Anniversary of The Road to Wigan Pier’s publication

Friday 09 March 2012

This Thursday, 8th March, saw the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Road to Wigan Pier. To mark the anniversary, why not listen to Stephen Armstrong, author of The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited, and Professor Stephen Ingle, a George Orwell biographer, discussing how working class life has changed in 75 years, on BBC Radio 4’s Today (Friday 9th March). Don’t forget you can read the first chapter, as well as other pieces about the book on our website. The Road to Wigan Pier Diary, is also available, as are a flickr set of archive images, and a Google Map, tracking Orwell’s journey.

Orwell Prize Entries 2012

The full list of entries, for the Book Prize, Journalism Prize and Blog Prize, can be found on our website. And you can find out more about this year’s judges, too.

At the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2012

We’ll be at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival for a fifth year, with three events. Click on the event titles for full details, to book and to read some relevant Orwell essays:

  • Homage to Catalonia: the Spanish Civil War, 2pm, Friday 30 March: Helen Graham, Paul Preston, Francisco Romero Salvado, chaired by Jean Seaton
  • The Road to Wigan Pier: 75 years on, 6.30pm, Saturday 31 March: Stephen Armstrong, Beatrix Campbell, Juliet Gardiner, Paul Mason, chaired by D. J. Taylor
  • Politics and the Press, 4pm, Sunday 1 April: Gaby Hinsliff, Martin Moore, Lance Price, chaired by Jean Seaton

From the archive

To mark International Women’s Day 2012 (Thursday 8th March), you can listen to Orwell Prize Director, and Orwell biographer, D.J. Taylor, talk about Orwell’s women on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, from 2009.

    From elsewhere

    A letter sent to Orwell in 1949 by Aldous Huxley has been added to the website Letters of Note. In the letter, Huxley praises 1984, before focusing on the differences between Orwell’s predictions and those revealed in his own masterpiece, Brave New World.