The informal literary circle that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien was called the Inklings.
The group met mainly in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s. Members read aloud from works in progress, discussed literature, and exchanged criticism. Lewis and Tolkien were its best-known participants, but the circle also included writers such as Charles Williams and Owen Barfield.
The Inklings had no formal constitution or membership list in the style of a society. Its name was adopted from an earlier student literary group and also suggested people who had “inklings” of ideas. Meetings were associated with Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College and with the Eagle and Child pub, known to members as the Bird and Baby.
The Inklings did not write The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings collectively. Their importance came from conversation, encouragement, and criticism during the development of those authors’ works.