The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends

Cover of the 2006 edition, showing Lewis, Tolkien, and Charles Williams (left to right)
The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends
Author	Humphrey Carpenter
Media type(s)	Hardcover, paperback, audiobook
Released	1979 (initially), 1981, 1997, 2006
Publisher	Allen & Unwin, Ballantine Books, HarperCollins
ISBN 0007748698
ISBN 978-0007748693

The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends is a biography of the literary circle of J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and their imaginative friends that met between the 1930s and 1949, sharing and criticizing each others' creative endeavors.

Written by Humphrey Carpenter, author of the first official biography focused on Tolkien, it was published in 1979 by Allen & Unwin and 1981 by Ballantine Books. Later, an audiobook, read by Bernard Mayes, and a second paperback edition were released in 1997, and a newer edition was released by HarperCollins in 2006.

The book was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award in 1980 by the British Society of Authors.

The book includes a long poem that Tolkien wrote about his opinion of Charles Williams.

External links

• Thriftbooks page (1981 paperback)
• Amazon.com (all editions)
• AbeBooks (early editions)

See also

• The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
• The Inklings, the Victorians, and the Moderns
• The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings
• Tolkien and the Great War