Pasadena Shakespeare Authorship Conference, October 18-21 — More Info About Speakers and Activities. Be Sure To Register and Book Your Hotel Room

The eighth annual joint authorship conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society will convene in Pasadena, California October 18-21, 2012 at the Courtyard Pasadena Old Town by Marriott. For special conference room rates, call 888-236-2427 or reserve rooms on line at: www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/laxot-courtyard-los-angeles-pasadena-old-town.

More details below about the outstanding lineup of activities, speakers and performers at the Pasadena Shakespeare Authorship Conference, October 18-21.  Be sure to register and book your hotel room soon.  Visit: http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/?p=138 or our main website: http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com.

Opening the conference on Thursday, 10/18 are Alex McNeill, Jamieanne Reinelt, Linda Taylor, and Professors Helen Gordon and Don Rubin. Tour of the Huntington Library at 1:00 pm.

On Friday, Jennifer Newton, creator of The Shakespeare Underground, will open the conference, followed by Sabrina Feldman, author of The Apocryphal William and then Professor Roger Stritmatter. During our hosted lunch, James Ulmer will present a program on Shakespeare in Hollywood Film.

John Hamill will open the afternoon session, followed by a group exhibit of 16th century Oxfordian titles at the Huntington Library. The afternoon session will conclude with performances by Alan Green, author of The Holy Trinity Solution, as well as Sylvia Holmes and Betzi Roe. Friday evening will be dedicated to a screening of Lisa Wilson and Laura Wilson Mathias’ documentary, Last Will. and Testament.

Saturday morning will begin with a screening of outtakes from Last Will. & Testament, followed by presentations by Bonner Cutting and Professor Jack Shuttleworth, who has recently completed editing of the Oxfordian Hamlet edition.

After a hosted Lunch, the conference keynote address will be delivered by Professor Tony Pointon, author of The Man Who Was Never Shakespeare. The afternoon will also feature Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s new documentary, Nothing is Truer than Truth, as well as Katherine Chiljan, author of Shakespeare Suppressed, and John Shahan, Chairman of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition.

Sunday presentations will focus on Shakespeare’s medical knowledge with presentations by Dr. Lance Fogan and Dr. Earl Showerman, and on Shakespeare’s legal knowledge with Tom Regnier. The conference will conclude with a  hosted awards banquet and panel on new media and the authorship challenge.

Actor Michael York and Shakespeare Authorship Coalition challenge Stratford’s Shakespeare Birthplace Trust with new reasons to doubt the identity of author William Shakespeare in the wake of Sony Pictures’ heretical film, “Anonymous.”

Note: This story is embargoed until the date specified in the release: November 21, 2011. Los Angeles, CA., Nov. 21, 2011 - amidst all the controversy surrounding Sony Pictures’ recently-released film Anonymous, actor and author Michael York, O.B.E., launched a powerful, multi-pronged counter-offensive against the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) in Stratford-upon-Avon, and its “60 Minutes with Shakespeare” authorship campaign, initiated in response to the film. York also announced a monumental breakthrough in the controversy – detailed evidence that Shakespeare traveled all over Italy. The problem for orthodox Shakespeare scholars is that the traditional author, Mr. William “Shakspere” of Stratford-upon-Avon, never left England. During a briefing at the Los Angeles Press Club’s Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood (10:00 a.m.  to ~noon at 4773 Hollywood Blvd. - one block west of Vermont Avenue on the north side of street) Michael York, Hilary Roe Metternich, daughter of the man who discovered the new evidence, and John M. Shahan, Chairman of the California-based Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC) lambasted the SBT for its Orwellianattacks against doubters, and for poor scholarship in its “60 Minutes with Shakespeare” website, featuring 60 SBT supporters, each giving a 60-second audio-recorded response to one of 60 questions posed by the SBT. Michael York, in language echoing that which brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy, castigated Professor Stanley Wells, Honorary President of the SBT, and Paul Edmondson, Head of Learning and Research at the SBT, for suggesting that the authorship controversy is merely another “conspiracy theory,” and for labeling doubters ”anti-Shakespeareans.” “Have you no sense of decency sirs, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”* York asked. “Or, as Shakespeare put it in Hamlet, ‘O shame! Where is thy blush?’” he added. “Doubters are not ’anti-Shakespeare,’” York insisted, “but your behaviour is most un-Shakespearean.” SAC Chairman John Shahan announced that a coalition of a dozen authorship organizations, based in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, has rebutted each point in the SBT “60 Minutes.” The rebuttal document, titled Exposing an Industry in Denial: Authorship Doubters Respond to “60 Minutes with Shakespeare,“ is at the SAC website at doubtaboutwill.org. “The SBT erred in coming down from their ivory tower to attack,” Shahan said, “This rebuttal document makes clear that the best of our scholars are far superior to theirs.” Shahan challenged the SBT (online petition) to write a declaration of the reasons why they claim there is “no room for doubt” about the identity of ”Shakespeare” and post it with the names of those who have endorsed it. He noted that the SAC wrote and posted a statement of its own position, the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare, in 2007. It has now been signed by over 2,200 people – over 800 with advanced degrees, and nearly 400 current or former college/university faculty members. Hilary Roe Metternich announced the discovery of powerful new evidence in the controversy, contained in the newly-released book,  The Shakespeare Guide to Italy: Retracing the Bard’s Unknown Travels, by Richard Paul Roe (HarperPerennial). Ms. Metternich, the daughter of the author, a prominent Pasadena attorney who died late last year, said that her father spent more than 20 years traveling in Italy, his only guide being the texts of Shakespeare’s 10 “Italian Plays” (not counting three plays set in ancient Rome). “The clues were all right there in the plays” Metternich said. “My father found the locations of nearly every scene in all 10 of these plays – locations unnoticed by Shakespeare scholars and biographers for 400 years.” “His great chronicle - a tour de force of travel, analysis and discovery - paints with amazing clarity a picture of what the author ‘Shakespeare,’ whoever he was, almost surely witnessed before writing his Italian plays.” Contact persons: Re: Coalition and rebuttals: John Shahan at (909) 896-2006;  jmshahan@verizon.net Re: The Shakespeare Guide to Italy: Hilary Roe Metternich: hrm3325@aol.com —————— *Question put to Senator Joseph McCarthy on June 9, 1954, at the Army-McCarthy Hearings.

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare? This April 23rd … Toast But Verify!

Media Contact:
Matthew Cossolotto

Vice President, Communications and Outreach

Shakespeare Oxford Society
914-245-9721
Matthew.Cossolotto@gmail.com

Pointing to the scheduled Sony Pictures release this September of Anonymous, a major motion picture that challenges the traditional Shakespeare authorship theory, the Shakespeare Oxford Society says orthodox scholars have been “Barding up the wrong tree” in Stratford-upon-Avon and calls for creation of an unbiased Shakespeare Authorship Commission to resolve the authorship mystery

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY – April 21, 2011 – Traditional Shakespeare biographers claim the great poet and playwright, William Shakespeare, was born on April 23, 1564.

But before you raise your glass to salute the Bard’s 447th birthday this April 23^rd, consider this:  You just might be paying tribute to the wrong person.

That’s the main premise of the forthcoming Sony Pictures film, Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich and featuring a cast of Shakespearean thespian luminaries such as Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis, Joely Richardson, Rhys Ifans, and Sir Derek Jacobi.

A recently released trailer promoting Anonymous begins with this intriguing question:  “What if I told you Shakespeare never wrote a single word?”  Later in the trailer a male voice says:  “Promise me you’ll keep our secret safe.”  An older woman’s voice, presumably that of Queen Elizabeth played by Vanessa Redgrave, says ominously:  “None of your poems or your plays will ever carry your name.”

The tantalizing trailer ends with a clever tagline — “We’ve All Been Played” – followed by a stage filled with actors taking their bows and the audience applauding wildly.

Here’s the link to the trailer.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBmnkk0QW3Q&feature=channel_video_title

In light of the scheduled release of this major motion picture – the first-ever that explicitly challenges the traditional authorship theory – the Shakespeare Oxford Society reiterates its position that traditional scholars have been “Barding up the wrong tree” in Stratford-upon-Avon.   Consequently, the Society recommends that Shakespeare lovers around the world should adapt Ronald Reagan’s “Trust but Verify” dictum.

“We call it ‘Toast but Verify,’ says Shakespeare Oxford Society spokesman Matthew Cossolotto.  “We should all toast the peerless works but also attempt to verify the author’s true identity.”

Indeed, there is a long and distinguished history of doubting the traditional “Stratfordian” attribution of the “Shakespeare” works. Noted doubters over the years include Mark Twain, Henry James, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, and Sigmund Freud. More recent skeptics include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and former Justice John Paul Stevens along with renowned Shakespearean actors Derek Jacobi, Michael York, Jeremy Irons, and Mark Rylance, former artistic director at the Globe Theatre in London.

In 1996, the great Shakespearean actor Sir John Gielgud, while serving as president of the World Shakespeare Congress, signed the following petition:

“We, the undersigned, petition the Shakespeare Association of America, in light of ongoing research, to engage actively in a comprehensive, objective and sustained investigation of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon, particularly as it relates to the claim of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.”

In 2007, the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC) began collecting signatures on a compelling “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare.”   Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, and Brunel University in West London have launched degree programs in Shakespeare authorship studies.

Needed: A Shakespeare Authorship Commission
To resolve the Shakespeare authorship mystery once and for all, the Shakespeare Oxford Society has called for the creation of an independent, blue ribbon commission composed of distinguished, internationally recognized experts in relevant fields – including historians, biographers, jurists, and other esteemed writers and scholars. All members of the proposed Commission should be unbiased. They should declare going in that they have open minds on this subject and are willing to follow the evidence wherever it leads – using internationally recognized evidentiary standards employed by leading historians and biographers.

The Society is proposing that an unbiased educational institute, think tank, foundation, or individual should take the lead in sponsoring the proposed commission.

About The Shakespeare Oxford Society
Founded in 1957, the Shakespeare Oxford Society is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of “William Shakespeare. The homepage of the Society also says the group is “Dedicated to Researching and Honoring the True Bard.”  Visit www.shakespeare-oxford.com and www.shakespeareoxfordsociety.wordpress.com for more information.  SOS on Facebook.  Join SOS or renew your membership online here: http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=27020.

Famed Shakespearean Actor Reads the “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare”

I’m delighted to be able to pass along this bit of news.  I just happened to notice this recently and I found it to be a special treat.  Visitors to the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition’s website can now listen to famed Shakespearean actor Michael York read the text of the “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare.”  Yes it’s easy enough to read the Declaration yourself, but it really is enjoyable to listen to Michael York’s rendering of the Declaration.  Well worth the investment of less than 30 minutes.

So go ahead.  Click on the link below.  Once you’re on the SAC’s homepage, simply follow instructions and click on the play button and you’ll immediately begin listening to Michael York’s distinctive voice.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening and learning.  Matthew

http://doubtaboutwill.org/declaration_with_audio

The Stylometrics Debate Continues Online: Three Articles from The Oxfordian Now Posted On The Shakespeare Oxford Society Website

Readers of The Oxfordian — the Shakespeare Oxford Society’s annual scholarly journal — have been privy over the years to a fascinating debate between Ward Elliott and Robert Valenza on the one hand and John Shahan and Richard Whalen on the other.  In several articles published in The Oxfordian, Elliott and Valenza have made the argument that their stylometric analysis effectively eliminates Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, as a viable authorship candidate of the works of William Shakespeare.  In response, Shahan and Whalen have mounted a vigorous critique of what they assert are exaggerated claims made by Elliott and Valenza.  The Shakespeare Oxford Society is delighted to bring this important exchange to a wider online audience by posting three of the most recent articles in this debate to the SOS website.

Here, then, are the links to these three, newly posted articles.  Enjoy!

From The Oxfordian (Vol. 12) 2010

The Shakespeare Clinic and the Oxfordians

Ward E.Y. Elliott and Robert J. Valenza

A Reply to Ward E.Y. Elliott and Robert J. Valenza

John Shahan & Richard Whalen

From The Oxfordian (Vol. 11) 2009

Auditing the Stylometricians:  Elliott, Valenza and the Claremont Shakespeare Authorship Clinic

John Shahan & Richard Whalen

And here is the link to the page on the SOS website where many articles published in The Oxfordian over the years are available for readers to download and enjoy free of charge.  Simply click on this link and then scroll down the page.  You’ll find a treasure trove of intriguing articles about the Shakespeare authorship issue generally and the case for Oxford’s authorship of the Shakespeare canon in particular.  On the subject of stylometrics, I would also call your attention to the following, previously posted article by Shahan and Whalen.

From The Oxfordian (Vol. 9) 2006

Apples to Oranges in Bard Sylometrics:  Elliott and Valenza Fail to Eliminate Oxford

Visit www.Shakespeare-Oxford.com to learn more about the Shakespeare Oxford Society — Dedicated to Researching and Honoring the True Bard.   Membership information is available by clicking on this link.

Matthew

From SAC: Actor Keir Cutler’s Excellent New Video — Shakespeare Authorship Question

The SAC is pleased to announce that a new video about the Authorship Question, by actor Keir Cutler, Ph.D., is now available for viewing on YouTube. In the video, titled “Why Was I Never Told This?” — — Cutler first explains what changed his mind about the Shakespeare Authorship Question, and then invites people to join him in signing the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt.

The video targets a general audience, but especially young people and students who are unfamiliar with the Authorship Question. In recounting his personal journey, discovering little-known facts about Shakespeare, Cutler creates a highly engaging narrative. The quality of the video is superb, in keeping with Keir’s previous work, such as his interpretation of Twain’s “Is Shakespeare Dead?”

The Declaration is a great introduction to the Authorship Question, and the Cutler video is a great introduction to the Declaration. We urge all authorship doubters to watch the video, then help us make it “go viral” by calling attention to it in the following ways:

1. Send the link to everyone you know who may find it interesting, and ask them to forward it on to others who may be interested. 2. If you control a website or blog — especially one dealing with the Authorship Question — embed the video where people will see it.

With your help, the new Cutler video will greatly increase the visibility, and credibility, of the Shakespeare Authorship Question.

Please support the work of the SAC.

The SAC had a good year in 2010, and we expect 2011 to be even better. We were pleasantly surprised when James Shapiro praised the Declaration lavishly in Contested Will, a book written with the stated purpose of “putting an end” to the Authorship Controversy. That should enhance our credibility among mainstream academics! Thanks to Shakespeare Fellowship President Earl Showerman, we staged our fourth public Declaration signing ceremony at the Joint Authorship Conference in Ashland, Oregon, last September. Ten prominent theater people participated, including OSF Executive Director Paul Nicholson and long-time actor James Newcomb. Local media coverage was good, thanks to reporter Bill Varble. We added 217 signatories: 65 with advanced degrees, 39 academics. Finally, the development of the Keir Cutler video gives us a great new tool to increase our visibility with the general public in 2011.

So what’s up for 2011?

1. Add an MP3 audio recording of a well-known actor reading the Declaration to our website so people can listen as they read along. 2. Renew the nine different domain names that go to our website for 5 years to put them out of reach of Stratfordians through 2016. 3. Organize another Declaration signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., around the time of next fall’s Joint Authorship Conference. 4. Raise funds to advertise the Keir Cutler video, and the Declaration, to high school English teachers and college English professors.

All of these initiatives take money, and especially the Declaration signing ceremony if we are to gain the maximum benefit from it. Please make a tax-deductible donation to the SAC to support our work. As a non-membership organization, we depend on donations. Donors of $40.00 or more ($50.00 outside the U.S.) are eligible to receive a Declaration poster like the one seen in the Cutler video. See the donations page at the SAC website for details.

Thanks for supporting the SAC!

John Shahan, SAC Chairman

Ashland — Shakespeare Authorship Conference Schedule (Sept. 16-19, 2010)

Thought folks might want to see some additional details about the upcoming Shakespeare Authorship Conference schedule.  You can register online for the Shakespeare Fellowship/Shakespeare Oxford Society’s  SF/SOS Annual Conference — Sept. 16-19, 2010 in Ashland, Oregon at the online registration site: http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety

Shakespeare Fellowship and Shakespeare Oxford Society 2010 Conference Schedule

On-site registration check-in will begin at 9:00 AM on September 16, and the education program will begin at 10:00 AM. Conference registration includes an opening reception with appetizers on the 16th, buffet lunches on day two and three, and the annual awards banquet at the conclusion of the conference on the afternoon of the 19th. Saturday afternoon will be dedicated to performances with music provided by the lute duet Mignarda, Ron Andrico and Donna Stewart, creators of My Lord of Oxenford’s Maske. OSF all-star Robin Goodrin-Nordli will present her original show, Bard Babes, and Keir Cutler will give an encore performance of his adaptation of Mark Twain’s satire, Is Shakespeare Dead? The afternoon will conclude with a signing ceremony for the ‘Declaration of Reasonable Doubt’.

Thursday: September 16 Music by Mignarda with Ron Andrico and Donna Stewart Prof Tom Gage: The Bone in the Elephant’s Heart Dr. Tom Hunter: The Invention of the Human in Shylock  Dr. Earl Showerman: Shakespeare’s Shylock and the Strange Case of Gaspar Ribeiro Cheryl Eagan-Donovan: Shakespeare’s Ideal: Sexuality and Gender Identity in The Merchant of Venice Dr. Marty Hyatt: Teaching Heavy Ignorance Aloft to Fly Conference Opening Reception – Ashland Springs Hotel Conservatory & Garden Merchant of Venice at OSF Elizabethan Theatre

Friday: September 17 Shakespeare Fellowship Annual Meeting Richard Whalen: ‘Goats and Monkeys!’ Othello’s Outburst Recalls a Fresco in Bassano, Italy Dr. Frank Davis: The “Unlearned” versus the “Learned” Shakespeare Prof Jack Shuttleworth: Hamlet and Its Mysteries: An Oxfordian Editor’s View Merchant of Venice Panel: Tom Hunter, Tom Regnier & OSF Actors Bill Rauch: Artistic Director of OSF and Director of Hamlet and Merchant of Venice Prof Roger Stritmatter: The “Little Eyases” and the “Innovation” of 1589 Katherine Chiljan: Twelve “Too Early” Allusions to Shakespeare’s Hamlet Tom Regnier: Hamlet’s Law Prof Sam Saunders: The Odds on Hamlet’s Odds Prof Helen Gordon: The Symbols in Hamlet: An Oxfordian Interpretation Hamlet at OSF Bowmer Theatre

Saturday: September 18 Shakespeare-Oxford Society Annual Meeting Hank Whittemore: The Birth and Growth of Prince Hal: Why did Oxford write The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth? Marie Merkel – “In the Fit of Miming”: A brief history of Sir John Falstaffe and the ”whole school of tongues” in his belly Lynne Kositsky: The Young Adult Novel Minerva’s Voyage and its Relationship to True Reportory and Minerva Britanna Hamlet panel: Prof Ren Draya, Jack Shuttleworth & OSF Actors Music by Mignarda Robin Goodrin Nordli: Bard Babes Keir Cutler: Is Shakespeare Dead? “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt” Signing Ceremony with John Shahan, Paul Nicholson, Executive Director at OSF, and other signatories 1 Henry IV at OSF Elizabethan Theatre

Sunday: September 19 William Ray: Proofs of Oxfordian Authorship in the Shakespearean Apocrypha Bonner Cutting: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime John Hamill – Bisexuality, Bastardy, Avisa and Antonio Perez Revisited Michael Cecil: Revisiting the 1st Baron Burghley’s Precepts for the Well Ordering and Carriage of a Man’s Life Henry IV Panel: Felicia Londré & OSF Actors 2010 Annual Joint Conference Awards Banquet For further information write to the local coordinator at earlees@charter.net

The Ashland Authorship Conference — September 16-19, 2010

Plans for this year’s Shakespeare Authorship Conference (in Ashland, OR) are proceeding apace.  Here’s some info and a link to get more details.  You can register online via this link: 

http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=170579

The Shakespeare Oxford Society and The Shakespeare Fellowship Society

 Present

The Ashland Authorship Conference

September 16-19, 2010

Ashland Springs Hotel and Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The sixth annual joint authorship conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society will take place in Ashland, Oregon from September 16-19, 2010. This year the conference will focus on the plays in production at the Tony Award winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Group tickets have been secured for the conference for three productions at OSF: The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet and 1 Henry IV.

The conference will convene at the Ashland Springs Hotel. Already a number of outstanding scholars, authors and theatre professionals have committed to presenting at Ashland, including Professors Daniel Wright, Felicia Londre, Ren Draya, Roger Stritmatter, and Chris Duval. OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch and Executive Director Paul Nicholson will both address the conference, and Robin Goodrin-Nordli will perform her comedic Shakespeare heroine composite, Bard Babes. Keir Cutler will present his wonderfully satiric production, Is Shakespeare Dead? and award-winning musicians Ron Andrico and Donna Stewart, who produced My Lord of Oxenford’s Masque, will also perform their music during the authorship conference.

Other presenters will include OSF’s James Newcomb, Tom Regnier on Hamlet’s law, Bonner Cutting on Shakspere’s Will, Bill Farina and Tom Hunter on The Merchant of Venice, Michael Cecil on Lord Burghley, plus Hank Whittemore, John Hamill, Paul Altrocchi, Richard Whalen, Frank Davis, Katherine Chiljan, Ramon Jimenez, Earl Showerman, John Shahan, Marie Merkel, Sam Saunders, William Ray, and Cheryl Eagan-Donovan. The conference will feature panel discussions with OSF actors after each show and include a signing ceremony of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt.

(More Details)

http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/?p=138

September SOS news out this week

The September 2009 issue of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter will be mailed this week. This hefty, 48-page issue features:

· scholarly articles listed below,
· John Shahan’s response to skeptic Michael Shermer’s challenge in Scientific American also available on the SOS blog at: http://shakespeareoxfordsociety.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/shahans-letter-to-shermer-the-skeptic/
· updates on Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s film project, “Nothing is Truer than Truth”,
· and the Paul Altrocchi and Hank Whittemore multi-volume project Building the Case for Edward deVere as Shakespeare also available on the SOS blog at: http://shakespeareoxfordsociety.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/altrocchiwhittemore-build-the-case/
· as well as news items and reviews by Richard Whelan and Stephanie Hughes.

Scholarly articles include:
· Marie Merkel’s “Ben Jonson and The Tempest” – was the play by Shakespeare?
· Derran Charlton’s “Edward de Vere as Henry IV” – was Oxford on the stage?
· William Ray’s “Proofs of Oxfordian Authorship in the Shakespearean Apocrypha” – did Oxford ghost for Anne Vavasour?
· Robert Prechter’s “Sombody We Know Is behind No-body and Some-body” – was de Vere writing plays long before Shakespeare appeared on the scene?

Hardcopy of the newsletter is available as a benefit of Shakespeare-Oxford Society membership. Support SOS by joining online at:
http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=27020.

SOS membership also includes hardcopy of the SOS annual journal, The Oxfordian — a new issue of The Oxfordian is due out in time for the SF/SOS joint conference in Houston November 5-8, 2009.

Newsletter articles from all issues since January 1999 through the current issue (after a brief six-week embargo) are available free online through local, university, and state libraries under the Academic OneFile listing.

For example, I can log onto the Michigan state e-library at: http://mel.org by using my Michigan driver’s license, and access all files on the Academic OneFile listing that includes the Shakespeare-Oxford Newsletter. Articles are also available online through subscription to the Gale Group Access My Library site at: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/browse_JJ_S091.

Linda Theil, Editor
Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter

Oliver Kamm at London Times

Authorship experts John Shahan and Ramon Jimenez go nose to nose with The Times of London columnist Oliver Kamm, a former investment banker and hedge fund co-founder who flippantly maligns anti-Stratfordians in his Sept. 7, 2009, column: “Great Historical Questions to Which the Answer is No” at: http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2009/09/great-historical-questions-to-which-the-answer-is-no.html

Kamm appears to think he has solved the problem because as The Times wordmaster writes:

As this argument has never satisfactorily come to terms with the troubling circumstance that the man was dead when the plays were written, it may safely be described as a crank notion. It’s liitle wonder that its originator was a Gateshead schoolmaster in the 1920s called J. Thomas Looney.

Stay tuned, ’cause Jimenez is just the guy to explain to Kamm that dating the plays is a double-edged sword for Stratfordians.