J. R. R. Tolkien

1892 – 1973

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer and philologist whose high-fantasy works The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) created the modern fantasy genre and have sold hundreds of millions of copies in dozens of languages. As Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and later Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford, he produced influential scholarly work on Beowulf and on the philological depth of the invented languages that underpin his fiction. The posthumous Silmarillion, edited by his son Christopher, completed the elaborate mythology of Middle-earth that has shaped fantasy literature ever since.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM