| Categories | Literary magazine |
|---|---|
| Founder | John Lehmann |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Final issue | 1950 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
New Writing was a popular literary periodical in book format founded in 1936 by John Lehmann and committed to anti-fascism.[1]
It featured leading poets and writers of the day such as W.H. Auden, V.S. Pritchett,[2] Christopher Isherwood, Tom Wintringham, Stephen Spender,[3] Ahmed Ali,[4] Jim Phelan, Rex Warner, and B. L. Coombes.[5] New Writing also published articles about Mass-ObservationbyTom Harrisson.[5]
After having been approached by Lehmann to contribute a piece to the periodical, George Orwell developed a "sketch" he had had in mind for some time, and which appeared as "Shooting an Elephant", first published in the second number of the periodical, in Autumn 1936.[1] A second piece by Orwell, "Marrakech", appeared in the Christmas 1939 edition.[6]
With New Writing's future uncertain, Lehmann wrote New Writing in Europe for Pelican Books, a critical summary of the writers of the 1930s. Wintringham reintroduced Lehmann to Allen LaneofPenguin Books, who secured paper for Penguin New Writing, a monthly book-magazine, this time as a paperback, and which survived until 1950.
