When Lewis and Tolkien first met, they clashed: too different, too opinionated, too set in their ways. What changed? How did these two Oxford scholars become fast friends and effective collaborators? And what can we learn from their example?

Diana Pavlac Glyer is an internationally recognized speaker and teacher whose work always circles back to collaboration, creativity, and community. She is a professor in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California where she teaches literature, history, theology, and philosophy in an integrated Great Books curriculum. Dr. Glyer is also an award-winning writer whose research focuses on C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings. Her book “The Company They Keep” (2008) offers an in-depth account of Lewis and Tolkien and their writing process. It shows how encouragement, praise, criticism, and conflict shaped their fellowship and their books.

This lecture was given in Bakke Auditorium on Homecoming Weekend at Wheaton College on October 4, 2024.