For many the synonym for fantasy is J.R.R. Tolkien. He literary changed the world with his stories of Bilbo and Frodo, and a new genre was created, fantasy literature. Today you almost can't read the back cover of any fantasy novel without seeing the "compared to Tolkien" quote, and not without reason. With "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" he created true masterpieces and has without doubt been the inspiration source for most of today's fantasy authors.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South-Africa January 3rd 1892. In 1895, Tolkien, his younger brother and his mother moves back to England. After completing his studies at Oxford University, he joins the army in 1915. In 1916 he marries Edith Bratt, before he leaves for France to serve in the First World War. Later the same year he returns to England with shell shock. In 1917 his first son is born. After the war, he works as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and until his retirement in 1959, Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. In 1926 Tolkien meets C.S. Lewis and the two enter into a lifelong friendship. September 2nd 1973 at the age of 81 Tolkien dies in Bournemouth.