Hogarth Shakespeare Explained

Hogarth Shakespeare
Books:
Author:
Publisher:Hogarth Press (Penguin Random House)
Pub Date:2015-2018

The Hogarth Shakespeare project was an effort by Hogarth Press to retell works by William Shakespeare for a more modern audience.[1] To do this, Hogarth commissioned well-known writers to select and re-imagine the plays.[2]

Novels

Authors and works – as of May 2018 – include:

Additionally, as far back as 2014, Gillian Flynn was supposed to be working on a re-telling of Hamlet,[10] eventually due for release in 2021,[11] but there is no longer a mention of this on the website of the publisher.

Development history

In June 2013, Random House announced the Hogarth Shakespeare series, as part of which well-known novelists re-tell a selection of Shakespeare's plays.[12] Hogarth intended to release the series in 2016 to coincide with the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death.[13]

The two re-tellings first announced in 2013 were Jeanette Winterson's The Winter's Tale adaptation and Anne Tyler's The Taming of the Shrew adaptation.[14] Later that year, it was announced that Margaret Atwood and Howard Jacobson would join the series with The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice adaptations respectively. In 2014, it was announced that Jo Nesbø would adapt Macbeth, that Edward St Aubyn would adapt King Lear, that Tracy Chevalier would adapt Othello, and that Gillian Flynn would adapt Hamlet,[15] [16] although that last title has not been published.

The Hogarth Shakespeare series intends to reimagine the entire canon, but no other adaptations have been announced. Sometimes before March 2021, what was the official URL for the series (hogarthshakespeare.com) started to link to the site of an online magazine specialising in animes and mangas, called Anime Shakespeare, which, together with the lack of an announcement for a new title in over two years, seems to imply that the project has been quietly shut down by Hogarth/Penguin.

Awards and nominations

Winterson's The Gap of Time was a finalist for the 2016 Lambda Literary Awards in the category Bisexual Fiction.[17] [18]

In 2017, Hag-Seed was long-listed for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction.[19] [20]

Nesbø's Macbeth was shortlisted for the 2019 British Book Awards in the category Crime and Thriller.[21] [22] In 2019 it was also shortlisted for the Public Book Awards in Greece for Best Translated Novel and for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award for Best Translated Crime Novel.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Why Rewrite Shakespeare? . Gopnik . Adam . Adam Gopnik . 17 October 2016 . . 2018-06-26.
  2. News: Novelists Reimagine and Update Shakespeare's Plays . Alter . Alexandra . 5 October 2015 . . 30 July 2018.
  3. Web site: The Gap of Time. hogarthshakespeare.com. 2018-05-21. 2018-05-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041353/http://hogarthshakespeare.com/the-gap-of-time/. dead.
  4. Web site: Shylock Is My Name. hogarthshakespeare.com. 4 June 2022 .
  5. Web site: Vinegar Girl. hogarthshakespeare.com. 2018-05-21. 2018-05-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20180521193237/http://hogarthshakespeare.com/vinegargirl/. dead.
  6. Web site: Hag-Seed. hogarthshakespeare.com. 2 June 2022 .
  7. Web site: Macbeth. hogarthshakespeare.com. 2018-05-21. 2018-05-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20180522042756/http://hogarthshakespeare.com/on-macbeth/. dead.
  8. Web site: Dunbar. hogarthshakespeare.com.
  9. Web site: New Boy. hogarthshakespeare.com.
  10. News: Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn takes on Hamlet. BBC News . 28 May 2014 .
  11. Web site: Everything We Know About Gillian Flynn's Next Book. Bookhub.com.
  12. News: Bury. Liz. Shakespeare retold: Margaret Atwood and Howard Jacobson join new series. 9 September 2013. The Guardian. 23 February 2020. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  13. Why Rewrite Shakespeare?. Gopnik. Adam. 17 October 2016. The New Yorker. en. 23 February 2020.
  14. News: Flood. Alison. Shakespeare's canon to be reworked by authors including Jeanette Winterson and Anne Tyler. 26 July 2013. The Guardian. 23 February 2020. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  15. News: Stock. Jon. Jo Nesbo to retell Macbeth. 14 January 2014. The Telegraph. 23 February 2020. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  16. "Gone Girl" writer Gillian Flynn will reimagine "Hamlet". Gibson. Megan. 30 May 2014. Time. en. 23 February 2020.
  17. Web site: 28th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists and Winners. 20 July 2016. Lambda Literary. 23 February 2020.
  18. Web site: Finalists for the 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced. 10 March 2016. bookstr.com. en-US. 23 February 2020.
  19. News: Atwood among Women's Prize nominees. 8 March 2017. BBC News. 23 February 2020. en-GB.
  20. Web site: Canadian authors make long list for Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction The Star. 7 March 2017. thestar.com. en. 23 February 2020.
  21. Web site: The British Book Awards' Books of the Year shortlists revealed. Chandler. Mark. 22 March 2019. www.thebookseller.com. 23 February 2020.
  22. Web site: Jo Nesbø is shortlisted for the 2019 British Book Awards in the category Crime & Thriller for "Macbeth", translated by Don Bartlett.. NORLA. en. 2020-02-23.
  23. Web site: Macbeth. Salomonsson Agency. 2020-02-23.