Anthony Burgess was born on 25 February 1917. On the occasion of his 108th birthday, we look forward to future publications and other forthcoming Burgess-related events.

It was Amol Rajan, the presenter of University Challenge and the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, who spoke recently of ‘the great, late Anthony Burgess.’ Of his lateness there is no doubt: the reference books confirm that he died on 22 November 1993. As for his greatness, one way to measure it would be to consider some of the ways in which Burgess’s work is being revisited and interpreted by twenty-first century readers.

This year has seen the welcome release of two paperback editions of Nothing Like the Sun and Honey for the Bears. Galileo published these books in February, with new introductions by Robert McCrum and Andrew Biswell. Nothing Like the Sun, a rich and bawdy novel about Shakespeare the lover, is well known to Burgess admirers, and it is very good to see it back in print. Honey for the Bears, first published in 1963 and subtitled ‘an Anglo-Russian comedy’, has been unavailable in Britain since 1986. The novel presents a memorable portrait of Leningrad under the chaotic regime of Nikita Khrushchev, with a topical subplot about political dissidents who are trying to escape from the Soviet Union.

These new books will be followed by paperback editions of Tremor of Intent, One Hand Clapping and Napoleon Symphony. The Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess will present scholarly hardback editions of Inside Mr Enderby and The Worm and the Ring — the first new printing of this important novel for 55 years.

Future publications will include A Shorter Ulysses and a collection of Burgess’s unpublished short stories — and there is a proposal to adapt A Clockwork Orange as a graphic novel.

Next month Manchester University Press will publish Anthony Burgess in America, a substantial critical book by Christopher W. Thurley. This original work of scholarship, based on many years of work in the archives, is the first sustained attempt to consider the American influences on Burgess’s life, work and legacy.

Burgess is also being remembered in the worlds of broadcasting and live theatre. On 30 March, BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a 45-minute feature about Burgess and music, drawing on the BBC audio archives and with contributions from an international panel of experts. For the future, we can look forward to new productions of Burgess’s stage plays on both sides of the Atlantic and in Europe. Following the international success of the recent Arte TV documentary about A Clockwork Orange by Elisa Mantin and Benoit Felici, another new documentary about Burgess is in production in Switzerland. 

Since the beginning of 2025 the Burgess Foundation has been working in collaboration with the pianist Richard Casey on a recording of some newly-discovered piano pieces, scheduled for release before the end of the year. Another item of music news is that the Stanford Philharmonia and the Mela Guitar Quartet will present the world premiere of Burgess’s Concerto Grosso for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra in A minor in California on the evening of 28 February.

The Foundation is currently working with the North-West Sound Archive to digitise a large collection of reel-to-reel audio tapes, including high-quality recordings of Burgess reading from his work, speaking at length to interviewers, and performing music at home with his family. Some of this material will appear on our podcasting channel, which will also host a new series of the popular ‘99 Novels’ podcast later in the year.

The winners of this year’s Observer / Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism will be announced in May. Each year since 2013 the prize has awarded £4000 to new critics and reviewers, in celebration of Burgess’s 30-year association with the paper as its lead critic. The closing date for this year’s prize is 28 February.

One of the highlights of our summer events programme will be a public lecture from Nicholas Shakespeare, author of a new biography of Ian Fleming, who knew Graham Greene and Anthony Burgess when he was the literary editor of the Daily Telegraph in the 1990s.

As in previous years, there will be a great deal of publishing activity in a variety of world languages. We are looking forward to new translations of Burgess’s work into French, German, Serbian, Polish, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. There will be new audio books in Italian and French — and in the autumn we will launch a new research project with a focus on Burgess and translation, in collaboration with the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester. 

‘Is there still Burgess?’ asked an international correspondent by email a few months ago. The only possible answer to that question is a resounding Yes. Thirty-two years after his death, Burgess’s reputation has never been higher. There are more of his books in print today than at any time since 1993, and enthusiasm for his work is growing as the books are rediscovered by new generations of readers.

For further details of new developments, you can keep in touch with the Burgess Foundation by signing up for our free weekly newsletter, delivered by email to subscribers. The archive of previous newsletters is accessible online via Substack.

We also encourage readers who are based in the UK to visit our online book store at Bookshop.org. Every purchase contributes to the educational work of the Burgess Foundation.

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