The Orwell Foundation Lecture at University College London and, from 2017, the Orwell Lecture in the North at the University of Sheffield. The foundation also organises events and anniversary celebrations about George Orwell. As the only website authorised by the Orwell Estate, the foundation also publishes online resources by and about Orwell, which can be read for free here. The Orwell Youth Prize works with young people aged 14–18 The Orwell Foundation The Orwell Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales. The Foundation runs the Orwell Prize, the UK’s most prestigious prize for political writing. In addition to the Prizes, the
George Orwell until he had seen the situation "in situ", Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to John McNair in Barcelona. Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with Henry Miller in Paris on the way. The American writer told Orwell that going to fight in the Civil War out of some sense of obligation or guilt was "sheer stupidity" and that the Englishman's ideas "about combating Fascism, defending democracy, etc., etc., were all baloney." A few days later in Barcelona, Orwell met John McNair of the Independent Labour Party