Help Bring A Cafe for Shakespeare to Life

Help me find a good home for my new book, 'A CAFE FOR SHAKESPEARE: The Bard Lights Our Way in Darkening Times,' or if push comes to shove, to self publish. This book, as with all previous ones, is inextricably entwined with our nonprofit Democracy Cafe's dialogue initiatives, in this case Cafe for Shakespeare, and if past is prelude, its publication surely will deepen and expand the establishment of Cafe for Shakespeare gatherings not just all across the U.S., but the world over.

Here is a description of it:

A CAFÉ FOR SHAKESPEARE: The Bard Lights Our Way in Darkening Times

Who’s there? (Hamlet)

What’s in a name? (Romeo and Juliet)

Who is it that can tell me who I am? (Lear)

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? (Macbeth)

What is a city but the people? (Coriolanus)

What ish my nation? (Henry V)

Et tu, Brute? (Julius Caesar)

My new book, A CAFÉ FOR SHAKESPEARE: The Bard Lights Our Way in Darkening Times, seeks to answer “Who's there?”, the opening question from Hamlet, in a forward-looking way. Those who join me at our Café for Shakespeare gatherings take to heart the command of Francisco in Hamlet - “Stand and unfold yourself.” The preponderance of partakers do just that: they take decided stands against societal wrongs they identify in the course of our explorations, further unfolding themselves in ways that spark greater self and societal flourishing.

The seeds for Cafe for Shakespeare sprouted from the tragic death of my father - a death that one noted Shakespeare scholar who is a beloved friend characterized as ‘a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.’ The evil-imbued acts that began to enshroud me in the wake of my dad’s passing in telling respects mirrored or were entwined with what is happening in society. I began to ask myself what I could do to counteract this, knowing this is principally how my beloved father would want me to respond to his loss.

My longtime global initiative, Socrates Café, which I inaugurated in 1996 in a time of pervasive polarization, continues to have a momentum not only throughout the U.S., but the world over, regularly bringing together motley participants to explore life’s timeless yet timely questions. While Socrates Cafés are extraordinary oases of civility, we also need other, complementary approaches that can be world-changing for us.

Came the lightbulb moment: What the world needs now is Shakespeare, even more than Socrates (who also still is needed)! Via my Café for Shakespeare, curated questions posed in The Bard’s tragedies that I explore with diverse others shine a light and bring into relief the challenges we face, together and alone – and create a roadmap of a meaningful stripe for positive change.

A Cafe for Shakespeare: The Bard Lights Our Way in Darkening Times is intimately (at times painfully) autobiographical, wrapped within a travelogue. Its structure resembling that of the Bard's plays, it aims to jolt most anyone out of their lethargy. It’s kindred to my other books, including the international bestseller Socrates Café: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy, in that it features provocative, illuminating exchanges among participants with bracingly different perspectives - but with the potent difference that in this case they often are edgier, are more revelatory, and chart promising pathways out of our morasses.

This book should help galvanize a critical mass to become bright and shining lights of change. As such, they would surely inspire Miranda of The Tempest to say of them, “How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in’t!”