Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stephen Greenblatt (The Swerve, Will in the World) presents his highly anticipated new book, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, in conversation with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

In Dark Renaissance, Greenblatt reconstructs the brief but dazzling life of Christopher Marlowe -- an ambitious cobbler’s son turned playwright, spy, and transgressive visionary. Marlowe’s works, including Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, challenged convention and ignited a cultural revolution that enabled Shakespeare’s success and helped shape the modern world. With narrative flair and incisive literary criticism, Greenblatt reveals how Marlowe’s genius, his dangerous entanglements, and his untimely death at 29 left a legacy we are still reckoning with today.

Dr. Karim-Cooper brings her expertise as a Shakespeare scholar and public humanist to the conversation, offering insight into why Marlowe’s story continues to resonate alongside Shakespeare’s in our own time.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.
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