The Orwell Foundation

07/08/2026

We were so pleased to welcome some of the Afghan judges and UK partner judges featured in Karen Bartlett's The Escape from Kabul - winner of the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing - to the Orwell Prize ceremony on 25 June.

The Escape from Kabul tells the story most people never heard: how nearly 200 Afghan women judges and their families got out after the Taliban took over, thanks to a network of judges and lawyers around the world who wouldn't let them be left behind.

Find out more and read an exclusive extract: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-writing/the-escape-from-kabul/

Photo credit: iBRODIEFoto

27/07/2026

We were absolutely delighted to receive this stamp collection from Teddy, a young Orwell reader based in the USA - and had to share it with you!

Inspired by Nineteen Eighty-Four, Teddy has created an entire book of stamps which offer a peak into the wider world of the novel. Woven together with his own introduction and illustrations, there is even a strong narrative thread running throughout.

What really stuck us was the way in which Teddy had engaged with the history of stamp collecting, too, using historical and colonial-era stamps to explore the themes of empire and colonialism which sit right at the heart of Orwell's work.

Teddy is a little too young for The Orwell Youth Prize (our ambition is to expand to the US as soon as possible). But we couldn't be more impressed by his creativity, originality and clear passion for history and storytelling

👏 👏 👏

22/07/2026

Fiammetta Rocco, Chair of Judges, reveals the winner of the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction at the Prize Ceremony last month: Transcription by Ben Lerner ()

Photo credit: iBRODIEfoto

20/07/2026

Karen Bartlett, winner of the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing for "The Escape from Kabul" - a gripping story of rescue, survival and female solidarity - takes the stage at the Prize Ceremony.



Photo credit: iBRODIEfoto

25/06/2026

Tonight, we're celebrating the year's best political writing and reporting at the Orwell Prize Ceremony at UCL. Follow us on Instagram () for the latest updates (the Ministry of Truth can only handle so many platforms).

19/06/2026

We are proud to be co-hosting a timely and important evening at The Frontline Club in London this coming Monday.

Andrey Kurkov, author of Three Years on Fire — his diary of the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion — and Manisha Ganguly, investigative journalist at The Guardian and a leading figure in using open-source methods to expose war crimes, join our Chair Kim Darroch for a conversation on war, hope, and impunity.

Both Andrey and Manisha are shortlisted for this year's Orwell Prizes, with the winners revealed Thursday 25 June.

'War, Hope and Impunity in Ukraine' runs from 7–8.30pm on Monday 22 June at the Frontline Club in London.

Final tickets on sale. Get yours via Eventbrite:

Andrey Kurkov and Manisha Ganguly in conversation with Kim Darroch.

08/06/2026

Where does Orwell sit in your top 100 novels?

1984 - published on this day in 1949 - came 16th in The Guardian's recent writers' poll, climbing to 8th when they asked readers...

After authors and critics chose their top 100 novels, we asked for your favourites. From Uruguay to the Isle of Skye, 3,000 readers cast their votes. Here are the titles that made your list – topped by a new entry at number 1

08/06/2026

"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." - Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell's chilling, and thrilling, warning to the future, was first published on this day in 1949.

In 2016, we brought together actors, writers, journalists and members of the public for a start-to-finish reading of the novel in Senate House, London, opened by Richard Blair, Orwell's son.

Watch it back on YouTube:

Video start 11:08The Orwell Foundation and UCL Festival of Culture are delighted to announce a live, start-to-finish reading of Nineteen Eighty-Four in Senat...

29/05/2026

Join The Orwell Foundation and Political Quarterly for a timely debate on Englishness, Britishness and the Populist Challenge, inspired by Orwell's seminal essay The Lion and the Unicorn.

Visit our website www.orwellfoundation.com to register for free, and to see all our upcoming events.

27/05/2026

What does it take to write about political upheaval from the inside?

We're kicking off this year's Orwell Prize events with a special evening in partnership with Libreria Bookshop, London.

Three of this year's nominated authors - Tahmima Anam (Uprising), Karen Bartlett (The Escape from Kabul) and Sam Dalrymple (Shattered Lands) - will discuss their shortlisted books with Rohan Silva, chair of the panel for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

📅 9 June, 6.30pm
📍 Second Home Spitalfields

This is our first shortlist event of the year, and it's free! Spaces are limited, so register now with our hosts Libreria:

Tahmima Anam (author of Uprising, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Fiction 2026), Karen Bartlett (author of The Escape from Kabul, shortlisted for the