The winner of the 2023 Observer / Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is En Liang Khong. His review of Tanoa Sasraku’s exhibition of Terratypes wins him the first prize of £3,000 and publication in the Observer newspaper. The £500 runner-up accolades go to Cerise Louisa Andrews, who wrote about the V&A’s exploration of Korean ‘Hallyu’ […]

Our annual competition to find the best in new arts reviews has launched, and this year we are delighted to welcome Observer pop critic Kitty Empire to the judging panel. The Observer / Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism challenges writers to create an engaging 800-word review of a work in the arts. It’s run […]

The Observer / Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is now open for entries. Our annual review writing competition has a prize fund of £4,000 and an opportunity to be published in the Observer newspaper. Anthony Burgess wrote hundreds of articles for many publications, including the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator and the Yorkshire Post, which […]

We are delighted to announce the results of the 2020 Observer / Burgess Prize. The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is a review-writing prize encouraging budding journalists to submit previously unpublished works of up to 800 words. It is run by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in partnership with The Observer newspaper. Our judges […]

Our annual prizes for arts journalism have been announced! The winner of the £3000 prize was Jason Watkins, for his review of Pigspurt’s Daughter at the Holbeck Underground Ballroom in Leeds, which is a one-woman performance piece by Daisy Campbell about her late father, the celebrated provocateur and playwright Ken Campbell. Jason’s vivid writing brings to life […]

Our £3000 journalism prize is to be awarded at a ceremony to be hosted in London by the Observer newspaper, on Wednesday 20 February 2019. The International Anthony Burgess Foundation announces the shortlist for the Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism. Now in its seventh year, the £3000 prize is for lively and thought-provoking reviews […]

Throughout his career, Anthony Burgess has written about possible futures. His most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange (1962), is also his most powerful prophecy of a possible future world. Burgess also wrote two more future-set novels, The Wanting Seed (1962) and 1985 (1978). A section of The End of the World News (1982) is also […]

Anthony Burgess moved to Monaco in  1975, and first met Princess Grace with her husband Prince Rainier at a concert by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. After which, he and Liana were invited to several parties and lunches at the royal palace. Princess Grace, Burgess said, ‘was the last of the great hostesses. She could […]

Anthony Burgess visited Australia in 1970 to open the Adelaide Festival, an occasion that brought much calamity. Even before they disembarked the plane, Liana Burgess had a giant stuffed elephant she had bought in Bombay confiscated by Australian officials (Burgess supposed its body must have been stuffed with ‘syphilitic bandages’). She also did not have […]

Anthony Burgess was no stranger to the book tour, and at various points in his career made himself available to his fans. Novelist Jonathan Lethem remembers meeting Burgess in 1985, the latter in rather a grumpy mood. Writing in the LA Review of Books, Lethem remembers the encounter as ‘charming and spellbinding and ghastly’. Burgess’s […]