Oxford Mail books editor Andrew Ffrench picks some great Oxford authors Lewis Carroll: When the Rev Charles Dodgson took young Alice Liddell and friends on a boat trip and started telling them bizarre stories, he didn't realise he was launching a fantasy tradition in Oxford that is still going strong more than 150 years later.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass are colourful, surreal stories that still appeal to children today.

CS Lewis: What would happen if you could travel through the back of the wardrobe and enter another world?

The Oxford don considered the possibilities and came up with the magical world of Narnia, where the hirsute Mr Tumnus shared a tasty tea with a daughter of Eve.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe made a successful transition to the big screen last year and a sequel, based on the book Prince Caspian, is expected this summer.

JRR Tolkien: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." That's the famous first line of his children's book, The Hobbit, and where it all started for the English lecturer, a friend of CS Lewis and a fellow member of the Inklings group. They used to meet in the Eagle and Child in St Giles to discuss their work.

Tolkien is not everyone's cup to tea, but The Lord of the Rings has captivated millions of teenagers and adult readers, and introduced them to the fantasy genre.

Philip Pullman: He shot to fame after writing the His Dark Materials trilogy in the mid-1990s, but he had been writing children's books for years before that, including the gentle satire I Was A Rat.

Pullman loves telling stories as his latest book Once Upon a Time in the North confirms, and everyone will have their favourite moment in the trilogy.

Me? I love the bit at the start of The Subtle Knife where Will uses the knife to open a window into another world, next to the plane trees in North Oxford.

Brian Aldiss OBE: This Headington-based author, once the books editor of the Oxford Mail, has become one of the leading lights of the science fiction world, and his short story Supertoys Last All Summer was the basis for Steven Spielberg's Hollywood film AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Mr Aldiss, a vice-president of the international HG Wells Society, is best known for his science fiction, but I am a big fan of his Horatio Stubbs saga, The Hand-Reared Boy (1970), A Soldier Erect (1970), and A Rude Awakening (1978).

Mark Haddon: He had been writing and illustrating children's books for a number of years when he struck literary gold with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. The story is told from the point of view of a teenage boy suffering with Asperger's.

Haddon, a graduate of Merton College, won the Whitbread Prize with this David Fickling-published children's book, and went on to write A Spot of Bother, a novel for adults which was well received, but did not receive the same worldwide acclaim.

Colin Dexter: Dexter started out in life as a teacher and began writing detective fiction in 1972 on a rainy holiday in North Wales. Last Bus to Woodstock introduced the character Inspector Morse in 1975. The final novel, The Remorseful Day, featuring Morse's death, was published in 1999.

Forget about Morse and Lewis on the TV for the moment - return to Dexter's beautifully constructed detective puzzles, which frequently reveal hidden gems about Oxford's past.

Graham Greene: The author had quite a few Oxford connections - one of the main ones was his marriage to Oxford girl Vivien after meeting her in the late 1920s when she was a member of staff at Blackwell's.

Greene, a Balliol College graduate, found he was not suited to a life of domestic bliss and set off on his travels to trouble spots around the globe.

This led to some of the 20th century's most interesting novels. I particularly like The End of the Affair, Travels with my Aunt, Brighton Rock and The Human Factor.

TE Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and started postgraduate research in medieval pottery at Magdalen College His major work was Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences.

Mini Grey: This children's illustrator is the author of charming picture books including Traction Man and I'm sure her children's books will remain popular for years to come and will eventually be considered classics.

* Unfortunately there was not enough room here to consider the poetic talents of John Betjeman and WH Auden. Ian McEwan, formerly of Park Town, has forfeited his place by moving to London.