Monday 23 March 2026 @ 18:00 - 19.30
Free
Yellow Room, Wilkins Building, University College London (WC1E 6BT)
Join the Orwell Foundation and editor Angela Smith for the launch of the first exclusive annotated collection of Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s letters (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).
The evening will feature an exclusive talk by Smith exploring Eileen’s fascinating relationship with the BBC, alongside rare archival materials from the UNESCO-Registered Orwell Archive on display. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing, refreshments will be provided, and there will be plenty of opportunity to mingle with Orwell scholars, enthusiasts, and the editorial team.
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Although they married in 1936 and spent the next nine years together, Eileen’s extensive influence on her husband George Orwell’s work is only now being understood. Eileen O’Shaughnessy, in Her Own Words brings together her complete surviving correspondence, offering an intimate portrait of the woman whose insight, wit, and editorial brilliance shaped one of the twentieth century’s most important literary voices.
This ground-breaking collection builds on growing scholarly recognition of Eileen’s own life and legacy to reveal an accomplished writer in her own right: erudite, entertaining, and startlingly honest.
Programme
18:00 – Doors open | Refreshments and mingling
18:30 – Talk by Angela Smith: “Mrs Blair and the BBC”
19:00 – Q&A hosted by Professor Jean Seaton
19:30 – Close
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“This engrossing book—with Eileen’s voice clear as a genuinely unique bell—is so important. Eileen it turns out is as staggeringly honest as Orwell—sometimes hilariously, sometimes painfully. Her wit and bravery, her warmth and mischievousness are all her own. But they helped make Orwell’s voice and perhaps he helped make her caustic and loving voice too. A work of scholarly precision and wise judgment. And a very good read.” Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster, and President of the Orwell Foundation
“Angela Smith and Sylvia Topp have done a terrific job in assembling these letters, which offer conclusive proof of what an extraordinary woman Eileen O’Shaughnessy was and how much she contributed to Orwell’s life and work. Orwell Studies is forever in their debt.” David Taylor, author of George Orwell: The New Life (2023)
Venue Information
The Blue Room is located in the Wilkins Building at University College London, home to the Orwell Archive, just off the main quad.
Nearest tube: Euston Square, Warren Street, Goodge Street Accessibility: Please contact us in advance if you have specific access requirements
Registration
This is a free event but registration is required to help us plan capacity and refreshments. Books will be available to purchase.
Spaces are limited, so reserve your place today!
Organised by The Orwell Foundation in partnership with UCL Special Collections
Book event