# New Writing

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***New Writing*** was a popular literary periodical in book format founded in 1936 by [John Lehmann](/source/John_Lehmann) and committed to [anti-fascism](/source/Anti-fascism).[1]

It featured leading poets and writers of the day such as [W.H. Auden](/source/W.H._Auden), [V.S. Pritchett](/source/V.S._Pritchett),[2] [Christopher Isherwood](/source/Christopher_Isherwood), [Tom Wintringham](/source/Tom_Wintringham), [Stephen Spender](/source/Stephen_Spender),[3] [Ahmed Ali](/source/Ahmed_Ali_(writer)),[4] [Jim Phelan](/source/Jim_Phelan_(Irish_writer)), [Rex Warner](/source/Rex_Warner), and [B. L. Coombes](/source/B._L._Coombes).[5] *New Writing* also published articles about [Mass-Observation](/source/Mass-Observation) by [Tom Harrisson](/source/Tom_Harrisson).[5]

After having been approached by Lehmann to contribute a piece to the periodical, [George Orwell](/source/George_Orwell) developed a "sketch" he had had in mind for some time, and which appeared as "[Shooting an Elephant](/source/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]

## *Penguin New Writing*

With *New Writing'*s future uncertain, Lehmann wrote *New Writing in Europe* for [Pelican Books](/source/Pelican_Books), a critical summary of the writers of the 1930s. Wintringham reintroduced Lehmann to [Allen Lane](/source/Allen_Lane) of [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books), who secured paper for *Penguin New Writing*, a monthly book-magazine, this time as a [paperback](/source/Paperback), and which survived until 1950.

## References

1. *The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 1 – An Age Like This 1939–1940*, p. 250. Penguin

1. ["John Lehmann"](http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335193/John-Lehmann) [Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica). Retrieved 28 December 2013.

1. [Lehmann, John](/source/Lehmann,_John) [*Folios of New Writing, Issue 1*, p. 9. Hogarth Press, 1940](https://books.google.com/books?id=96_PAAAAMAAJ&q=spender) At Google Books. Retrieved 23 December 2013.

1. [*Orwell and Politics*. Penguin UK, 2001](https://books.google.com/books?id=WjPofDcwmtsC&q=ahmed&pg=PT274) At Google Books. Retrieved 23 December 2013.

1. Steve Ellis, *British writers and the approach of World War II.* New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. ISBN 9781107054585 (p. 175)

1. *The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 1 – An Age Like This 1939–1940*, p. 426. Penguin

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