Shakespeare’s First Folio at 400

Kathryn Harkup is a chemist and author. Her first book was the international best-seller, A is for Arsenic. She has also written about the science of Frankenstein in Making the Monster, all the ways to die in a Shakespeare play in Death By Shakespeare and investigated the scientific background to horror’s most famous fiend in Vampirology. The Secret Lives of Molecules follows the success of The Secret Lives of the Elements, also by Harkup, published in 2022.

Dr Chris Laoutaris is a biographer, historian, poet, Shakespeare scholar and Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham), in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon. He is the author of Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the Fist Folio, which tells the story of the creation of the 1623 First Folio.

In addition to numerous academic publications, he has published Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe, which was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize for Biography, was an Observer Book of the Year, Telegraph Book of the Year, one of the New York Post’s ‘Must-Read Books’, and one of the Daily Telegraph’s top ten history holiday reads. Laoutaris is the recipient of the Morley Medal in English, two prestigious Post-Doctoral Fellowships (a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship and a Birmingham Fellowship), and his first poetry collection, Bleed and See, was shortlisted for the Eric Gregory Poetry Awards.

Author photograph by Lorentz Gullachsen.

Remona Aly is a journalist and broadcaster. She writes for The Guardian, is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought and a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Something Understood. She is also an editor and podcast host for various platforms.

Ishy Din is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Ishy’s plays have toured nationally, and he is currently under commission from the National Theatre and the RSC to write major plays. He has several BFI funded feature film projects at various stages of development. His Teesside based company, Blast Furnace Projects, delivers creative skills programmes to schools. Ishy has also worked for major broadcasters including the BBC, CH4 and Netflix. He has several original TV series proposals in development. He is a former Trustee on the board of ARC Stockton and is currently a Trustee of LIVE Theatre in Newcastle.

Ishy is a multi-discipline dramatist and has taught creative writing at numerous organisations including schools, colleges and universities. He has helped design courses for Further Education organisations and advises on best practise. Ishy has led multiple school-based creativity projects and taught on creative writing residentials.