Author(s): Claire Oliver

Biography, YA,children

This fascinating introduction to the playwright begins with a description of the world in 1600 -- plague, famine and war -- "yet out of this turbulent world came one of the finest, most highly-respected and best-loved writers of all time". At the forefront of the English Renaissance Shakespeare began his career as a stagehand and then an actor, giving personal readings to Elizabeth I in her private chambers. Many of his plays have been turned into films, and he is still quoted today.