The Shakespeare Fiction Podcast

Welcome to Shakesfic where I discuss Shakespeare fiction novels! I'm your Host, Dr. Koel Chatterjee.

In this episode of Shakesfic , I review Joy McCullough's Enter the Body , a powerful young adult novel inspired by four of Shakespeare's tragic heroines: Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, and Lavinia. Together, we explore how McCullough reimagines these iconic women beyond the moments that defined them in Shakespeare's plays, creating a moving story about friendship, grief, memory, and reclai...

What happens when King Lear is reimagined through the lens of postcolonial India? In this episode of The Shakesfic Podcast, Koel explores We That Are Young by Preti Taneja—a bold, unsettling adaptation that doesn’t just retell Shakespeare, but actively reshapes him. This is a novel about language, inheritance, and power. Koel looks at how Taneja reworks King Lear through corporate dynasties, fract...

Episode title: The Secret Life of William Shakespeare: Biofiction, Work, and Ethical Imagination Episode description: What do we do with the silences in Shakespeare’s life? In this episode of Shakesfic , I explore Jude Morgan’s The Secret Life of William Shakespeare as an example of Shakespeare biofiction at its most restrained and plausible. Rather than scandal or conspiracy, Morgan offers a Shak...

In today’s episode, we trade the magic staff for a prison ID badge. We’re doing a deep dive into Margaret Atwood’s 2016 reimagining of The Tempest . We explore how the protagonist, Felix, mirrors the vengeful Prospero and how a group of inmates at a correctional facility find their own voices through the character of Caliban. From the "no-cursing" rule to the haunting presence of a ghost...

Episode Show Notes: The Sharpest Blade in BrooklynThe Main Feature Title: Prince of Cats Creator: Ronald Wimberly Publisher: Image Comics (Original Vertigo release 2012; Image Definitive Edition 2016) Our Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 Stars) Synopsis: A neon-noir, hip-hop infused retelling of Romeo and Juliet focused on Tybalt. Set in an alternate-1980s Brooklyn, the story follows the Capulet crew as th...

Episode Show Notes Featured Book Title: These Violent Delights & Our Violent Ends (Secret Shanghai Duology) Author: Chloe Gong Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (November 17, 2020) Synopsis: In 1926 Shanghai, the heirs of two rival gangs—the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers—must set aside their blood feud to stop a mysterious madness and a monster rising from the Huangpu River. Recommen...

Welcome to The Shakespeare Fiction Podcast! In this episode I talk about my Tsundoku habit and why I wanted to start this podcast. Creator and speaker: Koel Chatterjee Producer: Koel Chatterjee Artwork: Tim Bond This podcast is part of the Shakespop.co.uk project.