Shakespeare's Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio talk with Dr Chris Laoutaris and Jo Durrant
Friday, 24 January 2025
Ticket Price:
£35
Schedule:
6.00 PM Drinks reception
6.30 PM Author and Academic Dr Chris Laoutaris in Conversation with Broadcaster, Podcaster and Event Host Jo Durrant
7.20 PM Q&A
7.30 PM Drinks and Sandwiches
8.00 PM Event Ends
Author and Academic Dr Chris Laoutaris in Conversation with Broadcaster, Podcaster and Event Host Jo Durrant about the creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio, at The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Stationers’ Hall, London.
In 1623 Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies hit the bookstalls. Known today simply as the First Folio, it was the most expensive book of plays in English history up until that point. Of the 36 plays preserved in the volume, 18 may never have survived without the efforts of those who created, crafted, and printed one of the most significant literary conservation projects in history.
Who were the people behind the First Folio? How did their lives connect? What challenges and obstacles did they face? And how was the Worshipful Company of Stationers crucial to their mission to fashion a lasting tribute to William Shakespeare’s legacy?
To answer these questions and more, Jo Durrant, broadcaster and presenter, will be in conversation with Shakespeare scholar Dr Chris Laoutaris, Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute (part of the University of Birmingham) and author of Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio.
Dr Chris Laoutaris is an Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham), in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon. He is the author of Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio (William Collins) which tells the story of the creation of the 1623 First Folio, and which was a BBC History Magazine Book of the Year, a BBC Radio 4 Front Row Non-Fiction Book of the Year, an Australian Book Review Book of the Year, a Telegraph India Best Non-Fiction ‘Page Turner’ of the Year, and a Financial Times Best Summer Book.
In addition to numerous academic publications, he has published Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe (Penguin), which was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize for Biography, was an Observer Book of the Year, Telegraph Book of the Year, one of the New York Post’s ‘Must-Read Books’, and one of the Daily Telegraph’s top ten history holiday reads. Laoutaris’s first poetry collection, Bleed and See (Broken Sleep Books), was shortlisted for the Eric Gregory Poetry Awards and he is the co-editor with Dr Paul Edmondson, Aaron Kent and Prof. Katherine Scheil of Anne-thology: Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare (Broken Sleep Books), the world’s first anthology of poems for Anne Shakespeare, which is a Telegraph Poetry Book of the Year and a Guardian Poetry Book of the Year.
Laoutaris has written for the Financial Times, Sunday Express, Times Higher Education Supplement, BBC History Magazine, and the Times Literary Supplement, among others; has provided historical and Shakespearean consultancy to the Royal Shakespeare Company and numerous film and documentary production companies; and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Fellow by Invitation of the English Association.
Jo Durrant is the award-winning presenter of the independent arts & science podcast ‘Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe’. She’s a highly respected and accomplished interviewer and event chair, and a familiar face at literature, history, and science festivals. For over 20 years Jo was a presenter, producer & reporter with BBC radio and interviewed hundreds of people, from Melanie C to Tim Peake. She is now freelance.
Dress code: Business attire (ties optional)
