Dimitra Fimi

{{Infobox academic

| name = Dimitra Fimi

| image = Dimitra Fimi 2020.jpg

| caption = Dimitra in 2020

| birth_date = 2 June 1978

| alma_mater = Cardiff University

| main_interests = Folklore, Celtic mythology

| known_for = Tolkien scholarship

| notable_works = Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History

}}

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 in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Profile for Dr Dimitra Fimi - The Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy, Cardiff Metropolitan University |url=http://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/education/staff/Pages/Dr-Dimitra-Fimi.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507153454/http://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/education/staff/Pages/Dr-Dimitra-Fimi.aspx |archive-date=2018-05-07 |access-date=5 June 2024}}{{Cite web |title=University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Critical Studies - Our staff - Dr Dimitra Fimi |url=https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/staff/dimitrafimi/ |website=www.gla.ac.uk}} Her field of research includes the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and children's fantasy literature.

Biography

= Early life =

From the island of Salamis in the Greek region of Attica, 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 in 2000 before completing her MA in Early Celtic Studies (2002) and PhD in English Literature (2005) at Cardiff University.

= Career =

From 2009 to 2018, she was a lecturer in English at Cardiff Metropolitan University, having previously taught at Cardiff University and the Open University. In September 2018 she was appointed Lecturer in Fantasy and Children's Literature at the University of Glasgow, 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 University of Glasgow,{{Cite web |title=Core Team Bios: Dr Dimitra Fimi], School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow |url=https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/research/researchclusters/fanstasyatglasgow/core-team-and-members/}} to lecture on fantasy and children's literature. She is a Visiting Lecturer in English Literature at Signum University, an online learning facility.{{Cite web |title=Dimitra Fimi |url=https://signumuniversity.org/people/dimitra-fimi/ |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Signum University}}

= Tolkien scholar =

Her doctoral thesis on the vexed{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Ed |date=27 November 2018 |title=JRR Tolkien's orcs are no more racist than George Lucas's Stormtroopers |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/jrr-tolkiens-orcs-no-racist-george-lucass-stormtroopers/ |access-date=20 January 2021}} issue of Tolkien and race was published as the monograph Tolkien, Race and Cultural History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). It won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings 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.{{cite web |last1=Helen |first1=Daniel |title=Winners of The Tolkien Society Awards 2017 announced |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2017/04/winners-of-the-tolkien-society-awards-2017-announced |access-date=19 January 2024 |date=25 April 2017 |quote=Best Book WINNER: A Secret Vice, ed. Dimitra Fimi and Andy Higgins}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy announced as runner-up for Katharine Briggs Folklore Award |url=http://dimitrafimi.com/2017/11/12/celtic-myth-in-contemporary-childrens-fantasy-announced-as-runner-up-for-katharine-briggs-folklore-award/ |website=dimitrafimi.com}} She was one of the judges of the Wales Book of the Year Award 2017 and was selected for the Welsh Crucible in 2017.{{Cite web |title=Welsh Crucible: Dimitra Fimi |url=https://welshcrucible.org.uk/dimitra-fimi/ |access-date=2022-12-02}} 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 and has written articles for magazines and websites including the Times Literary Supplement and The Conversation. She appears regularly on BBC Radio Wales.{{Cite web |title=Dimitra Fimi |url=https://theconversation.com/profiles/dimitra-fimi-142231 |website=The Conversation |date=22 October 2014}}

Books

; Written

{{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |title=Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2010 |orig-year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-21951-9 |oclc=222251097 |ref=none}}
Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)

; Edited