News & Events

Orwell’s Hop-Picking Diary Blog

26 August 2011

We’re publishing George Orwell’s hop-picking diary, from August to October 1931, as a blog at http://hoppicking.wordpress.com. Each diary entry will be published as a blogpost, 80 years to the day after it was originally written. The blog joins our ot… find out more

Orwell Prize to Blog Orwell’s Hop-Picking Diary

24 August 2011

Each entry to be posted 80 years to the day after it was written Prize’s final diary project, after success of 1938-42 diaries and The Road to Wigan Pier diary The Orwell Prize, Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing, launches its … find out more

At the Cheltenham Literature Festival

19 August 2011

The Orwell Prize is delighted to be organising some events at the wonderful Cheltenham Literature Festival for the first time this October. We’ll be holding at least two events. The first (on Saturday, 15th October at 10am), ‘Victorian Values’, has… find out more

Orwell on Hop-picking

12 August 2011

Hop-picking was long a late-summer tradition, with London workers heading to more rural counties like Kent to pick hops (a key ingredient of beer). In 1931, Orwell made the trip to Kent. His experiences appeared in his novel, A Clergyman’s Daughter, bu… find out more

Buxton Festival video

05 August 2011

You can now watch video of our debate at the Buxton Festival, ‘is politics corrupted by corrupted language?’, on our website and YouTube channel. The line-up was slightly different from that advertised, with journalists Colette Douglas-Home (columnis… find out more

Statement on Council of the Orwell Prize meeting about Johann Hari

25 July 2011

The Council of the Orwell Prize met on Thursday 21st July to consider Johann Hari’s 2008 submission for the journalism prize. After extensive deliberation, the Council arrived at a clear and unanimous decision, which drew from the combined journalistic… find out more

Update on Orwell Prize Investigation into Johann Hari

15 July 2011

Following enquiries from the press and the public, we felt we should issue a statement on the progress of our investigation into Johann Hari’s Orwell Prize win. Since our previous statement (issued on 30 June), we have been in constant correspondence w… find out more

Buxton Festival Next Wednesday

08 July 2011

A quick reminder that we’ll be at the Buxton Festival next Wednesday, asking the question ‘is politics corrupted by corrupted language?’, at 10.30am. Tickets are available from the Festival website. The event is being held in the 65th anniversary … find out more

Orwell Prize statement on Johann Hari

30 June 2011

The Orwell Prize became aware of allegations concerning Johann Hari, the winner of the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2008, on Monday 27th June. (Johann Hari has also been shortlisted for the Prize in the past, and entered this year’s Prize.) Given the ser… find out more

Happy Birthday, George!

24 June 2011

George Orwell was born on 25th June 1903, so tomorrow (Saturday) would have been his 108th birthday. You could celebrate with a birthday cake – perhaps made from one of Orwell’s own recipes. His unpublished 1946 essay, ‘British Cookery’, features… find out more