Which writer and friend co-founded the Inklings with C.S. Lewis at Oxford?

J.R.R. Tolkien was the writer and friend who helped form the Inklings with C.S. Lewis at Oxford. The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group rather than a formally chartered society.

The group met in Oxford, often at the Eagle and Child pub, known to members as the Bird and Baby, and in college rooms. Members read drafts aloud and discussed fiction, poetry, mythology, and Christian themes. Tolkien’s developing work on The Lord of the Rings was among the manuscripts associated with this circle.

Charles Williams and Owen Barfield were also important members, which can make the group’s beginnings seem like a single-person founding event. The Inklings evolved over time, but Lewis and Tolkien are its most famous central figures.