Random House’s Hogarth fiction imprint will publish prose versions of William Shakespeare‘s plays, commissioning bestselling novelists to write The Hogarth Shakespeare.
The project will open with Anne Tyler rewriting The Taming of the Shrew and Jeanette Winterson retelling The Winter’s Tale. The program will open in 2016, marking the 400th anniversary of the great author’s passing. Winterson had this comment in the release:
All of us have talismanic texts that we have carried around and that carry us around. I have worked with The Winter’s Tale in many disguises for many years. This is a brilliant opportunity to work with it in its own right. And I love cover versions.
Chatto & Windus/Hogarth senior editor Juliet Brooke and deputy publishing director Becky Hardie came up with the idea. The will work with publishing director Clara Farmer on the UK side of the team. Crown, Hogarth, and Broadway Books publisher Molly Stern and Hogarth senior editor Alexis Washam will lead the US team.
Hardie negotiated the Tyler book deal with Jesseca Salky at Hannigan Salky Getzler; she negotiated the Winterson deal with Caroline Michel at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop.