Everything to Everybody: How the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library Is Giving Shakespeare Back to the People An Interview with Ewan Fernie

Litteraria Pragensia (LP) had the pleasure to talk with Ewan Fernie (EF), Chair of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute and Director of the pioneering project “Everything to Everybody,” a recent example of positive cultural industry engagement with Shakespeare on a large scale. A collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council, “Everything to Everybody” is giving Shakespeare back to the people of Birmingham (and beyond), and Ewan Fernie has spent the last few years uncovering just how the city’s fascinating Shakespeare collection came to be and what potentials it holds. The project team has, since 2019, been working hard on reviving what is in fact the first great Shakespeare library in the world: Birmingham’s nearly-forgotten Shakespeare Memorial Library, housed in the iconic Library of Birmingham.