Orwell Society
 | |
| Founded | 4 April 2011 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Dione Venables |
| Focus | The life and works of George Orwell |
| Origins | Finlay Publisher |
| Product | Bursaries |
| Method | Site events |
Patron | Richard Blair |
Key people | Richard Keeble (Chairman) |
| Website | {{URL|example.com|optional display text}} |
The Orwell Society is a literary society and a UK registered charity. It was founded in 2011 with the aim of promoting the understanding and appreciation of the life and work of George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair 1903-1950). Its patron is Richard Blair, George Orwell’s adopted son.
The society has no political affiliation and does not speculate on what Orwell might have thought of current political issues were he alive today.
How the Society Operates[edit]
Registered Charity in England & Wales number 1159072
Website: https://orwellsociety.com
Charitable purpose[edit]
The Society has a charitable purpose to advance education about Orwell’s life and work for the public benefit.
Students currently at UK universities (who don't have to be members) can participate in the annual Dystopian Fiction Prize, with a first prize of £500. The society awards an annual bursary[1] of £3000 to any student aiming to pursue a career in journalism. Applicants are expected to demonstrate an appreciation of the true spirit of George Orwell's writing. A new "Teacher-in-School" bursary was introduced in 2019 for secondary schools wishing to include George Orwell in their curriculum[2]
The society also promotes memorials and commemorative plaques honouring the legacy of George Orwell. In 2015 the society restored and rededicated a destroyed plaque on the former site of Booklover's Corner in Hampstead - a bookshop where Orwell worked in the mid 1930s. In 2018 a refurbished plaque on the Blair family home in Southwold in Suffolk was rededicated[3].
The Society is helping the people of Katha in Myanmar to create a museum dedicated to Orwell’s time there as an imperial policeman.
Society Events[edit]
The society organises a number of member events including to Spain (to visit sites that feature in Homage to Catalonia, Orwell’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War) and to the island of Jura[5] (where Orwell completed the final draft of his most famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four).
Some historical antipathy towards George Orwell from the people of Wigan was rectified in 2017, 80 years after the publication of The Road to Wigan Pier, by demonstrating that Orwell had not been critical of Wigan people[6]. Richard Blair participated as one of the narrators in "Beyond Wigan Pier", an opera first performed in 2018[7] aimed at attracting funding for students to attend Music & Drama school.
Annual General Meeting (AGM)[edit]
The Society’s Annual AGM is typically held towards the end of April, usually at a location in London. The first AGM in 2012 was held at Senate House, London. During the proceedings, the Society took the opportunity to bestow Honorary Life Membership on Professor Peter Davison for his unparalleled contribution towards the editing and publication of Orwell's work, including the twenty-volume The Complete Works of George Orwell.[8]. It has always been the society's aim to introduce at least one guest speaker at the AGM. Previous speakers to date:
- 2012 Dr Michael Sayeau - Trustee of the Orwell Archive
- 2012 Stephen Armstrong - Author of The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited
- 2013 Dr Gordon Bowker - Author of 2003 biography George Orwell
- 2014 Timothy Garton Ash - Historian and professor of European Studies at Oxford University
- 2015 Jane Rogoyska - Author of Gerda Taro - Inventing Robert Capa
- 2015 Dr Luke Seaber - Research Fellow of University College London.
- 2016 Alan Johnson MP - Former Cabinet Minister in both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown Governments.
- 2016 Timothy Crook - Professor of media and communication at Goldsmiths, University of London.
- 2017 Baroness Whitaker - wife of Ben Whitaker, MP. Project leader for the Orwell Statue at BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place
- 2018 D J Taylor - Orwell biographer, acclaimed novelist and literary critic
- 2019 D J Taylor - commenting on "Orwell and the Lost Girls".
- 2019 Rina Crick on Katha, where Orwell was stationed in Burma.
Governance[edit]
The Orwell Society is currently governed by an elected committee of nine members who are also are trustees of the UK registered charity. Current committee members are:
- Patron – Richard Blair
- Chair – Professor Richard Lance Keeble[1]
- Secretary – Dennis Frost
- Treasurer – Neil Smith
- Publicity – Benedict Cooper
- Information and Web Presence – Les Hurst
- Journal Editor – Masha Karp
- Events Secretary – Quentin Kopp
- Education – Ann Kronbergs
Publications[edit]
The twice-yearly Society Journal started out as the annual 'Newsletter,’ the first two editions being edited and designed by Ron Bateman and Christopher Edwards. In 2013 Ron Bateman took over the editorship of the publication, which was renamed The Orwell Society Journal. He stepped down as editor in 2016 to be replaced by Masha Karp. In 2015, Dione Venables published the first collection of George Orwell’s Poetry[9], which was approved for public release a few months later[10] , with all proceeds from the book being donated to the society.
Orwell Statue[edit]
.jpg)
On 7 November 2017 a statue of Orwell, sculpted by the British artist Martin Jennings, was unveiled outside Broadcasting House. The statue was funded by the George Orwell Memorial Trust[11], a charity established and chaired by Baroness Janet Whitaker. The wall behind the statue is engraved with the words: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear". The quote comes from the proposed preface to Animal Farm. Ownership of the statue was transferred to The Orwell Society in 2020.
Society Origins[edit]
In 2004, Dione Venables, of Finlay Publishers, published a revised edition Eric & Us, a memoir written by Jacintha Buddicom who died in 1994. The book was originally published in 1974 by Leslie Frewin and focused on Eric Blair’s childhood and teenage years. Buddicom was Venables' first cousin who left Venables the copyrights to the book in her will. The acclaimed Orwell biographer, Gordon Bowker[12], in agreeing to review the book, suggested certain clarifications and in late 2006, Eric & Us: The Postscript Edition was published[13]. The postcript edition was regularly discussed on a website called “Orwell Direct”, creating a small community of enthusiasts not least of whom was George Orwell's son Richard Blair. The community began to ask why there was no Society to promote the life and works of George Orwell, prompting Venables to focus her efforts on constituting one.
On 27 December 2010, a group gathered for the first informal meeting at Phyllis Court, Henley-on-Thames (which the young Eric Blair had often visited). The day was hosted by Venables and, of those attending that day, Christopher Edwards agreed to be the society’s first Chair. Richard Blair accepted a role as Patron, Charles Wiggin as Treasurer, Dominic Cavendish took on the editorship of the society’s website, and Venables agreed to be Membership Secretary. Later on, Ron Bateman took on the Secretary role and Chris Organ was appointed to provide legal input. The formal inaugural meeting was held on 19 April 2011 and in the same year, Quentin Kopp, whose father Georges Kopp had been Orwell’s commandant and friend during and after the Spanish Civil War, joined the committee as Events Secretary.
On 28 April 2012, The Society held its first Annual General Meeting at Senate House, London – next to Room 101 (made famous in Nineteen Eighty-Four) Richard Keeble, Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln joined the committee and went on to become the society’s second Chair, taking over from Edwards at the 2013 AGM.
References[edit]
- ↑ Kronbergs, Ann. "Education". Education. Orwell Society. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ↑ Whymark, Bethany (2 May 2019). "Teacher turned writing student secures prestigious literary prize". Eastern Daily Express. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "George Orwell's Southwold home gets fresh plaque". BBC News. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Butler, Robert (February 2015). "Orwell's World". The Economist 1843 Magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Crossan, Rob (8 June 2019). "A tour of Orwell's Jura, where he wrote 1984". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ The Newsroom (6 February 2017). "Celebration to mark The Road to Wigan Pier anniversary". Wigan Today (Wigan Observer and Wigan Post). Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Mackenzie, Paul (25 April 2018). "Beyond Wigan Pier - the story behind the George Orwell musical". Lancashire Life. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ↑ Davison. The Complete Works Of George Orwell. Secker and Warburg, 1998. Search this book on
- ↑ Venables. George Orwell - The Collected Poetry. Finlay Publisher 2015. Search this book on
- ↑ Cowdrey, Katherine (3 November 2015). "Orwell estate allows poetry to go on general sale". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The George Orwell Memorial Trust". Open Charities. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
- ↑ Bowker, Gordon (2003). George Orwell. London: Abacus. ISBN 0349115516. Search this book on
- ↑ Buddicom, Jacintha (2006). Eric & Us. Chichester: Finlay Publisher. ISBN 0955370817. Search this book on
External links[edit]
.
This article "Orwell Society" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Orwell Society. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
