- Profession: Author
- Lived: January 3, 1892 - September 2, 1973
- Nationality: English
- Known for: Author of the Lord of the Rings series, "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion." Considered the father of fantasy and high fantasy literature.
- Fun Fact: Before Tolkien's high fantasy works were published, the fantasy genre had been in decline. He is considered to be responsible for its resurgence.
- Fun Fact: Tolkien was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and a significant factor in Lewis' conversion. Tolkien was disappointed that Lewis joined the Church of England instead of the Catholic Church.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer and professor who is best known for his high fantasy series The Lord of the Rings and the associated works, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, that take place in the same fictional realm, Middle Earth. Tolkien served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. Tolkien was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and a significant factor in Lewis' conversion to Christianity. Like Lewis, Tolkien's novels had Christian influences, though they were more subtle than those found in Lewis' Narnia series. Among those are the resurrection of Gandalf mirroring the resurrection of Christ, the fall of Melkor and Sauron and the fact that the Ring was destroyed exactly nine months before Christmas Day.
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