C S Lewis

C S LEWIS. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a medievalist ,Christian apologist , literary critic , academic ,radio broadcaster and essayist best known for his fictional writing including The Screwtape Letters / The Space Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia. A brilliant academic he taught as a fellow at Magdalen College Oxford (1925-1954) and later at Cambridge ; he was a member of "The Inklings" an informal Oxford literary group along with his close friend J R R Tolkein. His conversion to Christianity had a profound influence on his work and his wartime radio broadcasts brought him wide acclaim. He died aged 64 on 22nd November 1963 however media coverage of his death was completely overshadowed by the assassination of President J F Kennedy on the same day. His "Chronicles of Narnia" is a series of seven childrens fantasy books written between 1949-1954 ; these have to date so far been converted into 41 languages and sold over 100 million copies. The first two books have recently become very succesful high budget films ; "The Lion Witch and Wardrobe" 2005 / "Prince Caspian" 2008 and the next due for release in 2010.