Join co-curators of our new exhibition, How William Became Shakespeare: Four Hundred Years of the First Folio Cecily Dyer, Special Collections Librarian, and Shannon Kelley, director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Associate Professor of English at Fairfield University, to learn how Shakespeare became the most famous writer in the English language.
We invite you to join us for three events, starting with a guided walkthrough of the exhibition and a moderated discussion about the future of Shakespeare studies with alumni of the Fairfield University Shakespeare program: Diallo Simon-Ponte, ‘20; Kayla Sullivan, ’20; and Aarushi Vijay, ’22. The panel will be moderated by Fairfield University student Annie Marino, ’24. Share your first memories reading Shakespeare in school as we question past and future roles of Shakespeare throughout K-12 and higher education. All ages are welcome.
These events will be followed by a keynote presentation by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Stephen Greenblatt. Professor Greenblatt wrote Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, as well as Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2012 for Will in the World, as well as the National Book Award for nonfiction. Professor Greenblatt is often heralded as the founder of New Historicism, a literary theory that emphasizes the cultural context of the written word.
Many thanks to Diane’s Books of Greenwich (https://dianesbooks.com) for selling copies of Greenblatt’s books at this program!
