https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15494859/amp/William-Shakespeare-actually-black-woman-feminist-historian-LSE-graduate-claims-new-book.html

William Shakespeare was actually a black woman, feminist historian and LSE graduate claims in new book

By JOHN ABIONA, NIGHT NEWS EDITOR 22:03 24 Jan 2026, updated 10:55 25 Jan 2026

William Shakespeare was a 'black Jewish woman', a new book has claimed.

The real playwright is identified as the historical figure Emilia Bassano in The Real Shakespeare, by an LSE graduate and feminist historian.

She was a poet with connections to the Tudor court and wrote the Shakespearean canon of plays using the pen-name 'Shakespeare', according to the book.

But her work is said to have been stolen from an uneducated interloper - William Shakespeare - from Stratford-upon-Avon.

The book's author Irene Coslet argues that the idea of a 'white' genius was preferred to Bassano's identity as a black female playwright.

She was the mistress of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Elizabeth I’s Lord Chamberlain and patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the theatre troupe Shakespeare made famous.

Some writers believe that she may be the inspiration for the 'Dark Lady' addressed in Shakespeare’s sonnets.

…

The playwright's background as a humble man from Warwickshire with little formal education has further led some to question how he ascended to become a literary genius.

This is addressed in Ms Coslet's book, where she writes: 'Historians have not managed to explain how the Stratford man, a semi-illiterate moneylender, managed to gain such a level of erudition.'

In contrast to Shakespeare, Ms Coslet claims that Bassano gained the necessary expertise from her 'diverse identity' as a Jew and a Moor - a person of north African origin who also had family ties to Venice.

The author also states that 'English-speaking world has a mother with a multi-cultural identity', and that Bassano was the 'mother of a civilisation'.

While Ms Coslet's book recognises that Bassano is shown as a light-skinned woman in portraits, it argues that her skin may have been deliberately lightened in line with what were the beauty standards.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5826295&forum_id=2,#49617043)

I believe it.

That settles it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5826295&forum_id=2,#49617996)

imo, our best man of letters was Abe Lincoln -- who was no less a genius than Whitman, Dickinson, etc. he was born in a three-sided shack and he had no formal education. yet he became a great trial lawyer, the dean of the Illinois appellate bar, and a genius with the language in a wide variety of settings.

i don't find that particular argument against Shakespeare persuasive.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5826295&forum_id=2,#49617096)

but the sustained campaign against Stratford Shakespeare use that same argument. Mark Twain, among many others, weighed in.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5826295&forum_id=2,#49617109)

born in a brothel, sexual slavery ever since she was a toddler, and then #1 at stetson law

now ag

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5826295&forum_id=2,#49618002)