George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, political author, and journalist who wrote some of the finest pieces in literary criticism, poetry, fiction, and polemical journalism. Born on June 25, 1903 in Bihar, India, to a Civil Servant who worked in the then legal opium trade, Orwell moved to London with his mother at the age of one.

Having grown to hate imperialism and keen to start a fresh career with writing, Orwell moved to Paris in 1927, where he wrote numerous short stories and articles, but didn't achieve much success. He came back to London after he fell seriously ill, and it was here that he wrote under the pseudonym George Orwell for the first time. His first work under this pen-name was Down and Out in Paris and London, a memoir-cum-travelogue themed on poverty in the two capital cities.

Considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell's work is known for its simplicity, astuteness, and wit. His writing is mainly within the genres of dystopia and satire, and he wrote with great cleverness on subjects such as anti-fascism, democratic socialism, totalitarianism. He used his fiction writing, as well as his journalism, to defend his political convictions. Many of the words coined by him, such as 'doublethink', 'thoughtcrime', 'Big Brother', and 'thought police', have found a place in popular jargon.

Animal Farm, Orwell’s memorable satire about the Soviet experiment, was written in 1944. After finishing work on it, it took him a year to find a publisher and was finally out in print in 1945. His final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, became a resounding international success on its publication in June 1949. One of the most insightful works about the dangers of totalitarian rule, it remains a classic of world literature. This dystopian novel, both a cautionary tale and a chilling prophecy about the future, is more timely than ever today when authoritarian regimes across the world are gaining power.

Among all his books, the one that has left the deepest impact on generations of readers across borders is, no doubt, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell died at the age of forty-six in 1950.