His full name was Clive Staples Lewis, but his friends all called him 'Jack'
C S Lewis belonged to a group of writers called the 'Inklings' (with his friend JRR Tolkien)
He was inspired to write the Narnia books when some children were sent to stay with him during World War II.
C S Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898. He came from a bookish family and, as a child, was more at home in the world of books and ideas than the real world of work and machines.
His quiet world was shattered when his mother died when he was only 10. He tried to find refuge in schoolwork and storytelling. The schoolwork paid off and he became a Professor at university.
Later on in life he became interested in the big questions of life and death (metaphysics) and as an adult became a devout Christian.
At university he was one of a group of writers interested in science-fiction and fantasy called the Inklings. They met in a local pub called The Eagle and Child to talk about their latest books. The Lord of the Rings author, J R R Tolkien was also a member.
Lewis began the Narnia books in 1950, but he first had the idea much, much earlier. "At first, they were not a story, just pictures" wrote C. S. Lewis. When he was a boy he had remembered an image of a faun (a kind of fairy with a goats legs and tail) carrying parcels and an umbrella in a snow-covered wood coming to him. This image stayed with him all his life.
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The story he began for the Kiln children became The Chronicles of Narnia.
