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 understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

A pioneer in the field of cultural studies, Stuart Hall produced an impressive body of work on the relationship between culture and power. His contributions to critical theory and the study of politics, culture, communication, media, race, diaspora and postcolonialism made him one of the great public intellectuals of the late twentieth century. For much of his career, Hall was better known outside the Caribbean than in the region. He made his mark most notably in the United Kingdom as head of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and at the Open University, where his popular lecture series was broadcast on BBC2. His influence expanded from the late 1980s onwards as the field of cultural studies gained traction in universities worldwide. Hall's middle-class upbringing in colonial Jamaica and his subsequent experience of immigrant life in the United Kingdom afforded him a unique perspective that informed his groundbreaking work on the complex power dynamics of race, class and empire. This accessible, lively biography provides glimpses into Hall's formative Jamaican years and includes segments from his hitherto unpublished early writing. Annie Paul gives us an engaging introduction to a globally renowned Caribbean intellectual.

“Dean Nelson is one of the best interviewers around.” —Anne Lamott From respected journalist, professor, and founder of the Writer's Symposium by the Sea, an indispensable guide to the subtle art of the interview guaranteed to afford readers with the skills and confidence they need the next time they say, "talk to me." Interviewing is the single most important way journalists (and doctors, lawyers, social workers, teachers, human resources staff, and, really, all of us) get information. Yet to many, the perfect interview feels more like luck than skill—a rare confluence of rapport, topic, and timing. But the thing is, great interviews aren’t the result of serendipity and intuition, but rather the result of careful planning and good journalistic habits. And Dean Nelson is here to show you how to nail the perfect interview every time. Drawing on forty-years of award-winning journalism and his experience as the founder and host of the Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, Nelson walks readers through each step of the journey from deciding whom to interview and structuring questions, to the nitty gritty of how to use a recording device and effective note-taking strategies, to the ethical dilemmas of interviewing people you love (and loathe). He also includes case studies of famous interviews to show readers how these principles play out in real time. Chock full of comprehensive, time-tested, gold-standard advice, Talk to Me is a book that demystifies the art and science of interviewing, in the vein of On Writing Well or How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

Essays on the complex relationship between oral and literate modes of communication.