This is The Reason interview with Nicklespie. Thanks for listening.

Today's episode is sponsored by the Reason Webathon, the one week out of the year when we ask

our readers, viewers, and listeners to support our principled libertarian journalism with tax-deductible

donations.

Please go to reason.com slash donate right now and help us make the case for free minds and

free markets in 2024. The problems aren't getting any smaller. Your contributions really make a

difference to everything we do. My guest today is Sandra Newman, who happens to be

my favorite novelist currently at work in America. I highly, highly recommend her previous works,

The Men and the Heavens, which came out in the past couple of years. Her new book is titled

Julia, and it is a brilliant retelling of George Orwell's 1984 from the

point of view of Winston Smith's lover, who, as you probably recall, is a member of the anti-sex

league. I don't even know how to do this novel justice. It is a stylistic and conceptual

toward a force that

updates and expands Orwell's universe in deeply profound, disturbing, and highly contemporary ways.

We talk about the book's origins. The Orwell estate actually came to Sandra and asked her to write it,

and we talk about why 1984 continues to resonate with readers.

We talk about the role of literature in a world where television and movies command more audience

attention. And we discuss past controversies involving Newman's writing, which are fascinating.

This is a wide-ranging conversation, and it's one of my very favorite episodes

of this podcast, which I've been doing, you know, for like six years or more. Here is the reason

interview with Sandra Newman. Sandra Newman. Thanks for talking to reason. Oh, thanks,

Nick. Thanks for having me on. Okay. so the new novel is Julia, which is a

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