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Actor Adrian Lester and Prof Ewan Fernie talk to Islam Issa about Birmingham's first folio and the man who brought it to the city. The Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library was founded with the help of George Dawson (24 February 1821 – 30 November 1876) - a non conformist preacher and lecturer who had a powerful vision of Birmingham as a progressive social and cultural centre in the mid-19th century. The library houses Britain's most important Shakespeare collection, comprising 43,000 volumes, including a copy of the First Folio 1623. Over three years, the Everything to Everybody project aims to share these cultural riches with the people of Birmingham in a wide range of imaginative ways.

More information available here: https://everythingtoeverybody.bham.ac.uk/
Professor Ewan Fernie is a Fellow and Chair of Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Islam Issa is a New Generation Thinker who teaches at Birmingham City University.

This episode is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Further podcasts are available on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 Free Thinking website under the playlist New Research /programmes/p03zws90

You can also find a collection of episodes called Free Thinking explores Shakespeare /programmes/p06406hm
and Radio 3's Drama on 3 is broadcasting Othello and Henry IV part I

Producer: Torquil MacLeod