Who Wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia”
“The Chronicles of Narnia” is a series of children’s fantasy novels set in the fictional land of Narnia. It has remained popular since the first of the seven books was published in 1950. Over 100 million copies have been sold and it has been translated into almost 50 languages as well as Braille. Although each book was originally published separately, most modern versions include the entire seven stories. Since the last book was published in 1956 the series has never been out of print. There have been a number of adaptations of the series, including radio plays, stage shows, television series and big budget films. This has led to an increased popularity in the work. Let’s find out who wrote this popular fantasy series.
Who wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia”?
(original image by Arthur Strong)
“The Chronicles of Narnia” was written by the British author C. S. Lewis. He began work on the series in 1939, but did not finish his first novel, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, until 1949. The idea for the story began when he was 16 with a picture in his mind of a Faun with an umbrella and parcels in the woods covered with snow. Later in life, he decided to make a story out of this idea after three children had come to live in his home after being evacuated from London in anticipation of attacks during World War II.
The books were not published in the order that Lewis had written them or in chronological order. This has led to much debate about the correct order of reading the series. The chronological order is as follows (with the publication order in brackets):
The Magician’s Nephew (6th)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1st)
The Horse and His Boy (5th)
Prince Caspian (2nd)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (3rd)
The Silver Chair (4th)
The Last Battle (7th)
Did you know?
C. S. Lewis was great friends with fellow fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien and they both worked at Oxford University together.
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