Which author did C.S. Lewis meet at Oxford and later count among the Inklings?

C.S. Lewis met J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford and later counted him among the Inklings.

The Inklings were an informal Oxford literary discussion group whose members met mainly during the 1930s and 1940s. Lewis and Tolkien were central figures in the group, along with writers such as Charles Williams and Owen Barfield. Members read drafts aloud, discussed literature, and challenged one another’s ideas.

Lewis and Tolkien both taught at Oxford and shared a deep interest in language, myth, medieval literature, and Christianity. Their friendship influenced their intellectual lives, although they did not agree on every literary or religious question. Tolkien’s work on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings developed alongside Lewis’s writing of Narnia and his apologetic books.

The group’s name is sometimes mistakenly treated as the title of a formal society or a fixed membership organization. It was more accurately an informal network of friends and writers. Their regular meeting place was The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, popularly known as the Bird and Baby, though the group also met in college rooms and other locations.