romance, Elizabethan Chivalric Revival, Anglo-Saxon Literature, Inklings Study, 19th Century Novel, Medieval Studies
Theses: Chivalry as Fiction in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene; Monsters and the nature of Horror in Beowulf and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
B.A., City University of New York, Brooklyn College, 1997
Concentrations: 19th Century Gothic Literature, Victorian Novel, Shakespearean Studies, Rhetoric, Scholarly Research, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Folklore studies
Thesis: The Vampyre Archetype in fiction
Undergraduate coursework, City University of New York College of Staten Island, 2000-2002
Concentration: French language study, Reading & Literacy, Secondary Education, Psychology
EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Lecturer, 2008-present
The College of Staten Island, City University of New York
Course: Developmental Writing (ENG 001), Developmental Reading (ENG 004), College Composition 1 (ENG 111) & College Composition 2 (ENG 151), English Department
Instructor, 2002-2007
Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto
Course: Literacy programs for Preschoolers; Universal Pre-Kindergarten
Per Diem Instructor, 2002
Berta Dreyfuss Intermediate School 49
Course: Reading & Literacy, Language Arts
Teaching Assistant/College Mentor, 1999-2002
Berta Dreyfuss Intermediate School 49
Course: Language Arts, ESL Language Institute, Mentoring
ESL Language Coach, 1994-1997
Brooklyn College
Course: Literacy and Writing Composition Workshops; 1:1 Composition Instruction
LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS:
“A Queen Speaks: Guinevere’s Voice & Gender Stereotypes.” Paper presented at Literary Conference at Central Connecticut State University. (2008).
“A World Without Myth: Tolkien’s Contribution to Society.” Paper presented at Inklings Study Lecture Series at St. Luke in the Fields, New York City. (2007).
“How now, spirit! Wither wander you?” Diminution: The Shakespearean Misconception & the Tolkienian Ideal of Faërie.” Article presented at the Tolkien 2006 Conference at the University of Vermont. (2006).
“The Maker’s Will… Fulfilled?” Article presented at Literary Conference at the University of Oklahoma. (2006).
“The Triple Spiral: The dynamic of Tolkien’s Heroes and How Peter Jackson stripped them of their dignity.” Paper presented at Holy Family University, PA. (2005).
“Myth, Fear, & Fantasy: The Function of The Lord of the Rings in Society.” Paper presented at Literary Conference at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, Nashville, TN. (2003).
BOOKS
Co-edited with Dr. Kristine Larsen and Anthony Burdge, The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who Kistune Press, MAY 2010.
FOREWORDS & BOOK CHAPTERS
“The Valkyrie Reflex in Doctor Who, Pt. 2: Goddesses, Battle-Demons, Witches, & Wives.” The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who. Kistune Press, May 2010.
Co-authored with Anthony Burdge. Foreword, 2nd edition Dragons of Fantasy by Anne Petty (2009).
“Fear & Appetite: Monsters in Tolkien & Beowulf.” The Mirror Crack'd: Fear and Horror in J. R. R. Tolkien's Major Works. Edited by Lynn Forest-Hill. (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008).
Co-authored with Anthony Burdge.“Rites of Subcreation.” Tolkien & Music. Edited by Brad Eden. (2008).
“‘How now, spirit! Wither wander you?’ Diminution: The Shakespearean Misconception & the Tolkienian Ideal of Faërie.” Tolkien and Shakespeare. Edited by Janet Croft. (McFarland 2007).
Co-authored with Anthony Burdge “The Maker's Will...Fulfilled?” Tolkien and Modernity. Edited by Thomas Honegger. (Walking Tree Press 2006).
Co-authored with Anthony Burdge. “Humiliated Heroes: Peter Jackson’s Interpretation of The Lord of the Rings.” Translating Tolkien Text & Film. Edited by Thomas Honegger. (Walking Tree Press 2004).
ENCYCLOPEDIA WORK
(Titles available upon request)
J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Edited by Michael Drout (Taylor & Francis 2006).
The Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Edited by Jack Zipes. (Oxford University Press 2005).
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Mythcon 39: The Annual Conference of the Mythopoeic Society, 2007-2008
Programming Coordinator; Publications Director
Heren Istarion: Northeast Tolkien Society, 2002-present
Co-Chairman
Parma Nölé: The Official Journal of the Northeast Tolkien Society, 2002-present
Editor-in-Chief
The Gathering of the Fellowship, 2003
Academic Programming Coordinator
The Gathering of the Fellowship, 2006
Vice-President, Director of Programming
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
• College of Staten Island Merit Scholarship (College of Staten Island Grant 2008) $2200
• Ford Colloquium (Brooklyn College Honors College, research fellowship 1995-1997) $3,000
• Helen Polonski Shakespearean Scholarship (for study at Brooklyn College) $1500
HONORS & AWARDS
• English Department Merit Award (College of Staten Island, 2008)
• “Beyond Bree” Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Study of J.R.R. Tolkien (Readers of “Beyond Bree,” J.R.R. Tolkien Special interest group of American Mensa, 2005)
• Magna Cum Laude (Brooklyn College, 1997)
• Phi Beta Kappa (1997)
• Blanche Edelman Memorial Award for Best Work of Science Fiction or Fantasy (Brooklyn College 1995)
