The Inklings was the Oxford literary society that C.S. Lewis helped establish for informal discussion in 1933.
The group met regularly in Oxford, often at The Eagle and Child pub, which members nicknamed the Bird and Baby, and sometimes in Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College. Participants read drafts of works aloud and discussed literature, mythology, theology, and language.
J.R.R. Tolkien was among the best-known members, and Charles Williams and Owen Barfield were also important participants. The Inklings was not a formal university club with fixed membership or a published manifesto; it was a shifting circle of friends and writers.
The name is sometimes applied to every Oxford writer associated with Lewis, but membership varied over time. Its significance lies in the criticism and encouragement its members gave one another while developing major works of twentieth-century literature.