The Inklings was the Oxford literary discussion group that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
The Inklings met mainly in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s. Members read works in progress aloud and discussed literature, religion, mythology, and writing. Tolkien shared drafts connected with The Lord of the Rings, while Lewis developed parts of his own fiction and criticism within the same broad circle.
The group was informal rather than a university society with a fixed membership list. Its best-known meeting places included Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College and the Eagle and Child pub, often called the Bird and Baby. Other associated writers included Charles Williams and Owen Barfield.
The Inklings did not write Tolkien’s books for him, and their members did not agree on every artistic or religious question. Their importance lies in sustained friendship, criticism, and oral reading. Those exchanges gave Tolkien a sympathetic audience while he worked through the exceptionally long composition of The Lord of the Rings.