Who was Shakespeare and why is it so difficult to find out the answer to this question in our university libraries?
University of Winnipeg Librarian Michael Dudley examines the skepticism over the identity of William Shakespeare by looking at the availability of 12 books on the subject published since 2000 in university libraries across Canada, as compared to holdings of 12 “orthodox” Shakespeare biographies.
He concludes there are very few skeptical works on the authorship question or on the leading Shakespeare candidate, Edward de Vere.
Dudley, who is the Indigenous and Urban Services Librarian and author of an article on Shakespeare and Shakespeare authorship, spoke at the Skywalk Lecture last Mar. 4, 2015. His talk was entitled, The Academic Libraries and the Shakespeare Authorship Debate, co-sponsored by the University of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Public Library. He will do three more talks at senior citizen’s residences this fall.
Recently, Dudley was interviewed on this topic by Susan Huebert on the CKUW 95.9 FM program People of Interest:
