Taking on Oxfraud

Debunking Oxfrauds An Oxfraud.com splash screen One of the most prominent sites that attack Oxfordianism is Oxfraud.com.  It makes no pretense to be objective and specializes in ad hominem attacks to the point of absurdist parody.  Now comes a new site to take it on: oxfraudfraud.com SOF encourages you to visit the site and refer it to friends, should you wish.  Just as Oxfraud.com claims no…

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Editing the SOF Newsletter with Alex McNeil

Alex McNeil Alex McNeil is the longtime editor of the SOF Newsletter. In this Behind the Scenes talk, he chats with Bob Meyers about becoming an Oxfordian, the appeal of the authorship question to lawyers, and how he assembles the widely admired Newsletter four times a year. (Not an SOF member, but want to read the new Winter issue? Join now.) Watch the interview!  

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Six Shaky Signatures

Six Shaky Signatures:  What’s the Proof That Shakespeare Wrote Them? Shakespeare’s signatures https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare_signatures_labelled.png By: Dorothea Dickerman What if the famous man from Stratford-upon-Avon commonly thought to be the greatest English playwright and poet was in fact unable even to form the letters to write his own name, much less write the…

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The Many Deceptions of the First Folio

  The First Folio Title page found on the Folger Library site Throughout 2023, the SOF will be commemorating the 400th anniversary of the First Folio. In her article The Grand Deception of the First Folio, independent scholar Katherine Chiljan provides a meticulous deconstruction of the falsehoods that lie behind the “story” of the First Folio, concluding with a ringing call for academia to give…

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The Mystery of Shakespeare Lingers

Does the First Collection of William Shakespeare’s Plays Provide Evidence that he Didn’t Write Them? A First Folio in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. The lodestar of bibliographic evidence for the authorship of William Shakespeare’s literary works is the first collected edition of his plays, published in 1623. The 900-page book is commonly known as the First Folio. It was an…

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First Call for NOLA Conference Presentations

Proposals for presentations at the 2023 SOF Conference in New Orleans– live or recorded — are now being accepted by the Conference Committee with a deadline of June 15th. Approximately 20 presentation slots will be available ranging in length from 20 minutes to 45 minutes for individual papers and from 60 to 90 minutes for themed panel discussions featuring three or more people. All proposals…

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Tales from the Archives

by the SOF Data Preservation Committee The Shakespeare Authorship Trust site Kathryn Sharpe, DPC chair, received the following question from Sylvia Holmes, secretary of the Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable (SAR) and leader of By the Book, SAR’s book club. Q: I just started interacting with SOAR [Shakespeare Online Authorship Research]. . . I have many, many boxes of stuff. I randomly pulled out.…

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Oxford’s Italian Odyssey: Feb. 9 at the Blue Boar Tavern

Map of Venice, 1572 Join us in the Blue Boar Tavern on Thursday Feb 9 at 8pm E / 5 pm P for Oxford’s Italian Odyssey. Share a pint with Bonner Miller Cutting, Earl Showerman, Dorothea Dickerman, Tom Woosnam, and bartender Jonathan Dixon as we discuss Edward de Vere’s travels in Italy and how his experiences there map to the Shakespeare works. We’ll consider Italian sources for the Canon,…

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Conference Registration Now Open For New Orleans 2023

This year’s conference includes a city tour of New Orleans Registration is now open online for the SOF’s 2023 Conference in New Orleans Nov. 9 to 12. Rates have been kept at the same level as the 2022 conference in Ashland thanks to a special grant from a Louisiana-based foundation. SOF sincerely thanks that foundation and urges all members to book early for lowest costs. This year’s conference…

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Creating Conferences with Don Rubin

Creating Conferences with Don Rubin

Don Rubin is Professor Emeritus of dramatic literature and theatre at Toronto’s York University. He has served as Vice President of SOF and is co-chair of SOF’s conference committee (with Tom Woosnam), which presented the 2022 annual event in Ashland, Oregon. Putting on a conference involves site and date selection, topic selection, author contact and follow-through and a myriad of other details.…

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Tom Woosnam on Teaching the Shakespeare Authorship Question

Tom Woosnam on Teaching the Shakespeare Authorship Question

SOF Trustee Tom Woosnam was born in England, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Imperial College, London. Tom is a regular at The Blue Boar Tavern and served as co-chairman (with Don Rubin) of the 2022 SOF annual conference, held in September. Because he lives in Ashland, he focused on theatre and hotel issues as part of his conference responsibilities. Tom has lived…

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Watch Videos From the 2022 Annual Conference

Watch Videos From the 2022 Annual Conference

The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship held its 2022 annual conference in person in Ashland, Oregon, after a three year hiatus. About 70 people attended the live event. The conference was also livestreamed to a group of about 50 people. Videos are now available of several presentations from the conference. This year’s event was packed with amazing content, and we’re excited to share it with you. The…

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Roger Stritmatter talks Shakespeare and the Law

Roger Stritmatter talks Shakespeare and the Law

Shakespeare and the Law, edited by Roger Stritmatter, was published June 30, 2022 In a new edition of The SOF Interviews, Roger Stritmatter talks with Bob Meyers about Shakespeare and the Law: How the Bard’s Legal Knowledge Affects the Authorship Question. The eleven essays in this comprehensive book, collected and edited by Professor Stritmatter, date between 1916 and 2013, and supply a detailed…

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Earl Showerman Affirmed as President

Earl Showerman Affirmed as President

Earl Showerman was elected by members to lead the SOF. Earl Showerman was affirmed for a one-year term as president of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship at the Annual Business Meeting on September 25, 2022. Also affirmed were Tom Woosnam as Vice President, Bonner Miller Cutting as Secretary and Richard Foulke as Treasurer. Julie Sandys Bianchi left the board after serving two terms, the maximum…

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Last Chance to Register for the Fall Conference!

Last Chance to Register for the Fall Conference!

Don’t miss the SOF 2022 annual conference, happening next week, September 22-25! Registration closes midnight PST tomorrow, Sunday September 18. There are two ways to attend: Join us in person at the Ashland Springs Hotel and Suites* in gorgeous Ashland, OR, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Watch via Livestream from the comfort of your home, car, anywhere! Full schedule and details are…

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The De Vere Ball

The De Vere Ball

By Hank Whittemore Host Phoebe Nir addresses revelers at the De Vere Ball in New York City (NEW YORK) Edward de Vere would have loved it. On the pleasant, warm Saturday evening of 13 August 2022, in the “bohemian chic” section of downtown Manhattan known as the West Village, about 100 millennials made their way through narrow winding streets to gather in the spacious, elegant ballroom on the…

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2022 Volume of The Oxfordian is Published

2022 Volume of The Oxfordian is Published

By Gary Goldstein, editor of The Oxfordian The 24th volume of the Fellowship’s annual peer-reviewed journal – The Oxfordian – is now available to members and other Shakespeare scholars in both print and electronic formats. The online version is available to members as part of SOF membership, while non-members will be able to access three items online: the editor’s column, a research paper, and a…

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