Shakespeare's birthday...and deathday

***disclaimer: I couldn’t stand Shakespeare in high school***

Today is Shakespeare’s birthday. It also happens to be the day he died. Today, we celebrate the Bard: most significant writer in the English language and bane of high school students around the world. Like many Americans, you might have limped through high school English readings of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or Twelfth Night, but don’t let those potentially rough memories keep you from the most impressive individual literary output. From harrowing analysis of death to ribald comedies, he covered it all.

Central Texas benefits from great Shakespeare performances. Shakespeare at Winedale hosts performances throughout the spring and summer in Roundtop, Texas, while Austin Shakespeare hosts frequent performances throughout Austin.

Shakespeare wrote his plays for performance, but reading them is a pleasure too. Four-hundred years later and the conflicts, loves, and laughs are as relevant as ever.

The Complete Works (every play he wrote)

Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard

Shakespeare: The Biography

Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction