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23/04/2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL SHAKESPEARE! GREAT BOOK GIVEAWAY



William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
The actual date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, but, traditionally, April 23, St George's Day, has been Shakespeare's accepted birthday, and a house on Henley Street in Stratford, owned by William's father, John, is accepted as Shakespeare's birth place. However, the reality is that no one really knows when the great dramatist was born. According to The Book of Common Prayer, it was required that a child be baptized on the nearest Sunday or holy day following the birth, unless the parents had a legitimate excuse. As Dennis Kay proposes in his book Shakespeare:

If Shakespeare was indeed born on Sunday, April 23, the next feast day would have been St. Mark's Day on Tuesday the twenty-fifth. There might well have been some cause, both reasonable and great -- or perhaps, as has been suggested, St. Mark's Day was still held to be unlucky, as it had been before the Reformation, when altars and crucifixes used to be draped in black cloth, and when some claimed to see in the churchyard the spirits of those doomed to die in that year. . . .but that does not help to explain the christening on the twenty-sixth (54).
No doubt Shakespeare's true birthday will remain a mystery forever. But the assumption that the Bard was born on the same day of the month that he died, April 23,  gives the mystery of his life one more fascinating aspect.

Joseph Fiennes as Will Shakespeare

Giveaway : 1 book, 1 winner

To celebrate Shakespeare's genius and his 449th birthday here's a great giveaway contest for you. Choose one of the Shakespeare-related books in the list below, leave a comment with the title you would like to win, add your e-mail address and ... good luck! The books are all paperbacks. The contest is open worldwide. This giveaway ends on April 30th.

1. Alexa Schnee, Shakespeare's Lady

2. Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The World as a Stage

3. Rex Gibson, Teaching Shakespeare

4. Gary Blackwood, The Shakespeare Stealer

5. Lisa Hopkins, Beginning Shakespeare

6. J.L. Carrell , The Shakespeare Secret

7. Richard Paul Roe, The Shakespeare's Guide to Italy

8. C. Aagesen and M. Blumberg, Shakespeare for Kids

9. William Shakespeare, Complete Sonnets and Poems

10. Any of Shakespeare's plays in this edition (choose your title in your comment)
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22 comments:

  1. rcoope23 April 2013 at 07:21

    Hi, I would like Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The World as a Stage.
    rcoope23(at)myune.edu.au

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown23 April 2013 at 07:26

    William Shakespeare, Complete Sonnets and Poems
    applenote.jamie@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown23 April 2013 at 07:38

    I would love to win Richard Paul Roe's The Shakespeare's Guide to Italy. Yhanks for the awesome giveaway! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous23 April 2013 at 08:43

    I'd like to choose this one: William Shakespeare, Complete Sonnets and Poems

    Thank you!

    Happy Birthday to William Shakespeare!!

    na561@ymail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mystica23 April 2013 at 14:10

    I'd like to be counted in for Shakespeare's Lady.

    mystica123athotmaildotcom

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown23 April 2013 at 14:16

    Shakespeare's Lady :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Janhvi23 April 2013 at 14:56

    I'd like William Shakespeare, Complete sonnets and poems

    justjanhvi at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Linda23 April 2013 at 14:59

    I would love to win Shakespeare's Lady. Thanks for the giveaway.
    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  9. JaneGS23 April 2013 at 18:00

    I simply can't resist giveaways related to Shakespeare--I love that he was born in April, it seems such a fitting month for his birth, somehow.

    Anyway, I would love to own The Shakespeare Guide to Italy. My 30th anniversary trip to Italy for spring 2014 is shaping up nicely, and this would be wonderful to have in hand as a reference. That and Brunetti's Venice, and I'm all set :)

    janetgs05-at-gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lina Dy23 April 2013 at 19:20

    #10 for A Midsummer's Night Dream!

    ReplyDelete
  11. MonicaP24 April 2013 at 01:11

    Excellent giveaway - thank you! I'd like to have J.L. Carrell's The Shakespeare Secret.

    monicaperry00 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Julienne24 April 2013 at 03:42

    The Shakespeare's guide to Italy! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unknown24 April 2013 at 07:15


    William Shakespeare, Complete Sonnets and Poems

    babyblue@windstream.net

    ReplyDelete
  14. Monica24 April 2013 at 08:03

    I would like to read "The World as a Stage" by Bill Bryson.
    Thank you!

    Monica
    moon.card(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Elizabeth T.24 April 2013 at 11:44

    I'd like to win The Shakespeare's Guide to Italy. Thanks for the giveaway! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Elizabeth T.24 April 2013 at 11:46

    I forgot to add my email: etrabelsieATgmailDOTcom

    Thanks!
    Elizabeth L.

    I'd like to win The Shakespeare's Guide to Italy.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Melanie Rovak24 April 2013 at 14:40

    I would love to read this one Alexa Schnee, Shakespeare's Lady. Thank you for the great giveaway. :)

    Bboo04(AT)hotmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anubha24 April 2013 at 17:14

    i would love to win Romeo and Juliet :)

    thank you

    anubha56 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Unknown25 April 2013 at 12:23

    I would like to win The Shakespeare Secret by J.L. Carrell. Thanks.

    Raquel36m (at) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kristia25 April 2013 at 23:21

    I would love to win Shakespeare's Lady by Alexa Schnee.
    Thank you for the giveaway :)
    milkristia(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Denise27 April 2013 at 06:20

    The Shakespeare's Guide to Italy sounds perfect! denannduvall@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. avalonne8328 April 2013 at 21:29

    I'd like to read Bill Bryson, Shakespeare: The World as a Stage.

    Please count me in. Thanks.

    avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it

    ReplyDelete