November 9-12 | New Orleans
The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship held its 2023 Annual Conference in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter at the Hyatt Centric Hotel on November 9-12.
All presentation sessions were Livestreamed internationally. Learn more and register for the Livestream here.
This year’s conference included a guided city tour of New Orleans and a two-hour jazz dinner cruise on the Mississippi on Thursday as well as lunches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The full schedule of talks is below.
IN-PERSON
IN-PERSON CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED
Full conference registration attendance at all presentations plus Thursday evening city tour and dinner cruise, and lunches on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
To protect those who book early, full refunds will be made to anyone who needs to cancel a registration on or before 1 October (the date we need to confirm numbers with NOLA people). For anyone seeking a refund between 2 October and 2 November, all but $99 will be refunded with the remainder of the fee turned into a livestream registration.
LIVESTREAM
Attend virtually! Watch the conference live on your computer or phone. Join us virtually from the comfort of your home (or wherever!).
The livestream registration fee is just $99 for the entire four-day event. Everyone purchasing the Livestream (as well as anyone attending in person) will be able to watch the presentations not only as they happen but for a period of 30 days afterward. So if you miss a paper or want to hear it again, you can just go back in!
SCHEDULE
Download the full program, including presenter bios.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9
Session One
11:30 – 1 SOF registration desk opens at Hyatt Centric French Quarter
1:00-1:10 Opening of Session. Host Don Rubin, Conference Chair
Overview and Announcements
Welcome: Earl Showerman, President
1:10-1:50 Tom Townsend: Finding the True Shakespeare – An Historical Perspective
An Authorship 101 Introduction
1:50-2:20 Paul Chambers: Employing Mathematics to Identify the Real Shakespeare
2:20-2:50 Ralph McDonald: The Shakespeare Brand of 1623: Why a Rose By Any Other Name Smells Not As Sweet
2:50-3:30 Guy Sprung: Shakespeare and the Theatre: An Actor Prepares (300 Years Before Stanislavski?)
Edited for this conference with a brief introduction by Don Rubin.
3:30 Break for City Tour and Dinner Cruise
4:00-6:30 City Tour Pick-up (drop off at dock at 6:30)
7:00-9:00 Jazz Dinner Cruise Reception on the Mississippi River
–Bus One: Natchez and Creole Queen –Bus Two: Creole Queen
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Session Two
Host: Dorothea Dickerman
9:30- 9:35 Welcome and Announcements
9:35-10:10 Lyle Jennings Colombo: Two First Folio Poems and Three Other Texts Encrypted by John Dee
10:10-10:55 Gabriel Ready: Ben Jonson’s Desk Fire in November 1623
10:55-11:35 Keynote Speech
11:35-11:50 Refreshment Break
11:50-12:50 Panel: Publishing on the Authorship: Real Life Experiences
Moderator: Don Rubin
Panelists: Margo Anderson, Ros Barber, Jim Warren and the keynote speaker
12:50 to 1:10 Book signing for all authors of authorship books in NOLA
1:10-2:40 Buffet Lunch (included for all registrants in the Hyatt’s Atrium Courtyard)
Session Three
Host: Tom Woosnam
2:40-3:25 William Niederkorn: A Secular Tour of Venus and Adonis
3:25-4:00 James A. Warren: Words, Words, Words: A More Accurate Understanding of Edward de Vere as Shakespeare
4:00-4:45 Rima Greenhill: Shakespeare, Elizabeth and Ivan: The Role of English-Russian Relations in Love’s Labours Lost
4:45-5:00 Refreshment Break
5:00-5:45 John Hamill: Challenging the Prince Tudor Theory (representing himself and John Shahan on the topic; rebuttal: James Warren)
This session was a follow-up to the Letters to the Editor by John Hamill, John Shahan, and James Warren, which were published in The Oxfordian 25 (2023), and can be found on page 9-19.
Dinner On Own
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11
9:00-10:15 Annual General Meeting (SOF Members Only)
(* Not livestreamed. SOF members not in NOLA will receive a Zoom invitation)
10:15-10:30 Refreshment break
Session Four
Host: Bob Meyers
10:30-10:40 Earl Showerman: Informal report on the SOF Annual General Meeting
10:40-11:20 Cheryl Eagan-Donovan and Michael Delahoyde: Music and Lyrics by E.O.
11:20-12:05 Ros Barber: A Thousand Questions Reduced to One: How to Win the Authorship Argument
12:15-1:45 Lunch — included for all registrants in Deanie’s Restaurant
Session Five
Host: Bonner Cutting
1:45-2:30 Michael Delahoyde: Slanders About Nothing in Much Ado (Video)
2:30-3:00 Elisabeth P. Waugaman: Shakespeare’s French Obsession: How New Historicism Can Help Advance the Authorship Debate (Video)
3:00-3:50 Robert Prechter: Was the Earl of Oxford Bisexual?
3:50-4:05 Refreshment Break
4:05-4:55 Richard Waugaman: The Origins of Modern Literary Theory in the Repudiation of Autobiographical Readings of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (Video)
4:55-5:30 Earl Showerman: Hamlet’s Book Revisited: The Identity of the ‘Satiric Rogue’ Revealed
Dinner On Own
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Session Six
Host: SOF President Earl Showerman
9:30-10:00 Michael Dudley: By the Rule of That Philosophy: Validating the Oxfordian Thesis Using Theories of Knowledge, Justification and Truth (video)
10:00- 10:45 Sky Gilbert: Ben Jonson’s Hidden Agenda
10:45-11:00 Refreshment Break
11:00-11:40 Dorothea Dickerman: Shakespeare in Sicily: Part II of “Traveling Together Through Shakespeare’s Italy”
11:40-12:25 Roger Stritmatter: Work in Progress: From Literary Encryptions to Handwriting
12:25 – 12:35 Earl Showerman: Announcements and Awards:
LODGING
The conference will take place at the Hyatt Centric Hotel in the French Quarter. Special rates have been arranged at both the Hyatt ($220-$240 per night) and at the nearby Homewood Suites ($149 per night) which is also in the Quarter, about five streets away. These rates do not include tax of about 16%.
A limited number of rooms have been reserved at both hotels for Nov. 9, 10 and 11. The same rates will be offered for one or two nights prior to Nov. 9 and after Nov. 11 if rooms are available.
The Hyatt Centric, located at 800 Iberville Street, will host the conference itself in its large and beautiful Orleans Conference Suite. The Hyatt is a historic property with a pool, a gym and numerous restaurants. To book your room at the Hyatt, please use the following dedicated website link: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/MSYRF/G-SHAK. (If the link doesn’t work for you, call +1 504-586-0800 and provide our group discount code: G-SHAK.)
To book at Homewood Suites by Hilton, use the following hyperlink to go directly to the hotel’s dedicated website: Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship 2023. Please note: this link cannot be copied into a browser. Just click on it and you will get through. If you are asked to “Verify,” it is not necessary. That is, you can “Skip Verification.”
If you cannot get the additional nights, try booking just the three core nights at the special rates and let Conference Director Don Rubin know what nights you would like to add. He is in touch with the hotels and will try to help. His e-mail is drubin@yorku.ca. Alternatively, you can try the other hotel which might be available.
Additional information about conference lodging is available here.
SUPPORT
We are grateful for the sustained and faithful generosity of our members and donors, especially in these difficult years. Please continue to support the work of the SOF! Donations are always welcome.
