Anthem

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. The Libertarian Futurist Society awarded Anthem its Hall of Fame Award in 1987. In 2014, Anthem was nominated for a Retrospective Hugo Award for "Best Novella." Rand, as a teenager living in Soviet Russia, initially conceived Anthem as a play. After migrating to the United States, Rand didn't think of writing Anthem, but reconsidered after reading a short story in The Saturday Evening Post set in the future. Seeing that mainstream magazines would publish a "fantastic" story, she decided to try submitting Anthem to them. She wrote the story in the summer of 1937, while taking a break from research she was doing for her next novel, The Fountainhead.