The Inklings was the literary discussion group associated with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Inklings was an informal group of writers and scholars who met mainly in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s. Lewis and Tolkien were among its best-known members, and the group also included figures such as Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Warren Lewis. Members read aloud from works in progress and discussed literature, mythology, language, and ideas.
The group was not a formal society with a fixed constitution or membership list. Its meetings took place in locations including college rooms and the Eagle and Child pub, which the members called the Bird and Baby. Reading drafts aloud allowed participants to receive criticism before publication.
The name is sometimes mistaken for a publishing organization or a university department. The Inklings was neither. It was a social and intellectual circle whose conversations helped connect several major twentieth-century writers, especially Lewis and Tolkien.