George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984,” was published 70 years ago this week. In a recent piece for the “New Yorker,” Louis Menand writes that unlike other books with similar themes, “1984” has remarkable staying power – “an amazing run as a work of political prophecy” – as it looked at a world 35 years into the future. In 2017, the novel saw a surge in sales and rose to the top of the Amazon best-seller list.
This hour, we sit down with fiction writers and creative writing teachers to discuss why the book’s success continues, and what a dystopian novel written today might predict for a future 35 years from now. Our guests:
- Christine Green, freelance literary arts journalist and teaching artist
- Greg Gerard, author of "In Jupiter's Shadow," editor of the Big Brick Review, and creative writing teacher at Writers & Books
- Alex Sanchez, author of "Rainbow Boys"and other teen novels, who is currently working on a graphic novel for DC Comics
