Portal:Northern Ireland/Selected biography/2
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898–22 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, and by his friends as Jack, was an Irish author and scholar of mixed Irish, English, and Welsh ancestry. Born into a Church of Ireland family in Belfast, he was resident in England throughout his adult life. Lewis is known for his work on medieval literature, for his Christian apologetics and for his fiction, especially the children’s series entitled The Chronicles of Narnia and his science fiction Space Trilogy. He was also a leading figure in an Oxford literary group called the Inklings.
In 1916 Lewis won a scholarship to University College, Oxford during World War I. He enlisted in the British Army in 1917. He was commissioned as an officer in the third Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Lewis arrived at the front line in the Somme Valley in France on his nineteenth birthday.