Lynne Kositsky's Blog

Keynote Speaker, St. Catharines May 7th.

Lynne Kositsky — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:50:56 +0000

The Literature, The Stage, The Artist
A Day of Learning for Secondary English & Drama Teachers, Elementary Arts Contacts
May 7, 2013 8:15 am – 4 pm
A Variety of Seminars & Workshops
with
Special Guest Speaker
Independent Shakespeare Scholar
and Award-Winning Young Adult author
Lynne Kositsky
Presented by
LYNDESFARNE
T H E A T R E
P R O J E C T S
4624 Queen St, Niagara Falls, ON, L2E 2L6 PH: 905-374-7469
www.lyndesfarnetheatreprojects.

Roger Stritmatter’s and my book on The Tempest will be out at the end of June

Lynne Kositsky — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:46:07 +0000

On the Date, Sources and Design of
Roger A. Stritmatter and Lynne Kositsky

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-7104-1
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-0370-4
photos, tables, appendices, notes, index
softcover (6 x 9) 2013

Buy Now!

Price: $45.00

Not Yet Published, Available Spring/Summer 2013

About the Book
This book challenges a longstanding and deeply ingrained belief in Shakespearean studies that The Tempest–long supposed to be Shakespeare’s last play–was not written until 1611. In the course of investigating this proposition, which has rarely been questioned and has not received the critical inquiry it deserves, a number of subsidiary and closely related interpretative puzzles have come sharply into focus. These include the play’s sources of New World imagery; its festival symbolism and structure; its relationship to William Strachey’s True Reportory account of the 1609 Bermuda wreck of the Sea Venture (not published until 1625)–and the tangled history of how and why scholars have for so long misunderstood these matters.

When some preliminary elements of the case were published in leading Shakespearean journals (starting in 2007), the sometimes intemperate responses they received became part of the critical history, and some scholars supposed that we had been answered. Our reply to these criticisms is here given in full.

About the Author
Roger A. Stritmatter is an associate professor of Humanities at Coppin State University and general editor of Brief Chronicles: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Authorship Studies. He has published on Shakespearean topics in a range of academic journals, including Notes and Queries, The Shakespeare Yearbook, Review of English Studies, Critical Survey, The Tennessee Law Review, and the Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Lynne Kositsky is an award-winning poet, young adult novelist and independent researcher living in Vineland, Ontario.

Table of Contents & Excerpts Tempest

The Plagues of Kondar

Lynne Kositsky — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:20:28 +0000

Dundurn Press has accepted my speculative Young Adult novel, The Plagues of Kondar, for publication. It’s my second book with Dundurn. The first was Minerva’s Voyage. Very excited.

New Books

Lynne Kositsky — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:07:10 +0000

Roger and I have sent our completed book on Shakespeare to McFarland for editing and publication.

McFarland accepts our book, A Movable Feast!

Lynne Kositsky — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:35:52 +0000

Roger Stritmatter and I are thrilled to announce that our book, A Movable Feast: Sources, Chronology and Design of Shakespeare’s Tempest, has been accepted by McFarland publishers.

Although some of the book’s conclusions have previously appeared in our peer-reviewed articles as reproduced on shakespearestempest.com, the book also contains a wealth of new material supporting the theory of a play written at least by 1603 for Shrovetide performance.

Contrary to longstanding belief, the play’s New World imagery is derived not from William Strachey’s account of a 1609 shipwreck in Bermuda, but from Richard Eden’s 1555 Decades of the New World. The book will include detailed point-by-point rebuttals to two newly published critiques of our work: one by Alden Vaughan (2008) in Shakespeare Quarterly and another by Tom Reedy (2010) in Review of English Studies, showing how their misplaced confidence in traditional authority has led to misinterpretations of the evidence of the date and influence of Strachey’s manuscript.

While many books have been published in recent months advocating the “Oxfordian” theory of Shakespearean authorship, ours will be the first to directly challenge the longstanding orthodox belief that Oxford could not have been the author because he died in 1604, before the Tempest and several other plays were written. At least in the case of the Tempest, that argument is no longer credible.

A Terrible Grief

Lynne Kositsky — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:31:04 +0000

My new novel about the Holocaust, A Terrible Grief, is now finished–the first draft at least–and has been sent to my agent to look at.

The Vero Nihil Verius Award

Lynne Kositsky — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:45:37 +0000

Concordia University’s Dr. Daniel Wright, Director of the University’s Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre, has announced that the 2012 annual Vero Nihil Verius Award for Distinguished Scholarship will be awarded “to the team of Prof Roger Stritmatter and Lynne Kositsky for the outstanding achievement, recognition, and prestigious juried publication of their research on the origins of Shakespeare’sTempest.”

The award will be conferred at Concordia’s Annual Shakespeare Authorship Studies Conference, scheduled for April 12-15, 2012.

Others honored with the award for 2012 include journalist and novelist, Al Austin, in particular appreciation for his work on the breakthrough PBS Frontline documentary, The Shakespeare Mystery, as well as for his forthcoming Oxfordian novel, The Cottage.

Katherine Chiljan, in special tribute to the scholarly achievement of her most recent book, Shakespeare Suppressed: The Uncensored Truth About Shakespeare and His Works, will also be honored with the award in 2012.

Posted in Book News

Black Sea University

Lynne Kositsky — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:33:28 +0000

Although I’ve had no time to talk about it till now, Mykolayiv in Ukraine was awesome. The city is stunning, a place of wide avenues and leafy trees; the small children, particularly the girls, are beautifully dressed though the people, for the most part, are far from wealthy. Roger and I were shocked at how little they had to live on.

The people at Black Sea University–students and staff both–were kind and helpful, welcoming us with open arms and accompanying us wherever we went. In addition we made some new English friends–Peter and Sarah Dawkins, who are Baconians. We stuck together and Sarah and I talked and laughed as the men spoke on serious matters. I hope we stay in touch.

The students–mostly graduates or already teachers–were delightful, as well as extremely interested in what we had to say about Oxford as Shakespeare. Luckily they spoke English.We made a number of presentations, including a riff on Mark Alexander’s 25 Connections. They also seemed to like my presentation on one of my novels, A Question of Will. I was surprised at how crowded the room was, as some of the teachers brought their own students to listen. Later Roger was interviewed on local television, and one of the students, Elena, translated for him. They both did a terrific job.

The day after the conference finished, Kateryna Synkovitch, the organizer, took us to some of the historical sites of the city, including a Ukrainian church where we were lucky enough to see the baptism of a baby and hear the glorious chants of the two priests in both Ukrainian and Russian. Afterwards we had lunch with Kateryna and some of her students by the river. One small note: There are lots of homeless dogs and cats. They seem to survive by begging. A quiet cat joined me at the restaurant. She stood by my chair and shone her golden eyes on me pleadingly. I shared my meal with her.

Coming out of the restaurant, I noticed a group of five or six dogs of all sorts of colours and sizes, walking in single file. They passed by quietly, but kept turning their heads to look back. A big dog, obviously one of their crew, came into view. Terribly lamed, perhaps by an accident, he limped after them, and they kept stopping to wait for him to catch up before continuing their walk. I don’t think I’ll ever forget their loyalty to one another.

It was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for me and I imagine for Roger. I’m so glad I got over my nervousness of flying such a long distance and went with him.

Busy! Too much to do.

Lynne Kositsky — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:58:17 +0000

Besides preparing two powerpoints for Ukraine, am working on a presentation for my new Rachel four-in-one book to present at two readings in Vancouver, and continuing to write my novel about a Jewish German child who manages to avoid the Holocaust by travelling to Shanghai and living there with her mother and sister for the duration of the second world war.

A bit scared about flying to Odessa with two stops along the way, but friend Roger Stritmatter is going too, which helps me feel calmer about travelling.

Going to Ukraine in May.

Lynne Kositsky — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:43:30 +0000

Roger Stritmatter and I are travelling to Ukraine towards the end of May. We’ve been asked to speak at the first Shakespeare Authorship Conference in Ukraine. It’s at a university not too far from Odessa. We’re both presenting material about The Earl of Oxford. I’ve also been asked to speak to the students about writing and talk about my novels. Very excited to be asked!

I’m speaking about Shakespeare’s connections To Oxford, based on 25 Curious Connections by Mark Alexander, and Roger’s presenting “Much Ado About Something: Searching for Shakespeare and the Shape of Intellectual History.”