Cervantes and Shakespeare

To mark one of the most important commemorations of this decade in the literary world – the 400^th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Alcalá de Henares, 29 September 1547 – Madrid, 22 April 1616) and William Shakespeare (Stratford-upon-Avon,  c. 26 April 1564 [July] – 23 April [July]/ 3 May 1616 [Greg.] – Hay Festival, AC/E and the British Council are organising this project to examine the impact these two geniuses have had on universal literature. Their texts have been adapted and analysed countless times and their influence has been so great that they are essential figures in Spanish and English culture.

The project pays tribute to these two great authors through the work of twelve contemporary writers – six English-speaking: RhidianBrook, Deborah Levy, Nell Leyshon; Hisham Matar, Ben Okri, Kamila Shamsie y Salman Rushdie (author of the introduction) and six Spanish-speaking: Marcos Giralt Torrente, Yuri Herrera, Valeria Luiselli, Vicente Molina Foix, Soledad Puértolas and Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

They will each write an original, unpublished work paying their own particular literary tribute to Cervantes and Shakespeare. In order to show the repercussions and international influence of these two major literary figures, the English-speaking writers will concentrate on Cervantes’ oeuvre, while the Spanish-speaking writers will take that of Shakespeare as a reference.


The collection of these stories is in a printed book with an edition in Spanish (Galaxia Gutemberg) and one published in the United Kingdom (And other stories).

There will be presentations during talks with the authors at Hay Festival Wales, Hay Festival Segovia and other Hispanic Hay Festivals.

>First chapter avalaible for reading (only in Spanish)