Catherine McIlwaine is the Tolkien archivist at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and a Tolkien scholar. She won a World Fantasy Special Award—Professional for curating an exhibition of Tolkien's artwork at the Bodleian, and a Hugo Award and a Tolkien Society Award for the accompanying book, .
Catherine McIlwaine earned her BA in classical civilization at the University of Sheffield in 1989. She completed her MA in archival administration at the University of Liverpool in 1993.[1]
See also: Tolkien's artwork.
In 2003 she became Tolkien archivist at the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford.[1] In 2018, McIlwaine curated a major exhibition of Tolkien's artwork at the Bodleian, , accompanied by a book of the same name that analyses Tolkien's achievement and illustrates the full range of the types of artwork that he created.[1] Denis Bridoux, reviewing the book for Tolkien Studies, calls it "a mammoth endeavor and ... a tremendous achievement." He describes it as "an invaluable document". He notes that it is scholarly, while the companion book Treasures is aesthetic; he calls the two complementary, and recommends newcomers to buy both.[2] Andoni Cossio, writing in Fafnir, describes McIlwaine as "an authoritative editor".[3] Hugh Crago, reviewing for the Children's Literature Association, calls the book "well organized [and] well written".[4]
In 2019, McIlwaine won a World Fantasy Special Award—Professional for curating the Bodleian's Tolkien exhibition.[5] Also in 2019, she won a Hugo Award for Best Art Book and a Tolkien Society Award for Tolkien, Maker of Middle-earth.[6] [7]