Elizabeth Winkler’s insight-packed and devastating deconstruction of the traditional Shakespeare narrative (and its hawkers) Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature was released May 9, 2023. Here we are collecting reviews and other coverage of the book that best-selling author André Aciman calls “an extraordinarily brilliant and scholarly work written with an unyielding sleuthing instinct.”
The Chris Hedges Report: Everything You’ve Been Told About Shakespeare Could Be A Lie
Chris Hedges interviews Elizabeth Winkler, August 25, 2023
Who really was Shakespeare if not Shakespeare? A collection of unattributed writers? A disgraced contemporary? A woman?
Journal of Scientific Exploration review: Shakespeare Was a Woman And Other Heresies (PDF download)
Review by Tom Woosnam, Summer 2023 edition
A page-turner set to become a classic of clear-headed reasoning, referred to for years to come.
Shakespeare Was a Woman And Other Heresies by Elizabeth Winkler: A Fascinating Indictment Of Incurious Scholars (Paywall)
Review by William Leahy, August 8, 2023
The journalist was slated for the daring question of whether the plays attributed to Shakespeare could have been written by a woman.
Bryan Wildenthal’s “review of reviews” of Winkler’s “Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies”
Article by Bryan Wildenthal, July 20, 2023
Winkler on The History of Literature Podcast
Interview by Jacke Wilson, July 3, 2023
In this episode, Elizabeth Winkler talks about about how an inquiry and its backlash turned into an inquiry OF the backlash.
The Guardian: Author under attack for doubting Shakespeare
Article by David Smith, June 27, 2023
Winkler brings a journalist’s eye to the controversy, zipping between highbrow philosophical debates around the nature of knowledge – how can we be truly certain about anything? – to the more prosaic and petty squabbles of academics with skin in the game that might be plucked from a novel by Michael Frayn or David Lodge.
The Guardian: Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies review – in Search of the Bard
Review by Stephanie Merritt, June 18, 2023
Diligent scholarship meets provocation and irreverence in Elizabeth Winkler’s highly entertaining quest to uncover the ‘real’ Shakespeare.
Critical Stages review: Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies
Review by Don Rubin, June 2023
Winkler’s splendid book offers hours of absolutely fascinating reading on the subject of what is essentially academic censorship. Its impressive research and bubbling prose will actually make this subject come alive for anyone with even a modicum of theatrical or historical curiosity.
The Village Voice: The Lady Doth Protest Too Much for Traditionalists
Review by Felicia Londré, June 13, 2023
“The subtitle (How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature) hints at what the book delivers: an investigation into the realm of closed minds in academia. … The book has the pull of detective fiction, underpinned by scholarly citations.”
Publishers Weekly Books of the Week
Starred Review by PW Staff, May 8, 2023.
“Probing and smart, this is sure to stir up lively debate.”
Kirkus Reviews
Book Review by Kirkus staff, March 15, 2023
“A shrewd, entertaining journey into a literary quagmire.”
Questions aplenty about Bard’s backstory
Review in Winnipeg Free Press by Michael Dudley, May 19, 2023
Winkler “provides considerable and compelling detail regarding the case against the traditional biography of Shakespeare.”
Patrick Sullivan reviews Shakespeare was a Woman and Other Heresies by Elizabeth Winkler
Review on SOF website by Patrick Sullivan, May 23, 2023
Ron Roffel reviews “Shakespeare was a Woman and Other Heresies”
Review on Goodreads by Ron Roffel, May 20, 2023
