The Inklings

The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group. It's members included several noted authors, most famously CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Poet Hugo Dyson and author Charles Williams were also members. Dorothy L Sayers is sometimes referred to as a member; while she was friends with Lewis and Tolkien, university literary groups in that era were male-only.

Readings and discussions of members' works in progress was the primary purpose of the group. As a result, many works, including The Lord of the Rings, were first shared within this group of friends. Because of this close association between the authors and their familiarity with each other's work, influences can be seen between them and even shoutouts to (at the time) unpublished works.