London Library faces backlash over event with writer who suggests Shakespeare was woman

A “wildly inapprorpiate” event that suggests that Shakespeare could have been a woman is being hosted by the London Library.

The Bard’s apparant true identity is set to be discussed by a panel headed by the author of Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, Elizabeth Winkler, in June.

The controversial book “explores who may perhaps have been hiding behind his name” including a “forgotten woman, a disgraced aristocrat or a government spy”.

However, as the discussion is being held in a building at the heart of the British literary establishment, it has come under fire for playing host to an “anti-intellectual conspiracy theory”.

Journalist and author Oliver Kamm described the event as not only “wildly inappropriate” but a “grave misjudgement” and took it upon himself to personally complain to the library’s chairman, Simon Goodwin.

He went as far as to describe the upcoming event as being the equivalent of the National Geographic Society having a discussion with flat-Earth conspiracy theorists.

He said: “There is a cost to indulging conspiracy theories, evident in the coarsening of public discourse and the spread of irrationalism.’

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“To host a ‘conversation’ with Shakespeare denialists is a betrayal of the values of literary scholarship and critical inquiry that we hold to.”

Winkler, however, has stressed that her book does not favour any one theory about Shakespeare’s alleged identity over another.

Instead, it takes a detailed look at his life and questions how a man with nothing more than a grammar school education obtained a complex understanding of court and royal life.

Winkler has said that such discussions shouldn’t be controversial because academic freedom is a “fundamental feature” of any democratic debate.

The controversial work aims to “pull back the curtain to show how the forces of nationalism and empire, religion and mythmaking, gender and class have shaped our admiration for Shakespeare across the centuries.”

She said: “I’m not sure why these people feel so threatened by a simple library discussion.

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“Arguments about the past are a fundamental feature of academic freedom and democratic debate.

“There is nothing dangerous or ‘immoral’ in exploring this subject. Shutting down discussion is obviously anti-intellectual.”

Kamm, however, has insisted that the theories should not be given any kind of major platform because there is no evidence to support them.

“Literary scholars dismiss these fantasies because there is zero evidence to support the notion of concealed authorship,” he said.

Kamm has not been the only vocal critic of the event and it was also slammed on Twitter (X) by Jonathan Beckman, editor of The Economist’s 1843 magazine.

He said the event should not be held at a library regarded as “a bastion of scholarship.’

Kamm suggested that should the event take place, a Shakespeare expert should be added to the lineup, which also includes Shakespeare actor Sir Derek Jacobi and critic Stephanie Merrit.

The Independent has reached out to the London Library for comment.