CS Lewis biography

C.S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, also known as Jack was born in the Northern Irish town of Belfast in 1898. He was one of two boys born to his father Albert J. Lewis and his mother Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis, his brother Warren Hamilton Lewis was born in 1895. His upbringing was comfortable and the library of the family home was full of books that the young Lewis enjoyed reading. CS Lewis endured as difficult as year as can be imaged when, in 1908, his mother, father and brother all died.

After Lewis's mother's death in 1908, he was sent to boarding school in England. CS Lewis attended Oxford University between April 1917 and September 1917 but the arrival of his 19th birthday and the fact that the the First World War was still raging saw CS Lewis join the front line and witness that horror that was the Somme. He was wounded during the Battle of Arras in April 1918 and was assigned in Andover, England until the end of the war. He was discharged from the armed forces in December 1919.

CS Lewis returned to Oxford University to study Greek, English and Latin literature plus philosophy and ancient history in which he graduated with first class honours. It was during this time at Oxford that he became a good friend of a certain Professor JRR Tolkien and they set up a literature group together called "The Inklings". After spending twenty nine years at Oxford University he became, in 1955, a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University.

In 1933, CS Lewis had his first book published, it was entitled Pilgrim's Regress and this was a tale of his spiritual faith. The Allegory of Love followed in 1936 and Out of the Silent Planet in 1938. The Second World War (1939 - 1945) then followed.

In the period between 1950 and 1956, Lewis wrote the books that he will always be best remembered for, The Chronicles of Narnia, which contained six books which began with the publication of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and was completed by The Last Battle. These books have sold over 100 million copies and are amongst the most loved in children's fiction.

After the publication of The Last Battle in 1956 he married his wife Joy. Helen Joy Davidman was an American writer, communist and athiest. It was thought at the time that the marriage between Joy and CS Lewis was a marriage of convenience as it allowed Joy to claim UK citizenship and avoid deportation. However, the marriage proved strong and in time they sought a Christian marriage, their original marriage had been civil. The Christian marriage was performed beside Joy's hospital bed and the 21st March 1956 with time of an essense due to Joy's poor health. Although Joy did recover for a while she died four years later.

Joy died of cancer in 1960 and Lewis's own health also began to suffer. He died in 1963, aged 64, on the same day as President J. F. Kennedy.

CS Lewis inspiration

In 1916 CS Lewis first read Phantastes by George MacDonald which had a profound effect on his faith and his writing due to its deep sense of the holy.

CS Lewis timeline

• 1925 - elected Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
• 1929 - became a theist
• 1931 - became a Christian following a conversation with JRR Tolkien
• 1937 - received the Gollancz Memorial Prize for Literature for The Allegory of Love
• 1946 - awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the University of St. Andrews
• 1952 - awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Laval University, Quebec
• 1956 - married Joy Davidman, who at the time was suffering from cancer and thought to be near death. In this year Lewis won the Carnegie Medal for The Last Battle
• 1958 - awarded the Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford
• 1959 - awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by the University of Manchester.
• 1960 - Joy died of cancer on July the 13th, aged 45
• 1963 - CS Lewis died one week before his 65th birthday on Friday the 22nd of November, the very same day that President Kennedy was assassinated. He was laid to rest within the grounds of Holy Trinity Church, Oxford

CS Lewis Foundation ... Living the Legacy - Inspired by the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis, our mission is to advance the renewal of Christian thought and creative expression throughout the world of learning and the culture at large.

CS Lewis books

• The Magician's Nephew
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle

Latest news: CS Lewis

See The Hobbit brought to life in Edinburgh this March
Bilbo Baggins, a quiet and contented Hobbit, has his life turned upside down when he is chosen by Gandalf the Sorcerer to join Thorin Oakenshield, exiled King of the Dwarves, on his quest to reclaim their kingdom and treasure. JRR Tolkien’s classic children’s tale is being brought to life with a th [...]

Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy to open this month
This month will see the launch of the new Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, a project which will explore the importance of fairy takes in literary and culture. Professor Bill Gray, an English lecturer at the University of Chichester, is the brainchild behind the centre that will [...]

News of the first ever CS Lewis conference to be held in France
A call for papers on CS Lewis, His Friends and Associates: Questions of Identity has been issued. An international conference, to be held June 2-3, 2011 at the Lille Catholic University, will be the first of its kind in France. The deadline for proposals is June 5, 2010. You can find more informatio [...]

CS Lewis College to be built in honour of Narnia author
C.S. Lewis is having a college created in his name and it will be located on the  sprawling 217-acre campus of a former New England boarding school. The C.S. Lewis Foundation has long been considering several locations throughout the United States for the C.S. Lewis College and finally settled [...]

The Gruffalo voted favourite bedtime story by Radio 2 listeners
Listeners to BBC Radio 2 have voted Julia Donaldson's timeless children's tale The Gruffalo as the nation's favourite bedtime story. Nearly 20,000 listeners voted from a shortlist of eight books and the Gruffalo received around one-fifth of the vote. A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh came second and Eric [...]

Tolkien festival to be held in Wales
The influence the Welsh language had on JRR Tolkien is to form part of a major new festival to honour the author. The Festival in the Shire will celebrate themes inspired by Tolkien, whose novels included The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and is the brainchild of local book dealer Mark Faith. [...]

Stephen Hunt to guest star at SFX Weekender
British fans gearing up for the Weekender (the UK equivalent of the Comic-Con), have been given the news that Stephen Hunt will now be appearing with genre stars such as John Barrowman (Torchwood), James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville), Lis Sladen (Doctor Who) and a number of the wor [...]

Puffin Ireland established to unearth new breed of young children's authors
Puffin, the children's imprint of the Penguin publishing group, is setting up in Ireland. Michael McLoughlin, the Penguin Ireland managing director believes that the wealth of talented authors on the Emerald Isle can create the best-selling young children's books of the future, both in Ireland and [...]

The Chronicles of CS Lewis Conference: August 14-15 2009
The producer of the widely popular Narnia films is joining forces with the author of The Shack to celebrate the life and legacy of legendary Christian author CS Lewis. The Chronicles of CS Lewis Conference, which will be held August 14-15 at Northland, A Church Distributed, Longwood, Fla., will giv [...]

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Concept Art
A new DVD for Prince Caspian, released in the UK last week, includes a brief glimpse of the work that has been done so far on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The fifth book in the Chronicles of Narnia sees Edmund and Lucy back in Narnia along with their beastly cousin Eustace. A sea-faring tale [...]

CS Lewis interviews

The last interview that Professor Lewis gave was to the X in May 1963. This is a Christian web site and the questions and answers reflect this. This makes interesting reading.
C.S. Lewis - his last interview