The Oxford literary group co-founded by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien was called the Inklings.
The Inklings were an informal circle of writers, scholars, and friends associated with the University of Oxford. They met regularly to discuss literature, religion, and works in progress, often reading passages aloud for criticism and encouragement.
Lewis and Tolkien were among the group’s best-known members, but the Inklings also included Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Warren Lewis, and Hugo Dyson. Their meetings were especially associated with Oxford venues such as The Eagle and Child pub, nicknamed “The Bird and Baby.”
The group was not a formal society with a fixed membership or published constitution. Its importance comes from the creative exchange among its members, whose discussions overlapped with the development of works such as Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The name is sometimes mistakenly treated as a school or university organization, but it was primarily a private literary fellowship.