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HISTORICAL FACTS: 3 - The Untold Story

Animal Farm at 80: why the animals really matter in Orwell’s parable about communism

George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) turns 80 on August 17 2025. If there’s one thing every student of history or politics knows, it’s that the novella is not really about animals. Sure, the principal characters are pigs and horses. But really, so we are told, it is about the Soviet…

The Conversation

"I don't think I would have become a writer without that summer of Aggie" – author Louise Candlish shares the 5 books that changed her life

As Louise's new novel A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder flies off the shelves, she confesses to doing a weird thing to her childhood favourite book, and the book that fills her with "evil glee"!

Woman & Home

Animal Farm at 80: George Orwell’s enduring commitment to socialist revolution

During the early years of the second world war, George Orwell believed that England’s revolutionary moment had arrived. The defeat at Dunkirk had discredited the country’s ruling elite. Their bungling had left England on the verge of invasion and defeat.

The Conversation

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10 Sci-Fi Books That Predicted The Future (Kinda)

Some futures are brighter than others.

The Mary Sue

Writing is all about discipline, love, luck and endurance – and I sure know about endurance

My ‘writing day’ is inevitably taken up by the exigencies of family life, leaving spare nights and weekends to write. It’s heady but painful business

The Guardian - AU

18 months. 12,000 questions. A whole lot of anxiety. What I learned from reading students’ ChatGPT logs

Students increasingly use AI chatbots for anything from academic queries to emotional quandaries. But are they missing out on the chance to make their own mistakes? Three undergrads reveal all …

The Guardian - UK

Melbourne international film festival 2025: the 10 movies you must see this year

Our picks include a Tilda Swinton musical, an ode to porridge, Orwell’s life unpacked and the final stage of the story of Gulpilil

The Guardian - AU

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Canada Day: How Canadian nationalism is evolving with the times — and will continue to do so

Tariffs imposed on Canada by the United States have fuelled a surge in nationalist sentiment that played a significant role in the outcome of April’s federal election.

The Conversation

Orwell prize for political writing awarded to novelist killed in Ukraine war

Victoria Amelina wins with her unfinished book Looking at Women Looking at War while Donal Ryan takes the award for political fiction with an intimate portrait of an Irish town

The Guardian - UK

Nineteen Eighty-Four might have been inspired by George Orwell’s fear of drowning

George Orwell had a traumatic relationship with the sea. In August 1947, while he was writing Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) on the island of Jura in the Scottish Hebrides, he went on a fishing trip with his young son, nephew and niece.

The Conversation

Andy Serkis wants to keep his Animal Farm adaptation full of ‘innocence’

To balance the book’s darkness, actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis has declared he wants to keep his animated Animal Farm adaptation full of “innocence”

BANG Premier

‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public

When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign.

The Conversation

"I said Never Take Me Alive should be the single and the record company looked at me like, ‘That's commercial suicide!’ Luckily, it was a hit…” Spear Of Destiny's Kirk Brandon on hits, heart attacks and Theatre Of Hate

The indestructible Kirk Brandon on the unlikely origins of Theatre Of Hate and Spear Of Destiny and why he really is a dead man walking

Louder

“Rock’n’roll is like Italian operetta. Everybody dies and loses.” Kirk Brandon looks back on Theatre Of Hate, Spear Of Destiny, heart attacks and his unlikely influences

The indestructible Kirk Brandon on the unlikely origins of Theatre Of Hate and Spear Of Destiny

Louder

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The Guardian - US

How the word ‘womyn’ dragged the National Spelling Bee into the US culture wars

In an age of division where authoritarianism is seeping into every corner of American discourse, the Spelling Bee offers up a reminder of what America should truly be

The Conversation

Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World should be read in tandem to understand today’s troubled times

Is there any past work of fiction that can help us make sense of today’s troubling trends? Taking into account the proliferation of references to obfuscating “Newspeak”, Big Brother-style leaders and impossible-to-circumvent surveillance systems in newspaper articles, this question cries out for a simple answer: “Yes – and that work…

The Guardian - UK

About 160 historic George Orwell papers saved for nation after outcry

Exclusive: University College London acquires Gollancz archive that was in danger of being dispersed forever

LiveScience

Corryvreckan whirlpool: Scotland's 'raging cauldron' that is named after a Norse king and said to house a witch

The Corryvreckan whirlpool is one of the largest whirlpools in the world, reaching speeds of 8.5 knots and producing a roaring sound that can be heard 10 miles away.

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Radio France Internationale

Cannes Film Festival unveils diverse line-up of veteran stars and fresh talent

Cannes Film Festival organisers have revealed the films competing for the coveted Palme d'Or prize on Thursday. Six women are among the 19 directors nominated, including the 2021 winner, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau with her new film Alpha.

Euronews

Cannes Film Festival unveils 2025 lineup with Julia Ducournau, Wes Anderson and Ari Aster

The 2025 vintage is looking big, bold and star-studded.... Here's everything you need to know about the line-up of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The National (Scotland)

Scottish band’s song about Spanish Civil War to go on show in international museum

A SCOTTISH rock band is to have one of its songs showcased in a museum dedicated to the Spanish Civil War ...

The Conversation

Australia’s ‘wild reciters’ sought to change the world verse by verse. Who are today’s provocateurs?

In his latest book, Peter Kirkpatrick retrieves from Australian cultural history the compelling figure of the “wild reciter”, as a reviewer in the 1920s termed amateur elocutionists.

PC Gamer

I played the lost videogame sequel to 1984, and came away more nostalgic than ever for gaming's awkward adolescence in 1999

What a time to be alive.

The Guardian - AU

Five Great Reads: Turning sewage into ‘blue gold’; rejecting the manosphere; and a chat with Orwell’s son

Guardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Imogen Dewey

The Independent UK

George Orwell’s son Richard Blair says he feels uncomfortable with some of the author’s work

Orwell’s writing made a global impact, but its legacy has been marred by claims of misogyny and antisemitism

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