11020 Orwell 1979, extending the body's observation arc by 5 years prior to its official discovery observation at Klet. According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Orwell" measures 14.466 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.089. It has an absolute magnitude of 12.6. As of 2017, "Orwell"s spectral type, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown. This minor planet was named for British writer Eric Blair (1903–1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, who is associated with the year of the object's discovery,
George Orwell saw some action in a night attack on the Nationalist trenches where he chased an enemy soldier with a bayonet and bombed an enemy rifle position. In April, Orwell returned to Barcelona. Wanting to be sent to the Madrid front, which meant he "must join the International Column", he approached a Communist friend attached to the Spanish Medical Aid and explained his case. "Although he did not think much of the Communists, Orwell was still ready to treat them as friends and allies. That would soon change." This was the time of the Barcelona May Days and Orwell was caught