Information about the Author

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon on the River Avon in England. At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children: an older daughter, Susanna, and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died in childhood. Shakespeare spent most of his working life in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally in the early 1590s. He was successful not only as a playwright and poet but also as an actor and shareholder in a theater company. While some believe that Shakespeare retired from the theater between 1610 and 1613 and returned to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others think he may have continued working in London until shortly before his death.

Barbara A. Mowat is an emeritus research director.