C. S. Lewis

Hello! My name is Clive Staples Lewis, but you can call me Jack. That's what I asked everyone to call me ever since I was a little boy. I was born on November 29th, 1898, in a city called Belfast in Ireland. I had a brother named Warnie, and we had the most wonderful childhood adventures right in our own home. We spent hours reading books and creating our own imaginary world called Boxen. It was a marvelous place, filled with talking animals and grand adventures that we wrote down in little notebooks. When I was nine years old, in 1908, something very sad happened: my dear mother passed away. After that, books and the stories I could get lost in became my greatest comfort.

When I grew older, my family sent me to boarding school in England. I studied very hard and eventually earned a place at the famous University of Oxford in 1917. But just as I was starting my studies, a huge conflict called the First World War began, and I knew I had to go and be a soldier. I traveled to France, and it was a very frightening experience, but I made it through safely. When the war finally ended in 1918, I was so happy to return to Oxford. I loved learning and discussing ideas so much that after I finished my own studies, I stayed and became a professor, which some people called a 'don,' in 1925. It was at Oxford that I met one of my very best friends, another professor named J. R. R. Tolkien, who loved myths and ancient stories just as much as I did.

My friend, whom I often called 'Tollers,' and I were part of a small writing group we named 'The Inklings.' We would meet together, often at the university or in a cozy local pub, and take turns reading our newest stories aloud to one another. It was in this group that I first shared many of my ideas, and Tollers shared his amazing tales about creatures called hobbits! For much of my young life, I wasn't quite sure what I believed about God. But my long conversations with Tollers and my other friends helped me think very deeply about my faith. In 1931, I made the important decision to become a Christian, and this choice would inspire and shape my writing for the rest of my life.

Many years later, during another terrible conflict, the Second World War, many children were sent from the big cities like London to stay in the countryside where it was safer. Some of those children even came to stay in my home. Seeing them there sparked an idea in my imagination. I had a picture in my mind that I just couldn't forget: a faun carrying an umbrella and several parcels walking through a snowy wood. I decided to write a story about that image, and it grew and grew until it became my book, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' which was published in 1950. I created a whole magical land called Narnia, a world full of talking beasts, dwarves, and giants. The true king of Narnia was the great and noble lion, Aslan. I went on to write seven books about the adventures of children who visit Narnia, and I hoped each story would be filled with courage, friendship, and a sense of wonder.

I spent many happy years teaching, first at Oxford and then, starting in 1954, at Cambridge University. In 1956, I married a wonderful American writer named Joy Davidman. I lived to be 64 years old. I am so glad that my stories, especially the ones about the magical land of Narnia, are still being read by children and families all over the world. I hope that whenever you open one of my books, you feel a little bit of the magic I felt while writing it, and that for a little while, you are transported to a world of adventure.