The Book News Room

The most illustrious figures of the past would have much to say to use if only we could borrow an hour or so of their time.

The Q&A series of dramatized biographies enables us to do just that…

Our Q&A series of dramatized biographies , written by experts in their field, brings to life the most illustrious figures of the past. Having previously conversed with Buddha, Darwin, Freud and Picasso, this month we meet two of England’s most celebrated British authors: Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare.

In Q&A with Dickens, Paul Schlicke, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Aberdeen and current chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Charles Dickens Museum, encounters Dickens’s ghost whilst sheltering from a summer downpour in the inn beloved by Mr Pickwick. This book imagines his private and public lives in a series of enlightening and engaging conversations – on topics such as the novel, actors, the fair sex, literary inspiration, illustrations, journalism, publishing, copyright, America, social change… and, of course, Christmas. It’s a lively, fact-filled dialogue that gives an entertaining insight into the life of this much-loved author.

Q&A with Shakespeare treats us to a wonderfully illuminating tête-à-tête between Stanley Wells, often described as the world’s leading Shakespeare scholar, and The Bard. The book offers a dazzling kaleidoscope of Shakespeare’s inner and outer worlds – a brilliant set of imagined answers to gently probing questions on such topics as his schooldays, his experiences of the theatre, his life in Stratford and London, his sonnets, his rivalry with other playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, his love life, his sources of inspiration, and his attitudes to money and publication.