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| Photo Credit: Public Domain |
Since I enjoy writing light fantasy stories for children, I've chosen to feature the fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien as today's focus of Champions of Creativity.
It would be difficult to imagine where the world of children's literature would be today had not Tolkien penned the immensely popular: The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa to English parents. By the age of twelve he had lost both his parents to disease and lived with relatives in England.
Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon and English Language and Literature at Oxford University from 1925 to 1959. While at Oxford, he became friends with C. S. Lewis; both gifted writers belonged to a discussion group at the university called the Inklings.
Throughout his life Tolkien was enthralled with all sorts of languages, and even invented and then constructed several. The prolific writer and academic also penned numerous poems.
In 1972 Queen Elizabeth II knighted the iconic British author.
In 2008 The Times ranked Tolkien sixth on a list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
J. R. R. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973.
If you're a Tolkien fan, click here to see the movie trailer for The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies coming to theaters this December.
