Orr worked as deputy editor for City Limits magazine, a workers' cooperative. Orr said later that she found the structure frustrating and requiring more listening. Until 1990, Orr was a contributor to New Statesman. In 1990, she began writing for The Guardian regularly. From 1993 to 1998, Orr was editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine. From 1998 until her death, Orr worked as a freelance journalist. She was also a columnist for The Independent. In January 2018, Orr's regular column for The Guardian ended when the newspaper relaunched in a tabloid format. In February 2018, she joined the i newspaper as a regular columnist. In January 2020, Orr's memoir, Motherwell: A Girlhood, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and serialised on BBC Radio 4.
Views
Orr wrote, in 2017, "Homeless people are stuck in the streets once again. The services of food banks have never been more in demand. People with mental and physical illnesses or disabilities are dying for want of care, or even heat. The National Health Service has been plunged into a financial and staffing crisis, yet still has to soothe the dented ego of Richard Branson by making a payout to Virgin Care. The teaching profession is struggling once more with a rejigged exam system, and is bracing itself for a further squeeze on budgets. Our prison service is a series of riots waiting to happen." On 19 October 2011, an article by Orr stated that the trade for Israeli soldierGilad Shalit in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners "tacitly acknowledges what so many Zionists believe—that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate neighbours." This statement, viewed by many as anti-Semitic, was the subject of criticism. Orr apologised for words which she described as "badly chosen and poorly used". Her apology, too, was the subject of criticism.
Personal life
In 1997, Orr married English author Will Self. They had two sons and lived in Stockwell; they separated in 2017 and divorced in 2018. In 2010, she discovered she had breast cancer and was treated for it, which included a mastectomy. In October 2019, she died from the disease, aged 57. In 2017, Orr wrote about her struggles with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
