C.S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), to Albert Lewis, a solicitor, and Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis. Known to family and friends as “Jack,” Lewis displayed an extraordinary imagination from childhood, collaborating with his brother Warren to create an elaborate fantasy world called Boxen. Tragedy struck early when his mother died of cancer in 1908, an event that profoundly shaped his worldview and eventually his faith journey. He went on to study at Oxford University, where he excelled, and later became a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, before moving to Cambridge as a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature.
Lewis’s career as a writer was as varied as it was prolific. He served in World War I, was wounded at the Battle of Arras, and returned to Oxford with a deepened sense of mortality and meaning. Initially an atheist, Lewis underwent a gradual conversion to Christianity in his early thirties, an intellectual and spiritual journey he later described in his autobiography Surprised by Joy (1955). His friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien and the group of literary friends known as the Inklings was instrumental in this transformation and in his development as a writer of imaginative fiction.
Lewis is best known worldwide for The Chronicles of Narnia, a seven-book series beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950). These beloved fantasies follow children who discover a magical world through an enchanted wardrobe, and they weave Christian allegory into richly imagined adventures filled with talking animals, epic battles between good and evil, and the unforgettable lion Aslan. The series has sold over 100 million copies and been adapted for stage, screen, and radio. Beyond children’s fiction, Lewis wrote influential works of Christian apologetics including Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Problem of Pain, as well as science fiction, literary criticism, and poetry.
Lewis’s writing style is celebrated for its clarity, wit, and ability to make complex ideas accessible and vivid. He possessed a rare gift for metaphor and analogy, grounding abstract theological and philosophical concepts in concrete, imaginative terms that resonate with readers of all ages. His work continues to be read and cherished decades after his death on November 22, 1963 — the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. C.S. Lewis remains one of the most beloved and influential authors of the twentieth century, and his legacy endures through millions of readers who first discovered the magic of literature through the wardrobe door into Narnia.