University of Stirling, Room location to be confirmed.

This event will be an interactive, in-person and online, workshop where published authors explore the text and meaning of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984. The event will be structured around these authors reading their favourite passages from the book, and explaining how the ideas and concepts embedded in 1984 have influenced their own work. There will be an opportunity to discuss each author’s intervention via a Q&A format.

We are delighted to announce that the following authors have agreed to participate in the workshop, Scottish science fiction authors Ken MacLeod and Ewan Morrison, and Orwell experts Professor Emeritus Stephen Ingle and Professor Emeritus Mike Nellis. The workshop is designed to be interactive and participatory, with audience members able to make contributions and explore their own ideas and thoughts.

The event free and is open to staff, students at the University of Stirling as well as members of the public.  The event will be particularly relevant to those with an interest in creative writing, English literature and science fiction.

To attend in-person participation in the workshop you need to register a place via Eventbrite.

Online participants can access the workshop via the link at the bottom of the page. Registration not required.

1984 by George Orwell

George Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most important books of the 20th Century.  The core themes emebedded in the book - themes like surveillance, privacy, technology and citizen-state relations - are as important today as when Orwell was writing in the 1940s.  Many of his ideas and concepts have entered the general consciousness of the population.  Even if you have not read 1984 you will be familiar with the term ‘big brother’ and most will be familiar with the idea of ‘Room 101’.  These are all ideas with their origins in 1984.  Orwell also introduced us to concepts like ‘double think’ and ‘Newsspeak’, and the ‘telescreen’, a technological concept which combines the television and the surveillance camera.

Speaker Bios

Ken MacLeod

Ken MacLeod is the author of twenty science fiction novels, four novellas, over thirty short stories, and a few poems. His work has been widely translated and ranges from near-future dystopia to far-flung space opera, drawing on his first-hand knowledge of biological science, information technology, and political activism. Notable publications include, The Night Sessions, Intrusion and The Sky Road.

Ewan Morrison

Ewan Morrison is a Scottish author, cultural critic, director, and screenwriter. He has published eight novels and a collection of short stories. His novel Nina X won the Saltire Society Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year 2019. Literary critic Stuart Kelly described Morrison as "the most fluent and intelligent writer of his generation here in Scotland". His latest book, For Emma, is due to be published in March 2025.

Professor Emeritus Stephen Ingle

Stephen Ingle is Professor Emeritus at the University of Stirling and is a world-renowned expert on George Orwell and 1984.  He has pursued research in two principal areas, politics and literature and British political parties, and has written extensively on both. He is especially interested in that area where politics and imaginative literature overlap and has had a special interest in George Orwell’s political thought. He is the author of Orwell Revisited, published by Routledge in 2019.

Professor Emeritus Mike Nellis

Mike Nellis is Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice in the Law School, University of Strathclyde. Formerly a social worker with young offenders in London. He has written widely on the fortunes of the probation service, alternatives to imprisonment and particularly the electronic monitoring of offenders.  He has a long-standing interest in the way surveillance is portrayed in science fiction literature.

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