What was the name of J.R.R. Tolkien’s group of literary friends at Oxford?

J.R.R. Tolkien belonged to the Oxford literary group known as the Inklings.

The Inklings were an informal discussion and reading group associated with the University of Oxford. Members met to read works in progress, discuss literature, and exchange ideas. Tolkien regularly attended with C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and other writers and scholars.

The group was especially active during the 1930s and 1940s. Tolkien read parts of The Lord of the Rings aloud to fellow members while the work was being developed. Their meetings provided an audience for unfinished writing and encouraged sustained literary conversation.

The Inklings were not a formal society with a fixed membership list or published manifesto. The name is therefore different from labels such as the Bloomsbury Group, which refers to another circle of British writers and artists. The group’s influence is best understood through friendship, criticism, and shared reading rather than an official literary program.