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Clive Staples Lewis was born in Ireland on November 29, 1898. His father was Albert Lewis and his mother was Flora Lewis. He had one older brother, Warren Lewis. At the age of four, shortly after his dog Jacksie was hit by a car, Lewis announced that his name was now Jacksie. At first he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jacks which became Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life.

Lewis was initially schooled by private tutors before being sent to the Wynyard School, the same year that his mother died of cancer. His brother had already enrolled there three years previously. The school was closed not long afterwards due to a lack of students.

After Wynyard closed, Lewis attended Campbell College, but he left after a few months due to respiratory problems. As a result of his illness, Lewis was sent to a health-resort town, where he attended a preparatory school. It was during his time at this school that he abandoned his childhood Christian faith and became an atheist, becoming interested in mythology.

Having won a scholarship to University College, in 1916, Lewis enlisted the following year in the British Army’s Light Infantry. Lewis arrived at the front line in France on his nineteenth birthday, and experienced trench warfare. He was discharged in December 1918, and soon returned to his studies. He received a First in Honor Moderations in 1920, a First in Greats in 1922, and a First in English in 1923.

Influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend J. R. R. Tolkien, he slowly rediscovered Christianity. He became a member of the Church of England — somewhat to the disappointment of the Catholic Tolkien, who had hoped he would convert to a Roman Catholic.

In Lewis’s later life, he corresponded with and later met Joy Gresham, an American writer of Jewish background and a convert from atheistic communism to Christianity. She was separated from her husband and came to England with her two sons, David and Douglas. Lewis at first regarded her as an agreeable intellectual companion and personal friend, later; he agreed to enter into a civil marriage contract with her so that she could continue to live in the UK. However, after complaining of a painful hip, she was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, and the relationship developed to the point that they decided to have a Christian marriage. Since she was divorced, this was not straightforward in the Church of England at the time, but a friend, performed the ceremony at Joy’s hospital bed in 1956.

Joy’s cancer soon went into a remarkable yet brief remission, and the couple lived as a family until her eventual death in 1960. Lewis continued to raise Joy’s two sons after her death. Douglas is an active Christian and remains involved in the affairs of the Lewis estate, though David returned to his mother’s original Jewish faith.

In early June 1961, Lewis began experiencing medical problems and was diagnosed with inflammation of the kidneys which resulted in blood poisoning. His illness caused him to miss the autumn term at Cambridge, though his health gradually began improving in 1962 and he returned that April. Lewis was fully himself by the spring of 1963. However, on July 15, 1963 he fell ill and was admitted to hospital. The next day, Lewis suffered a heart attack.

After he was discharged from the hospital, Lewis was too ill to return to work. As a result, he resigned from his post at Cambridge in August. His condition continued to decline and in mid-November, he was diagnosed with end stage renal failure. On November 22, 1963, Lewis collapsed in his bedroom and died a few minutes later, exactly one week before what would have been his 65th birthday. He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Oxford.

In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote a number of popular novels, including his fantasy Narnia books, most dealing with Christian themes such as sin, the Fall, and redemption. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children and is considered a classic of children’s literature. Written between 1949 and 1954, the series is his most popular work having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages. It has been adapted several times, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. The series has been published in several different orders, and the preferred reading order for the series is often debated among fans.

His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim’s Regress, which depicted his own experience with Christianity. Lewis wrote a number of works on Heaven and Hell. Another short work, The Screwtape Letters, consists of letters of advice from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood. His last novel was Till We Have Faces. It is deeply concerned with religious ideas, but the setting is entirely different, and the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.

Lewis continues to attract a wide readership. Readers of his fiction are often unaware of what Lewis considered the Christian themes of the works. Lewis has been the subject of various biographies, a few of which were written by some of his close friends. Many books have been inspired by Lewis, including Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events. A bronze statue of Lewis looking into a wardrobe stands in Ireland’s Hollywood Arches in front of the Hollywood Road Library.