Every year we create our signature “Bad Citizen” Graffiti Stencil to highlight the authors and the words that push us to think, read, and be disruptive when necessary. This year’s stencil features a timely quote from George Orwell. “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell [1903-50] was born in Bengal and educated at Eton; after service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living penning novels and essays. An opponent of totalitarianism, he served in the Spanish Civil War. Besides his classic Animal Farm, his works include a novel based on his experiences as a colonial policeman, Burmese Days, two first hand studies of poverty, Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier, an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia; and the extraordinary novel of political prophecy whose title became part of our language, 1984.