Children Of Hurin

The Children of Hurin
Available Now!
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Set during the legendary time before The Lord of the Rings…
Become the official Tolkien website narrator and win a Deluxe Edition of The Children of Hurin exclusively signed by Christopher Tolkien and illustrator Alan Lee
His works have graced the page, the big screen and are soon to feature on the West End stage… now it’s your turn to get involved and narrate one of J.R.R.Tolkien’s masterpieces, The Children of Hurin.
Simply email an audio or video file of you reading an extract from your favourite Tolkien book and you could win the chance to record an exclusive extract from The Children of Hurin and have it hosted on the official Tolkien website.
For all you hopeful narrators out there, there will be a voting system to pick the winner and it will be split into two stages.
After submission, your efforts will be posted on the Children Of Hurin MySpace profile, where your fellow MySpacer’s can vote for their fave. The second stage sees the literary bigwigs at HarperCollins cast their vote and the winner will be chosen.
Interested? Well clear your throat, keep a glass of water handy… then enter the competition by clicking HERE
Please note: creativity will be rewarded!!
TOLKIEN MY SPACE COMPETITION T&C’s
To enter the competition for a chance to become the official Tolkien website narrator and win a Deluxe Edition of The Children of Hurin exclusively signed by Christopher Tolkien and illustrator Alan Lee you must enter via the worldwideweb at www.myspace.com/childrenofhurin
1. One competition prize winner will receive the opportunity for become the official Tolkien website narrator. Prize requires/includes:
a) The winner will record a pre-set passage from The Children of Hurin to feature as an audio stream on www.tolkien.co.uk
b) A copy of the deluxe edition of The Children of Hurin signed by both the author Christopher Tolkien and the illustrator Alan Lee
2. The Prize is as stated. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, HarperCollins reserves the right to offer an alternative prize of equal value.
3. The prize is non-redeemable for cash and non-transferable.
4. The closing date for the competition is midnight on the 31st May 2007. Any entries received after this time will not be entered into the competition.
5. The competition is open to UK residents, aged 14 and over, excluding employees, their families and agents of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
6. Only one entrant per person. Multiple entries may lead to disqualification. Entries from 3rd parties or agents are invalid. No proof of purchase is necessary.
7. HarperCollins takes no responsibility for any entries which are lost, delayed, illegible, corrupted, damaged, incomplete or otherwise invalid. Entries will not be acknowledged.
8. Any breach of these competition rules by an entrant will void their entry.
9. The winner will be drawn at random on the 1st June 2007 and the winner will be notified by text message, email, telephone or post by HarperCollins within 14 days of the draw. If the winner cannot be contacted within that time, the prize will be withdrawn.
10. The competition and the fulfillment of the prize are handled by The Marketing Department, HarperNonFiction, HarperCollins Publishers, 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB. All enquires should be referred to the competition organizer at the above address.
11. HarperCollins decision as to who has won the competition shall be final and HarperCollins will not enter into any correspondence relating to the winning entries.
12. Entrants accept that if they win, HarperCollins will have the right, without additional payment or permission, to use their name for the purpose of announcing the winner of this competition and for related promotional purposes.
13. HarperCollins reserves the right to cancel the competition prize draw at any stage.
14. HarperCollins excludes all liability, so far as is permitted by law, which may arise in connection with the competition and the competition prizes.
15. Any dispute in relation to this competition shall be subject to the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of English Courts.
16. By entering the competition you are confirming you have read and accepted these terms and conditions

First there was The Hobbit.
Then came The Lord of the Rings.
Now, comes J.R.R. Tolkien’s oldest story of Middle Earth …
with all the magic, adventure and extraordinary depth of imagination that has made you love his stories.
Join us in celebrating the world wide launch of The Children of Hurin
J R R TOLKIEN’S
THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN
Edited by Christopher Tolkien; Illustrated by Alan Lee
LAUNCH EVENT HELD ON
TUESDAY 17th APRIL
at Waterstones, 203 Piccadilly, W1
From 10am – 3pm
Photocall at 12.15pm
WHAT’S ON
- Interviews available with Oscar Award Winning illustrator Alan Lee
- Unique reading from The Children of Hurin by actor Bernard Hill (- King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings films). To be followed by interview opportunities
- Stunning characters from The Lord of the Rings stage show including Orcs and Superorcs will also be on hand to entertain.
- First 50 customers in the queue can buy copies pre-signed by Christopher Tolkien (JRR Tolkien’s son)
- Tolkien Q&A with Alan Lee and David Brawn, Publishing Director of HarperCollins
- Booking signing: Bernard Hill and Alan Lee will be signing copies of The Children of Hurin
- Alan Lee gives an illustrated talk about his involvement with Tolkien’s works including The Children of Húrin and the Oscar winning Lord of the Rings films
The Children of Húrin is the long awaited new novel from J R R Tolkien which has been painstakingly edited by Christopher Tolkien from his father’s many drafts. Presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin, reunites Tolkien readers with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. The Children of Húrin, was begun in 1918 and was one of three ‘Great Tales’ J R R Tolkien worked on throughout his life, though he never realised his ambition to see it published. This book represents the culmination of a tireless thirty-year endeavour by his son to bring Tolkien’s vast body of unpublished work to a wide audience.
Q: How did The Children of Húrin come about?
The Children of Húrin, begun in 1918, was one of three ‘Great Tales’ J.R.R. Tolkien worked on throughout his life, though he never realised his ambition to see it published in his lifetime. Some of the text will be familiar to fans from extracts and references within other Tolkien books but this is the first time the entire story has been presented in its complete form.
Adam Tolkien elaborated in a recent interview: ‘It is a new reworking of the complete story. Many parts of the text will be – if not identical – recognizable to the knowledgeable reader, but there are also pieces that have never appeared before. Also the format of the text, as a standalone and complete text with no editorial commentary to interrupt the tale, should in itself and in my opinion considerably transform the reading experience.
‘The text as a whole can be said to be “new” as it is a recomposition of published texts and other “pieces” that weren’t published previously. The completed puzzle, in a sense.’
Q: What is Christopher’s contribution to the book?
Christopher Tolkien has painstakingly edited together the complete work from his father’s many drafts, and this book is the culmination of a tireless thirty-year endeavour by him to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s vast body of unpublished work to a wide audience.
Christopher Tolkien says: “It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father’s long version of the legend of The Children of Húrin as an independent work, between its own covers, with a minimum of editorial presence, and above all in continuous narrative without gaps or interruptions, if this could be done without distortion or invention, despite the unfinished state in which he left some parts of it.”
Having drawn the distinctive maps for The Lord of the Rings more than 50 years ago, Christopher has also created a detailed new map for this book.
Adam continues: ‘The text of The Children of Húrin is entirely in the author’s (so J.R.R. Tolkien’s) words – apart from very minor reworkings of a grammatical and stylistic nature. Christopher’s work has been to produce a text that is a faithful rendition of his father’s writings – using many sources spaced out over decades.’
Q: What is Alan Lee’s involvement in the book?
In addition to the text The Children of Húrin will include a jacket, colour paintings and pencil drawings by Alan Lee, illustrator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Centenary Edition and Oscar®-winning designer of the film trilogy.
The eight paintings, together with the dramatic front cover illustration and 25 drawings, have been a real labour of love for the artist. He says of his work, ‘It is always a privilege being asked to illustrate the work of such a distinguished and well-loved author. I had already worked on illustrations for editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings for HarperCollins so was familiar with the particular challenge of interpreting the characters and places unique to Tolkien. Illustrating The Children of Húrin was quite a responsibility but I hope that I have produced artwork that will successfully complement this wonderful tale for the reader.’
Click HERE to download
The Children of Húrin book jacket!