Which author was C.S. Lewis’s close friend and fellow Inkling?

J.R.R. Tolkien was C.S. Lewis’s close friend and fellow Inkling.

Lewis and Tolkien met at Oxford and developed a long literary friendship. They shared drafts, discussed mythology and language, and helped sustain the Inklings, an informal group of writers and academics who met mainly at Oxford’s Eagle and Child pub and in Lewis’s college rooms.

Tolkien was a Roman Catholic and Lewis was an Anglican, but their friendship included extensive conversations about Christianity. Tolkien’s influence was especially significant in Lewis’s return to Christian belief, although Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development involved several other influences as well. Their famous books, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, were written independently and are not a shared series.