Book Series Guide

George Orwell

Author guide

George Orwell Books in Order

George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, critic, and political writer whose work combined lucid prose with social criticism and opposition to totalitarianism. His experiences in Burma, among the poor in Paris and London, and in the Spanish Civil War shaped major works including Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm, and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He also produced influential essays, journalism, poetry, radio writing, and political pamphlets.

Literary fictionPolitical fictionNonfictionMemoirEssaysJournalismPoetry

Catalog record updated .

George Orwell's Newest Book

Cover of Can Socialists Be Happy?

Can Socialists Be Happy?

essay_collection · First published 2025

No thinking person can or does genuinely keep out of politics, in an age like the present one This stirring new collection brings together George Orwell's most cherished essays with lesser-known gems, all penned with the clarity, wit and charm which characterise his writing. Showcasing his vivid personal encounters and perceptive insights - from his musings on tree planting to his warnings against the threat of atomic destruction - this collection is sure to delight Orwell fans, both old and new.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of Animal Farm

Animal Farm

A concise, accessible political fable and one of Orwell's defining works.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

The central dystopian novel for readers seeking Orwell's treatment of authoritarianism, surveillance, and political language.

Cover of Down and Out in Paris and London

Down and Out in Paris and London

A vivid entry point into Orwell's memoir and social reportage.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (7)
  1. Burmese Days

    novel · 1934

    Based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma, George Orwell's first novel presents a devastating picture of British colonial rule Burmese Days describes corruption and imperial bigotry in a society where, 'after all, natives were…

  2. A Clergyman's Daughter

    novel · 1935

    One of Orwell’s earlier novels this relates the strange story of a young unmarried woman who is seemingly content to keep house for her father, a village rector. After a dinner with a local bachelor she wakes eight days later in the Old…

  3. Keep the Aspidistra Flying

    novel · 1936

    Gordon Comstock loathes dull, middle-class respectability and worship of money. He gives up a 'good job' in advertising to work part-time in a bookshop, giving him more time to write. But he slides instead into a self-induced poverty that…

  4. The Road to Wigan Pier

    nonfiction · 1937

    A searing account of George Orwell's observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its…

  5. Coming Up for Air

    novel · 1939

    Years in insurance and marriage to the joyless Hilda have been no more than death in life to George Bowling. This and fear of another war take his mind back to the peace of his childhood in a small country town. But his return journey to…

  6. Animal Farm

    novella · 1945

    Animal Farm is a brilliant political satire and a powerful and affecting story of revolutions and idealism, power and corruption. 'All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.' Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and…

  7. Nineteen Eighty-Four

    novel · 1949

Nonfiction (4)
  1. Down and Out in Paris and London

    memoir · 1933

    'You have talked so often of going to the dogs – and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.' George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time among the desperately poor and destitute in London and Paris is a moving tour of the…

  2. Homage to Catalonia

    memoir · 1938

    [Homage to Catalonia][1] is [George Orwell][2]'s account of his experiences fighting in the 'Spanish Civil War'. Alongside many British workers, trades unionists, and socialists keen to help the Spanish defend their Republic from General…

  3. Orwell: The Observer Years

    journalism_collection · 2003

  4. George Orwell: Diaries

    diary_collection · 2009

Essays and speeches (24)
  1. Inside the Whale and Other Essays

    essay_collection · 1940

    This is a very special edition cause it seems to be old plumb typography

  2. The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius

    pamphlet · 1941

    George Orwell's moving reflections on the English character and his passionate belief in the need for political change. The Lion and the Unicorn was written in London during the worst period of the blitz. It is vintage Orwell, a dynamic…

  3. Poetry and the Microphone

    pamphlet · 1945

  4. Politics and the English Language

    pamphlet · 1945

    George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to…

  5. Critical Essays

    essay_collection · 1946

  6. James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution

    pamphlet · 1946

  7. The English People

    pamphlet · 1947

  8. Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays

    essay_collection · 1950

  9. England, Your England and Other Essays

    essay_collection · 1953

  10. Such, Such Were the Joys

    essay_collection · 1953

    In this bitingly honest autobiographical essay, Orwell recounts his days as a pupil at St Cyprian's preparatory school in Eastbourne, Sussex. He reflects on a 'world of force and fraud and secrecy,' where the actual 'pattern of school…

  11. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell

    essay_collection · 1954

    In this bestselling compilation of essays, written in the clear-eyed, uncompromising language for which he is famous, Orwell discusses with vigor such diverse subjects as his boyhood schooling, the Spanish Civil War, Henry Miller, British…

  12. Selected Essays

    essay_collection · 1957

  13. Collected Essays

    essay_collection · 1961

  14. Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays

    essay_collection · 1965

  15. The Penguin Essays of George Orwell

    essay_collection · 1984

    Why I write -- The spike -- A hanging -- Shooting an elephant -- Bookshop memories -- Marrakech -- Charles Dickens -- Boys' weeklies -- Inside the whale -- My country right or left -- The lion and the unicorn -- Wells, Hitler and the…

  16. Orwell: Essays

    essay_collection · 2002

  17. Why I Write

    essay_collection · 2004

    A selection of George Orwell's politically charged essays on language and writing that give context to his dystopian classic, 1984 Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and…

  18. Books v. Cigarettes

    essay_collection · 2008

    Qual a relação entre livros e cigarros? Como trabalham os críticos literários? Nestes textos, ora curiosos ora graves, mas sempre cativantes, são-nos narradas, por exemplo, as experiências de Orwell como alfarrabista ('Memórias de um…

  19. All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays

    essay_collection · 2008

  20. Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays

    essay_collection · 2008

    Essays by the author of 1984 on topics from “remembrances of working in a bookshop [to] recollections of fighting in the Spanish Civil War” (Publishers Weekly). George Orwell was first and foremost an essayist, producing throughout his…

  21. Some Thoughts on the Common Toad

    essay_collection · 2010

  22. Fascism and Democracy

    essay_collection · 2020

    'The feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world ... this prospect frightens me much more than bombs' On the 70th anniversary of George Orwell's death, a new collection of his brilliant essays written…

  23. On Jews and Antisemitism

    essay_collection · 2022

  24. Can Socialists Be Happy?

    essay_collection · 2025

    No thinking person can or does genuinely keep out of politics, in an age like the present one This stirring new collection brings together George Orwell's most cherished essays with lesser-known gems, all penned with the clarity, wit and…

Poetry (1)
  1. George Orwell: The Complete Poetry

    poetry_collection · 2015

Edited works (2)
  1. Talking to India: A Selection of English Language Broadcasts to India

    edited_collection · 1943

  2. British Pamphleteers, Volume One: From the Sixteenth Century to the French Revolution

    edited_collection · 1948

Collaborations (2)
  1. Betrayal of the Left

    coauthored_pamphlet · 1941

  2. Victory or Vested Interest?

    coauthored_pamphlet · 1942

Other (8)
  1. The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, and Reportage

    mixed_genre_collection · 1956

  2. The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell

    mixed_genre_collection · 1968

  3. Orwell: The War Commentaries

    broadcast_collection · 1985

  4. Orwell: The War Broadcasts

    broadcast_collection · 1985

  5. Lost Orwell: Being a Supplement to The Complete Works of George Orwell

    mixed_genre_collection · 2006

  6. A Life in Letters

    letter_collection · 2010

  7. Seeing Things as They Are: Selected Journalism and Other Writings

    mixed_genre_collection · 2014

  8. Ruins: Orwell's Reports as War Correspondent in France, Germany and Austria from February until June 1945

    war_reports_collection · 2021

Frequently asked questions about George Orwell

Who was George Orwell, and what was his real name?

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. He was born in India in 1903 and died in London in 1950.

Sources: orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)

What did George Orwell do before becoming a writer?

Orwell served as a police officer in Burma in the Indian Imperial Police. After leaving, he lived among poor communities in Paris and London, experiences that informed his later journalism and social writing.

Sources: orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)

What political beliefs and experiences shaped George Orwell’s work?

Orwell described himself as a democratic socialist and Labour supporter. His service in Burma, encounters with poverty, and experience in the Spanish Civil War shaped his opposition to imperialism, fascism, and totalitarianism.

Sources: orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)

Did George Orwell win the Orwell Prize?

No. The Orwell Prize was established in 1994, decades after Orwell died in 1950; it honors writing that approaches his goal of making political writing into an art.

Sources: orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)

Why is George Orwell still influential today?

Orwell remains influential because he combined clear, accessible prose with journalism and political criticism about truth, propaganda, power, and freedom. The Orwell Foundation describes him as one of the world’s most influential writers and continues to promote work inspired by his ideas.

Sources: orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)orwellfoundation.com (opens in a new tab)