LEWIS, C.S. (1898-1963). The death of C.S. Lewis on Nov. 22, 1963, was not much noticed at the time, because it occurred on the same day as the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Yet for three decades Lewis had been one of the most widely read authors on Christian teaching in the Western world.

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on Nov. 29, 1898. He was educated by private tutor and then at Malvern College in England for a year before attending University College, Oxford, in 1916. His education was interrupted by service in World War I. In 1918 he returned to Oxford where he did outstanding work as a classical scholar. He taught at Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1954, and from 1954 until his death in Oxford he was professor of medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University in Cambridge. He was highly respected in his field of study, both as a teacher and writer. His book 'The Allegory of Love: a Study in Medieval Tradition', published in 1936, is considered by many to be his best work.

It was as an apologist for Christianity that Lewis gained his greatest audience. In his attempt to formulate a core of Christian understanding, Lewis wrote a number of highly readable books--intelligent, imaginative, and often witty. Among these were: 'The Pilgrim's Regress', published in 1933, 'The Problem of Pain' (1940), 'Miracles' (1947), and 'The Screwtape Letters' (1942), probably his most popular work. He also wrote a trilogy of religious science fiction novels: 'Out of the Silent Planet' (1938), 'Perelandra' (1943), and 'That Hideous Strength' (1945). For children he wrote a series of seven allegorical tales, beginning with 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' in 1950. His autobiography, 'Surprised by Joy', was published in 1955.

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Excerpted from The Complete Reference Collection

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Born in Ireland in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis gained a triple First at Oxford and was Fellow and Tutor at Magdalen College from 1925-54, where among others he was a contemporary of Tolkien. In 1954 he became Professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. Although an atheist for many years, he was to become one of the most gifted and influential Christian writers of our time, and the celebrated author of the Narnia chronicles.

For many years C.S. Lewis was an atheist, and described his conversion to Christianity in Surprised By Joy. 'In the Trinity term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God ... perhaps the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.' It was this experience that helped him to understand not only apathy but active unwillingness to accept religion, and, as a Christian writer, gifted with an exceptionally brilliant and logical mind and a lucid, lively style, he was without peer.

Extracts from HarperCollins - Author Biographies.

Lewis is a Welsh name, which means that C S lewis, though born in Ireland, probably had Welsh roots on his Father's side. ( Source: Welsh Webmaster (!) )