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Boris Johnson Shakespeare book recalled after leadership win

By August 14, 2019Authors, News, Political

British publishing house, Hodder & Stoughton, have decided not to publish Boris Johnson’s book about Shakespeare, putting off the publication “for the foreseeable future”. The book had already been delayed and would have been at least three years later than planned.

Johnson had reportedly been paid an advance between £90,000 to £500,000 for the Hodder & Stoughton title Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius.

The new Tory leader’s Shakespeare biography had been pushed back from its original release date of October 2016 with the most recent potential release date slated as April 2020.

After Johnson won the Tory leadership contest on Tuesday 23rd July, a spokesman for the publisher said in a statement to The Bookseller: “Hodder & Stoughton have no plans to publish Boris Johnson’s book on Shakespeare for the foreseeable future.”

Previously, Johnson had suggested his Shakespeare biography was only in a preparatory stage, despite already running three years late.

The Bookseller asked the current PM if he was making sacrifices in his bid to lead the country, he said: “There’s no doubt at all that being a full time politician means I won’t be able, for instance, to rapidly complete a book on Shakespeare that I have in preparation. It means that unjustly neglected author will no longer get the treatment he deserves as fast as it might otherwise happen. That will grieve me because… I love writing about him.”

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