What was the pen name used by C.S. Lewis for A Grief Observed?

C.S. Lewis used the pen name N.W. Clerk for A Grief Observed.

A Grief Observed was first published in 1961 under the name N.W. Clerk. Lewis chose the pseudonym partly to keep the book from being read immediately as a famous author’s public statement. The work presents raw reflections on grief, faith, anger, doubt, and love after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman.

The pseudonym meant that early readers did not necessarily know who had written the book. After Lewis’s death, later editions appeared under his real name, making its place in his bibliography clear. The text differs in tone from his more systematic apologetic works because it records personal anguish rather than presenting a formal argument.

Joy Davidman died of cancer in 1960. Lewis and Davidman had married in a civil ceremony in 1956 and later received a Christian marriage ceremony. Their relationship is also discussed in the memoir Shadowlands and its screen adaptations.