Professor Emma Smith

Emma is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford. Her work focuses on Shakespeare, on early modern drama, and on book history. She is particularly interested in Shakespeare’s reception in print, performance, and criticism, and in the long histories of why and how we have engaged with these works.

She enjoys discussing Shakespeare with students at school and university, with theatremakers and other creative people, and with wider readers and audiences. She is a Trustee of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Stratford Literary Festival, and Fuel Theatre Company, and was the 2023 Sam Wanamaker Fellow at Shakespeare’s Globe. 

Her books include This is Shakespeare (2019) and Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers (2022). Out in late 2026 is her new edition of Twelfth Night for the Arden Shakespeare series: 2027 will see the publication of William Shakespeare: A Graphic Life (with illustrator Mike Herson) and Shakespeare and Trees (with nature writer Fiona Stafford).