In Memoriam

Anne Petty (b. 21 May 1945, d. 21 July 2013) was a writer, publisher, longtime Tolkien scholar, and vital presence at many fantasy-related conferences. In advance of the Tolkien boom of the mid-80s and 90s of the last century, Anne was among the early promoters of the value of Tolkien’s work. She took a PhD in English Literature from Florida State University, where she read extensively in folklore and mythology and their attendant critical studies. Her first book on Tolkien, One Ring to Bind Them All: Tolkien’s Mythology, was published in 1979 by University of Alabama Press. In 2005 she was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award for Inklings studies for her 2003 book Tolkien in the Land of Heroes. A tireless supporter of offbeat and experimental work in both prose and poetry, Anne was also an author in her own right, with fantasy novels The Cornerstone, Shaman’s Blood, and Thin Line Between. In 2006 she founded Kitsune Books, a small press devoted to publishing eclectic books “slightly off the beaten path.” In 2012 two Kitsune books were selected as winners for the 2012 President’s Medal of The Florida Publisher’s Association: The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman, edited by Anthony Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen, was awarded the Gold Medal, and Verlyn Flieger’s fantasy novel The Inn at Corbies’ Caww won the Silver Medal. Anne died in Florida in 2013 after a courageous struggle with cancer.

Dinah Hazell (b. 3 June 1942, d. 14 Dec. 2012) was the author of The Plants of Middle-earth: Botany and Sub-creation, published by Kent State University Press in 2006. She was primarily a medievalist specializing in the social context of literature and received her PhD in English from the Union Institute in 1999. As an independent scholar, she wrote a number of articles on medieval literature, including translations from Middle English, and one other book, Poverty in Late Middle English Literature, published by Four Courts Press in 2009. She coedited the online journal Medieval Forum, which she also designed, and she arranged curricula and lectured for a class on Tolkien’s work as epic literature, both in collaboration with her husband, George W. Tuma, professor of English at San Francisco State University. She died in Menlo Park, California, in 2012.