Clive Staples Lewis was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. He was born on 29 November 1898 in Belfast, Ireland, and passed away on 22 November 1963 in Oxford, England.

Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalene College, Cambridge (1954–1963).

He is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, as well as 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 served on the English faculty at Oxford University and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings. His faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

He was married to American writer Joy Davidman in 1956; she died of cancer four years later. Lewis died from kidney failure at the age of 64. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honoured with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.