The C.S. Lewis and Inklings Society is now accepting registrations for its twelfth annual meeting on March 26-28, 2009, addressing the theme “Inklings: Dinosaurs or Contemporaries?” and featuring plenary speaker Peter Schakel. See below for more details. Please click here to see the seminar schedule (as a PDF). A detailed schedule will be available mid-February.

In papers and plenary sessions, the conference will explore ways in which C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield and Charles Williams may (or may not) be particularly relevant to the literary, theological, philosophical and socio-political issues of our own early 21st century times. As in previous conferences, we would like to extend the conversation to include Dorothy Sayers as well, and we would like to open the conversation even a bit further this year by including G.K. Chesterton, a strong-minded proto-Inkling of sorts, in the mix. What might this diverse and pleasantly provocative circle of thinkers have to offer to the world of ideas that we find ourselves in?

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Jo-Anna wrote in to remind us about Silver Leaves.  Our very own Jonathon Svendsen has an article in this issue, and we’re very proud of that:

Tolkien-based journal “Silver Leaves” Issue Two, has released as of Saturday, Jan. 10. The theme is The Inklings and we are very excited about getting it into folks’ hands. It’s a superb issue, with contributors including Douglas Gresham, Colin Duriez, Brian Sibley, and Jef Murray, along with many others. Ordering information is at www.whitetreefund.org.

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Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to The Chronicles of Narnia and CS Lewis! For today’s book we will be reviewing Tales Before Narnia, edited by Douglas Anderson.

Title: Tales Before Narnia

Author: Various

Edited by: Douglas A. Anderson

Publisher: Del Ray

ISBN -10: 0345498909

ISBN -13: 978-0345498908

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NarniaFans Staff Member, Jonathon D. Svendsen, is going to be featured in the second issue of  Silver Leaves, which is put out by the White Tree Fund, a Tolkien-related publication. The theme for this issue is dedicated to the Inklings. Fans of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien know that the Inklings was the name of the informal literary group that consisted of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and many others.

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We’ve just received the sad news that the original illustrator of The Chronicles of Narnia has just passed away:

Wayne Hammond reports the death of Baynes at her home in Surrey. Pauline Baynes was the original illustrator of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as of Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham (1948), The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (1962), and Smith of Wootton Major (1967).

Read more .. Wikipedia Entry

Narnia expert Brian Sibley has written a blog entry about Pauline Baynes that you can read here:

Brian Sibley’s Blog on Pauline Baynes: Queen of Narnia and Middle-Earth

And note that obituaries will be appearing in The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian later in the week.

Kind regards,

Brian Sibley

Update 2:

Rem, from the Philippine Order of Narnians, sent us an update with links to the articles posted athe both the Independent and the Guardian:

I thought you’d like to know that, as Mr Sibley said they would, Pauline Baynes’ obituaries have already shown up at the Independent and the Guardian.

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CS Lewis’ beloved classic is listed among other notables like JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird as one of the top 50 novels . The list, which was featured in the Telegraph.co.uk story about Play.com’s top 50 Novels, listed some of the 50 best novels of all time.

Here is a look at the top 10 novels:

1. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee

2. Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C.S Lewis

4. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

5. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

6. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

7. Animal Farm – George Orwell

8. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling

10. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Give the full list a look over if you are interested in getting ideas for what to read this summer. Here at NarniaFans, of course, we recommend you start with Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first and then read Lord of the Rings. Once you’re done, I’d say read Pride & Prejudice followed by Great Expectations. After that it’s all up to you.

You can read the full list here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk

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James A. Owen is the author of a series called “The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.” The first book in the series, “Here, There Be Dragons” introduced us to the characters that would become the heroes of the stories: Jack, John and Charles.

Jack is actually C.S. Lewis, John is J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles is Charles Williams. They were each members of a group called the Inklings. This series is based on fictional adventures that these characters embarked on, into the Archipelago of Dreams, where they became Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica.

The second book in the series is titled “The Search for the Red Dragon,” and introduces new characters and a few more writers from that era to the story.

Now, author James A. Owen has revealed the cover art for the third book in the series: The Indigo King.

Having listened to the books on CD (I have the unabridged audio books!), I am very curious to learn what happens next in the adventures through the Archipelago of Dreams.

Check out the cover art on James A. Owen’s LiveJournal, and come and see him at LionCon, later this month!

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There’s a rumor that is about to spread, starting at “My Park Magazine.” That rumor is that James McAvoy, Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is close to signing to play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit.

James McAvoy is set to play Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Hobbit‘.

Film bosses are rumoured to be close to signing McAvoy – who played the faun Mr. Tumnus in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‘ – to play the fantasy hero in the big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.

An insider said: “A number of names have privately been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black but James is the one the film’s bosses really want. They’re expected to have talks with him soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future.”

Director Guillermo del Toro has refused to comment on the rumours, only saying: “I can tell you it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice we all said the same name, it was completely magical.”

‘The Hobbit‘ is the prequel to the ‘Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy.

In the recent movies directed by Peter Jackson, Baggins was played by Ian Holm.

I’d like to point something out, though. They did not get that quote from del Toro with regards to James McAvoy. In fact, no names have been mentioned yet. Not McAvoy, not Jack Black and most certainly not Radcliffe. Daniel Radcliffe will be too busy filming Harry Potter 7 and 8 for The Hobbit, anyway, I am sure.

No, the quote is from Empire Online, which goes on to say: Obviously the script is yet to be written by Jackson, Del Toro and Philippa Boyens, so there won’t be a name attached to this for some time (despite poking with sticks Del Toro was mum on the identity of the actor, who probably doesn’t know he’s in the frame yet). Del Toro says we can expect “at least a year before we announce any casting”. So, while they have a name in mind, you can count any forthcoming rumours as false, at least until the script is written.

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Prince Caspian. The Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter. Heroes. Battlestar Galactica. Science fiction and fantasy comprise some of today’s top entertainment.

In recognition of the best work within this genre, Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, recently announced the nominees for this year’s highly coveted Hugo Award —the most prestigious award in the science fiction field. Diana Glyer, a Tolkien/Lewis expert and Azusa Pacific University professor, has secured a spot in the Best Related Book category.

“It is so rare for a book about Tolkien or Lewis to gain this kind of recognition,” said Glyer. “But this is about their interaction. I think there is a renewed interest in creative collaboration, even in business, science, and technology. We are in the age of Wikinomics: it’s not so much about being a solitary genius as it is about teamwork, relationships, and context.”

A book that has captured the attention of creative writers, Lewis and Tolkien scholars, and science fiction fans, Glyer’s The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community (Kent State University Press, 2007) explores:

The Inklings
Small-group dynamics
Transformation
The creative process

Glyer’s book describes writers in community, and her home life illustrates it. “My husband and I are both writers,” she said. “Our desks stand side by side in our converted garage. We constantly turn to one another for encouragement, and feedback.” Her husband, Mike Glyer, edits File 770, a science fiction news magazine. He is an eight-time Hugo winner, and File 770 has been nominated again this year for Best Fanzine.

The Hugo Awards, given for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, have been awarded since 1953. Final awards will be announced at Denvention’s Hugo Awards Ceremony on Sat., Aug. 9. For more information on the nomination, visit www.devention.org or www.thehugoawards.org. For information on Glyer and her book, visit www.theplaceofthelion.com.

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Long time fans of the Chronicles of Narnia who were saddened by the end of the series in 1956 may rejoice at some news from publisher Harper Collins. With the help of Walter Hooper, Colin Duriez, and other Lewis scholars, Harper Collins is posthumously publishing the book that existed in various fragments. Lewis scholars had found these fragments and pieced them together, resulting in a coherent story.

“Parts of it were in old notebooks. A page or two had been written on a couple of cocktail napkins. The opening page had been scribbled on a student’s test booklet that he was grading. A few other bits and pieces were found in other places,” said Hooper, a long time editor and collaborator with Lewis.

“A few fragments were even found on an old chewing gum wrapper from a stick of gum that Tolkien gave to Lewis,” he added.

“We are very excited about this new release,” said a representative of Harper Collins. “ We were a little leery at first about releasing it as we weren’t sure if it would sell. The only fantasy books that seem to sell now a days are Harry Potter books. You can’t bank on the success of some old dead guy.”

However another CEO, who wished to remain anonymous, expects the book to do well considering the success of Tolkien’s Children of Hurin last summer.

“Children of Hurin was number 1 on the New York Times Best-Seller list. It knocked a Harry Potter book off of it’s spot and out sold the final Left Behind book. A rare feat for a book by a deceased writer. This has shown it could work.”

Narnia has it’s own built in fan base. Readers young and old have been hoping for more Narnia books since the release of the Last Battle,” said Colin Duriez, a noted Lewis scholar and author of various handbooks devoted to CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and their various works. “Now they have their wish.”

Hardcore fans will remember that Queen Swanwhite was mentioned by Jewel the unicorn in the Last Battle as an important figure in Narnian history. Her name is featured on countless Narnia Timelines. There does appear to be some discrepancy between when Jewel says the events happened ( the year 1500 in Narnia time), and the official timeline compiled by Lewis. (900. Approximately before Jadis came to rule Narnia.)

“This book will definitely shed some light on those questions,” said Hooper. “Fans have been wondering about her for years. Now they will discover her rich story.”

We have yet to receive any details on the full plot or what other characters will appear in the story. Early rumors indicate that it may also deal with the Jadis’s return to Narnia, the beginning of the 100 year winter and how Tumnus came under her employment.

The book is expected to be released sometime this Christmas. We have not yet been able to reach Douglas Gresham for comment on this book.

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