C. S. Lewis 1898 – 1963

Biography

C. S. Lewis was a British writer and scholar best known for The Chronicles of Narnia. Born in Belfast in 1898, he won a scholarship to Oxford, served in the First World War, and became a fellow and tutor in English at Magdalen College, where he was part of the Inklings literary group with J. R. R. Tolkien. His conversion from atheism to Christianity shaped much of his work, including Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and his science-fiction trilogy. Between 1950 and 1956 he published the seven Narnia books, which have sold more than a hundred million copies and enchanted generations of children. He later wrote A Grief Observed after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman. He died at his Oxford home in 1963. His books remain in print in dozens of languages, and Narnia has been adapted for stage, radio, television, and film, enchanting new generations.