Orwell Foundation goes Orwellian, apologizes for giving out book award

The Orwell Foundation has essentially walked back an award they gave to Kate Clanchy's memoir on teaching in Sept. 2020. The Foundation initially had high praise for the book, sending it to prominent leaders in education in the UK. But after complaints from readers that her descriptions of students were "offensive," Clanchy is rewriting the book, and the Foundation has "acknowelge[d] the concerns and hurt expressed" about the book.

The award was given for Political Writing to the book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, and the Foundation sent that book to prominent leaders in education in the UK. The book was widely lauded and praised until criticisms sprung up nearly a year after publication, at which time publisher Picador and the Orwell Foundation fell all over themselves to make amends.

Complaints about the book were reported by The Guardian, which said that it was "widespread criticism of her portrayal of her pupils, particularly children of colour and autistic children" that lead publisher Picador to plan rewrites from Clanchy for upcoming editions.

Instead of standing up for the book, the Orwell Foundation essentially disavowed the book and the opinion of the judges who selected it, saying:

"The Orwell Foundation acknowledges the concerns and hurt expressed about Kate Clanchy’s memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me (Picador, 2019), winner of The Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2020. The Foundation understands the importance of language and encourages open and careful debate about all the work which comes through our prizes. Everyone should be able to engage in these discussions, on any platform, without fear of abuse.

"The Orwell Prizes are awarded by a panel of independent judges, appointed each year by the Foundation, who make their own decisions as to the awards in each category. The Foundation does not comment on individual judging panel decisions."

They released the statement as well on Twitter.

Those issues that readers had of the book were primarily with Clanchy's physical descriptions of the children in her charge. "Readers and fellow authors had been critical on Goodreads and Twitter of descriptions in the memoir, including the use of racial tropes such as 'chocolate-coloured skin' and 'almond-shaped eyes', and references to one student as 'African Jonathon' and another being 'so small and square and Afghan with his big nose and premature moustache'."

"Ableist descriptions" were also cited as problems, specifically those in which Clancy "refers to two autistic children as 'unselfconsciously odd' and 'jarring company', and writes 'probably, more than an hour a week' in their company 'would irritate me, too, but for that hour I like them very much'."

Autistic teen author Dara McAnulty took the opportunity to post passages from the award-winning "hate-filled" book on Twitter, saying that the offending passages were "not good." She said further that "Some people didn't believe me when I shared some of my education experiences and how teachers felt about me … We can understand how you really feel about us," using Clanchy's book as proof of ill-treatment.

Clanchy has said that she was "wrongfully accused" of racism, and that the descriptions were not appropriately contextualized before being subjected to critique. She deleted those tweets, however, and replaced them with a thread that read she's "been given the chance to do some re-writing" and that she's "grateful" because she knows she "got many things wrong" and "welcome[s] the chance to do better."

Clanchy also noted that she is "not a good person... not a pure person, not a patient person, no one's saviour," and that readers are "right to blame" her and that she blames herself.

The publisher outright apologized, saying "We realise our response was too slow. We vigorously condemn the despicable online bullying of many of those who have spoken out. This has no place in our community." Picador went on to say that they apologize "profoundly for the hurt we have caused."

The Orwell Foundation claims its mission is to "perpetuate the achievements of the British writer George Orwell," saying that "From the corruption of the media to pervasive new technologies, and from poverty and inequality to the rise of political extremism," Orwell's "concerns are as germane to the twenty-first century as they were to the circumstances in which his great novels were conceived."