The Orwell Foundation to stage an interactive reading of Down and out in Paris and London

Following their innovative 1984 LIVE creative reading in 2017, The Orwell Foundation seeks to stage a dramatized interactive reading of George Orwell’s iconic Down and Out in Paris and London. The project aims to bring a major creative intervention into the street and intellectual life of two great cities – London and Paris, centred on University College London and the Sorbonne. Accompanying the reading will be seminars on the causes of, and solutions to, homelessness and poverty, as well as explorations of the geography and street life of homelessness and the role of political writing in creating new understanding.

The Orwell Foundation – based at UCL – is the pre-eminent institution for developing work in the spirit of George Orwell’s values. The Foundation runs the UK’s most political prize for political writing, The Orwell Prize, with awards for books, journalism and reporting on social issues, hosts the annual Orwell Lecture and facilitates a thriving youth outreach strand.

Down and Out was the product of Orwell’s systematic, and very personal, exploration of the problems of poverty and homelessness.

More on this event will follow as plans unfold, but you can also follow the work on the Orwell Foundation website.

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash