Which informal literary group did J.R.R. Tolkien co-found at Oxford?

J.R.R. Tolkien co-founded The Inklings, an informal literary discussion group at Oxford.

The Inklings met mainly at Oxford’s Eagle and Child pub, known to members as the Bird and Baby, and also in college rooms. The group was not a formal society with a fixed membership list; it was a circle of writers and scholars who read drafts aloud, discussed literature, and offered criticism.

C.S. Lewis was the group’s other most famous member, and Charles Williams and Owen Barfield were also important participants. Tolkien read portions of The Lord of the Rings to fellow Inklings while the work was being written, making the group part of the novel’s creative history.

The Inklings are sometimes mistaken for an organized literary movement or publishing association. In reality, their influence came from regular conversation and mutual reading. Their meetings connected Christian thought, myth, philology, poetry, and imaginative fiction in a particularly Oxford setting.