In this essay, originally published in the Spectator in March 1968, Anthony Burgess discusses the pros and cons of living with cats. ‘Dare to Be a Catman’ by Anthony Burgess Cats only came properly into my life when, after six years of soldiering and two years of postwar mess (known officially as readjustment), I got […]
In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess’s interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess’s list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests. […]
If you want to start a fight among British people, the quickest way is to ask them how to make a cup of tea. Should it be made with tea leaves in a pot, or with a tea bag in a mug? How long do you brew it before you drink it? Do you take […]
In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess’s interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess’s list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests. […]
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born (as Margaret Roberts) 100 years ago, on 13 October 1925. In the years since she left Downing Street in 1990, her achievements and legacies have been widely discussed by political commentators. The extent to which she shaped both modern conservatism and New Labour is still debated by her political successors. […]
In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess’s interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess’s list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests. […]
Discover new voices from Manchester and Denmark as talented young writers Elizabeth Gibson, Tallulah Howarth, Asta Birkler, Loc-An Thi Nguyen, Cody Sander and Johanne Bisgaard share new work exploring the impact of colonialism and language in our relationship to land and to each other through poetry and prose. The writers are part of ReWrite – an […]
In this guest blog, Will Franken, who was shortlisted for the 2025 Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize, reviews the Irwell Edition of The Clockwork Testament by Anthony Burgess, edited by Ákos Farkas and published by Manchester University Press. A question looms over the recent Irwell edition of Anthony Burgess’s The Clockwork Testament (1974), which is why have […]
In October 2024 I volunteered at the Burgess Foundation, where I assisted with a project to catalogue objects in the archive in preparation for digitisation. My academic background in History of Art has given me an interest in the politics of the museum, the ways in which visitors interact with a space, and how this […]
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 Observer / Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism. Now in its fourteenth year, the prize exists to recognise and reward new talent in writing about the arts. Its other purpose is to commemorate the long connection between Anthony Burgess and the Observer newspaper, to which […]