J.R.R. Tolkien helped form The Inklings, an informal Oxford literary discussion group. The group met during the 1930s and 1940s, often at the Eagle and Child pub or in members’ college rooms, to read aloud and discuss works in progress.
C.S. Lewis was another central member, and the group also included Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Warren Lewis among others. Tolkien read portions of The Lord of the Rings to the group while developing the work, making the meetings part of the book’s creative history.
The Inklings were not a formal society with a published manifesto or fixed membership list. Their importance came from conversation, criticism, friendship, and shared interest in myth, literature, Christianity, and imaginative writing. The name was already associated with an Oxford group before Tolkien became one of its best-known members.