Will Vaus

C. S. Lewis as an Infant In celebration of C. S. Lewis' 117th birthday, I share with you today a brief excerpt from my book, The Professor of Narnia .... In 1954, a group of fifth graders from Maryland wrote to C. S. Lewis to  thank him for his Narnia books and ask him questions about the stories  and himself. One question they must have had was: “What do you look  and sound like?” C. S. Lewis’s answer was: “I’m tall, fat, rather bald, redfaced,  double-chinned, black-haired, have a deep voice, and wear glasses for  reading.” That is how C. S. Lewis described himself around the time he  was writing the following words. … This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather  was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all  the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia  first began.   In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street  and the ...

The Professor of Narnia: The C. S. Lewis Story  is now available on Kindle, a great summer read for all ages. To learn more, click below.... Professor of Narnia Kindle Edition

Today I visited my youngest son's school, Highland Elementary in Monterey, Virginia. I spoke to grades three through five about "My Journey with C. S. Lewis" and signed copies of my book "The Professor of Narnia". With K-2 I read from the Narnia pop-up and picture books. There was much enthusiasm expressed for Narnia and many intelligent questions asked by the students about C. S. Lewis, Narnia and the writing process. If you would like "The Professor of Narnia" to visit your school in the coming year e-mail me today at will@willvaus.com .

Here is Part 2 of my 100 Huntley Street Interview about The Professor of Narnia: The C. S. Lewis Story .

Here is the first part of my interview about The Professor of Narnia: The C. S. Lewis Story from 100 Huntley Street.

My talk on C. S. Lewis: The Professor of Narnia, from my visit to Christ Church at Grove Farm, has now been uploaded and posted on my web site. You can listen to it here: http://willvaus.com/c__s__lewis_talk .

Last night I spoke at Christ Church at Grove Farm outside of Pittsburgh, PA. What a delightful group of people! I have known the pastor of CCGF, John Guest, for twenty years. It hardly seems possible. But in all that time this was my first visit to the church. For anyone reading this blog who does not know him, John is a brilliant evangelist, pastor and great all-around speaker who grew up in my favorite place--Oxford, England--and came to faith in Christ through the ministry of Billy Graham, just like my father. Only John Guest was not involved in organized crime before his conversion--let's make that clear! John graciously wrote a glowing endorsement of my book, My Father Was a Gangster . My presentation last night was on--what else?--C. S. Lewis: The Professor of Narnia. There was a good crowd present. They asked a host of excellent questions and I sold lots of books! Thanks to all the warm and welcoming staff and friendly people of CCGF who made my visit to Pittsburgh a m...

You can listen to an Easter Weekend Interview I did for radio station KTLO by clicking here: http://www.ktlo.com/listentott.php and then clicking on Friday. Or listen on my web site here: http://www.willvaus.com/the_professor_of_narnia . Enjoy!

This past November, the Taylor University Center for C. S. Lewis Studies invited me to deliver a presentation on Lewis's life and works. During my visit to Taylor I was interviewed by Kelli Conners, on the staff of Parnassus, Taylor's journal of literature and the arts. Throughout the interview we discussed the various elements and techniques Lewis used as a Christian writer impacting a secular world and how Lewis's philosophy, in turn, has influenced my own literary career. That interview is now re-produced here. (For more information about Parnassus click here: http://www.taylor.edu/academics/acaddepts/english/parnassus.shtml .) Kelli Conners: First, I have a few questions about the writing process in general. When you sit down to write, how much of a plan do you have? Is it something where you know where a piece is going, or is it a sentence-by-sentence process? Will Vaus: A sentence at a time sounds good. Each book is so different. When I wrote Mere Theology ,...

On Friday, February 6 I had the privilege of speaking to the 9th grade class at New Covenant Christian School in Lynchburg, Virginia. The class is studying the life and theology of C. S. Lewis under the direction of Chaplain Bart Martin. (I wish I could have taken a class on Lewis's theology when I was in 9th grade!) The class had wonderful questions following my powerpoint presentation on Lewis's life. In the photo above you can see them all holding up their copies of Mere Christianity. They all seemed to identify with my high school experience of struggling through the first part of MC. But I assured them there are good things in store in that book to which they can look forward. They are also reading The Screwtape Letters and using my two books on Lewis ( Mere Theology and The Professor of Narnia) as references.

My connection with the New York C. S. Lewis Society goes back to 1996. At that time I was living in South Carolina and I was interested in starting my own C. S. Lewis Society. I wrote to Clara Sarrocco, Secretary of the New York Society, seeking information about their meetings--how they were structured, where they met, etc. Clara was very helpful and sent me a huge packet of information which helped immensely in starting my own group in Columbia, South Carolina. So far as I know, the Columbia C. S. Lewis Society is still going strong. In 1997 I was invited by the Anglican Society of South Carolina to present a Lenten lecture on C. S. Lewis. I chose as my topic: God's Sovereignty and Human Free Will in the Thought of C. S. Lewis. Subsequently I submitted that paper to the Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society for publication and then editor, James Como, very graciously accepted it. That same year I moved from Columbia, South Carolina to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania w...

Here is part 3 of my interview on Coast to Coast AM. Interestingly enough, the interview veered from discussion of The Professor of Narnia into another one of my books-- My Father Was a Gangster: The Jim Vaus Story .

During World War II people got most of their news about the war over the radio, or what was then called by some people like C. S. Lewis--the wireless. Lewis used this expression in his BBC Radio Talks during the war. He said that one reason we go to church is to listen in to the secret wireless from our friends. By that expression he meant that in church we receive messages from the spiritual realm. Of course today the term "wireless" has meanings that C. S. Lewis never could have imagined. But I have thought back to C. S. Lewis and those BBC Talks in recent days as I have been interviewed numerous times over "the wireless" about my new book-- The Professor of Narnia: The C. S. Lewis Story. To listen to just one of these interviews you may click here: http://willvaus.com/the_professor_of_narnia and visit my web site. When you get to that page just press the play button on the right hand side and listen away!

I had a good interview today (Monday, December 8) with John Fleming on The Corner, a Talk of Connecticut radio program. As mentioned in my last post I have another interview tonight at 7 pm EST on the Laurie Roth Show. And now I have two more interviews scheduled to talk about The Professor of Narnia. Roger Fredinburg will be interviewing me tonight at 10 pm EST on his show Neighborhood 21. You can learn more about him at www.regularguy.com . His program is broadcast over the Accent Radio Network. Then tomorrow morning (December 9) at 10 am EST I will be interviewed by Michael Harrington on Salem Radio Network. To learn more about Michael click here: http://townhall.com/TalkRadio/Show.aspx?ContentGuid=dfed5c1f-802a-4b87-9516-b56f6da376ef&RadioShowId=49 . I hope you can listen in to at least one of these interviews about The Professor of Narnia: The C. S. Lewis Story.

There seem to be at least three major stages in the life of a book: Conception and early growth (also known as writing). Birth and launching into the world (also known as publishing). The parent (author) of the book talking about his/her child ever after (also known as book promotion)! Right now I am in stage three with The Professor of Narnia . I had another wonderful signing yesterday at a Barnes & Noble in Fairfax, VA. I always get to meet such interesting people at book signings. Yesterday I met a leader of the Campus Crusade movement at George Mason University. (I hope we can link together for some joint ventures in the future.) I also met a lovely lady named Sandy, a friend of my publisher, and we found that we had a number of mutual friends in common. Along with these two enjoyable people there were a number of others who stopped by to listen to my dialogue with my publisher, Dianne Haskett, about the book, ask questions and get their copies of the book signed....

I had a signing of The Professor of Narnia at Barnes & Noble in Harrisonburg, Virginia last night. Thanks to Peggy and Melissa from our Harrisonburg C. S. Lewis Society for showing up for the discussion! It is always interesting to see who the Lord brings along to these events. Once again I signed a load of books. But the most meaningful part of any signing is the people I get to talk with. Last night I spoke for at least a half hour with a young man who is enrolled in a distance education course with a Christian college. He hopes to go on and obtain a Master of Divinity degree. I also got to speak with a mother of two teenagers who bought The Professor of Narnia for her sons. Charlie and Thomas--I hope you enjoy the book! Right now I am in the cafe of another Barnes & Noble Bookseller, this time in Frederick, Maryland. The signing doesn't start for another 90 minutes so I am catching up on e-mail, and on this blog. The Professor of Narnia Book Tour has bee...

The Professor of Narnia's reception in Steel City was not steely at all! In fact, it was quite warm. The above picture shows me with some of the members of the Pittsburgh C. S. Lewis Society, a group I got started way back in 1999. It was great to see friends whom I haven't seen in a long while! The Society organized and hosted two events for The Professor of Narnia. (Thanks again to Lynn and Winifred!) The first one was on Monday night, November 17, at the Murrysville Public Library. The event was covered by two local newspapers. See one of the articles here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_599234.html The second event took place on Wednesday night, November 19, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Monroeville, PA. (Thanks to The Rev. Chris Klukas for hosting us!) Above you can see yours truly in front of a picture of St. Martin. (I hope he enjoyed hearing all about St. Jack!) Before the meeting I had the pleasure of meeting, in In...

It was a delight, as always, to visit Inklings Bookshop on Main Street in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, today. The owner and operator, Ed Hopkins, has been a friend now for a number of years. Since my last visit to Inklings it has been enhanced by the addition of the White Hart Cafe next door. The White Hart hosts numerous events every month, like my powerpoint presentation today on the life of C. S. Lewis followed by a signing of my new book, The Professor of Narnia . As you might guess, Inklings Bookshop specializes in books by and about C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and other members of the Inklings literary group. But the bookshop has so much more! And it is absolutely lovely just to sit in the White Hart Cafe, sipping a cup of hot tea, munching on a Vanauken sandwich, and chatting with the variety of people who gather in this new hot spot in the heart of Lynchburg. Even better than the opportunity to share the life of C. S. Lewis with those gathered in the...

The Professor of Narnia visited New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia on Friday, November 14. During my powerpoint presentation about "My Journey with C. S. Lewis" I was deeply impressed with the attentiveness of these middle and high school students. I was even more impressed with the questions which followed during the Q&A time. It was a lot of fun interacting with students who were already so well acquainted with C. S. Lewis and his writings, not to mention their familiarity with some of the literature of our western cultural tradition which so profoundly impacted Lewis's life and writing. It was also a great joy to sit in on a tenth grade theology class following my presentation. (Yes, I said theology class.) It made me wish I could have taken theology in tenth grade! The students were enjoying one of their "Fridays with Jack" led by their chaplain, Bart Martin. The class reads a chapter of Mere Christianity every Friday and discusses it...

On Friday, November 7, I addressed a small but enthusiastic crowd at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. This was only the fourth meeting of the Central Indiana C. S. Lewis Society which boasts membership including two authors: Dan Hamilton and Ed Brown. Duwayne and Connie Hintz were my most congenial hosts for a delightful two-day stay in Indianapolis. On Saturday, November 8, Barnes & Noble in Noblesville, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis, hosted a booksigning of The Professor of Narnia . Ed Brown, mentioned in connection with the C. S. Lewis Collection post below, attended this event along with his wife Pat. It was truly a blessing and joy to reconnect with Ed and Pat after many years. The Browns were among a wonderful group of people whom my wife Becky and I led on a C. S. Lewis Tour of England in 1997. For those readers of my blog who are interested, we will be conducting a reprise of that tour, this time including Northern Ireland, in the summer of 2009....