I Had it in Me - A Memoir
Leonie Orton
Publication date: 21st October 2016
ISBN:978-0-9928834-2-3

"A wonderful memoir, intensely moving and hilariously funny. Like her brother, Joe, Leonie Orton uses dark comedy with devastating effect to pinpoint the stark truths about families, love, sex and death. I couldn't put it down."
Jake Arnott

I Had It In Me is the memoir of Leonie Orton, Joe's youngest sister. Leonie tells her own story of growing up on a Leicester council estate in the 1940s and 1950s as her brother rose to become a remarkable writer. For the first time
she recounts how the family coped with his brutal murder and lost diaries.
She also describes her fight to educate herself, nurture her own family
and eventually take over the management of her brother’s legacy.
More details here
Available to pre-order here

Prick up Your Ears
John Lahr
New Edition Published by Bloomsbury 2002
ISBN 9780747560142

New ediion of John Lahr's biography of Joe Orton, first published in 1978. The title was taken from what was to be Orton’s next play, a historical farce set on the eve of Edward VII’s coronation in 1902. Lahr’s book was meticulously researched over many years and Joe's agent, Peggy Ramsey even granted access to Orton’s diaries, the existence of which she had kept secret for many years.

Malicious Damage:
The Defaced Library Books of Kenneth Halliwell and Joe Orton
Ilsa Colsell
Publisher: Donlon Books 2013

Malicious Damage looks closely at the collaged dust jackets still remaining within the archive at Islington Local History Centre and focuses on the early collaborative nature of Orton and Halliwell’s relationship.
Read more about the Islington Library Books here
Read the Guardian article and review here

Joe Orton – A Casebook
Dr Francesca Coppa
Published by Routledge 2003
ISBN 978-0815336273

This is the first ever collection of Orton scholarship and includes essays from most of the prominent voices in the field. The book, divided into two sections, theorizes Orton's theatrical work as well as his controversial life in the 'swinging London' of the 1960's. Topics explored include his plays, early works, his Diaries and his status as a gay icon.

Because We're Queers
Simon Shepherd
Published by Gay Men's Press 1994
ISBN 978-0854490905

In this pioneering study, Simon Shepherd reclaims Orton and Halliwell for the gay movement, setting both their achievements and their limitations against a repressive backdrop of homophobia and hypocrisy.

Student Guide: Laughter in the Dark - The Plays of Joe Orton
Arthur Burke
Published by Greenwich Exchange 2001
ISBN 978-1871551563

In this study - often as irreverent as the plays themselves - Burke dissects Orton's comedy and traces the connection between the lifestyle and the work. Previously a television critic and comedian, Arthur Burke is a writer and journalist. He has published articles not only on Orton but also on Harold Pinter, John Osborne and many other leading modern dramatists.

You can now purchase the above volumes via our Amazon shop here
(Some editions may be out of print but can be purchased second hand)