Books & Beer: Talking Literature With The Inklings

AbeBooks: Books & Beer: Talking Literature With The Inklings: Oxford has attracted writers for centuries and few cities can rival its literary pedigree. In the 1930s and 1940s, Oxford’s remarkable ability to attract literary talent spawned the Inklings – a very informal but influential literary discussion group.

The Inklings included two of the 20th century’s most popular writers of fiction – J.R.R. Tolkien of Lord of the Rings fame and C.S. Lewis, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. The group is also famous for sometimes meeting in a pub called The Eagle and Child and mixing high-end literary discussion with pints of beer.

The pub, located in the central St Giles area of Oxford and known as the Bird and Baby to the locals, is still around today and anyone (aged 18 and over) can follow in Lewis and Tolkien’s footsteps by buying a bitter (I recommend the Wadworth 6X) and sitting down to talk about literature.