Clive Staples Lewis was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954 and held the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University until his retirement. Lewis is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, including Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Lewis was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings. Both men served on the English faculty at Oxford University and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings. According to Lewis's memoir Surprised by Joy, he was baptized in the Church of Ireland but fell away from his faith during adolescence. However, he returned to Anglicanism at the age of 32, influenced by Tolkien and other friends, becoming an "ordinary layman of the Church of England". His faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

Lewis wrote more than 30 books, translated into more than 30 languages, selling millions of copies. The Chronicles of Narnia series has been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema. In 1956, Lewis married American writer Joy Davidman; she died of cancer four years later. Lewis himself died on 22 November 1963 from kidney failure.

In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honored with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.