Stephanie Nolen

A fascinating literary detective story charting the surprising, true history of a recently discovered painting of Shakespeare held by the same family for 400 years -- adding new drama to the Bards life.When author Stephanie Nolen reported the discovery of the only portrait of William Shakespeare painted while he was alive, the announcement ignited furious controversy around the world.Now, in this provocative biography of the portrait, she tells the riveting story of how a rare image of the young Bard at thirty-nine came to reside in the suburban home of a retired engineer, whose grandmother kept the family treasure under her bed, and how he embarked on authenticating it. The ultimate Antiques Roadshow dream, the portrait has been confirmed by six years of painstaking forensic studies to date from around 1600, and it has not been altered since.

On May 11, 2001, Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Nolen announced a stunning discovery to the world: an attractive portrait held by an Ontario family for twelve generations, which may well be the only known portrait of Shakespeare painted during his lifetime. Shakespeares Face is the biography of a portrait a literary mystery story and the furious debate that has ensued since its discovery.A slip of paper affixed to the back proclaims Shakespere. This likeness taken 1603, Age at that time 39 ys. But is it really Shakespeare who peers at us from the small oil on wood painting? The twinkling eyes, reddish hair, and green jacket are not in keeping with the duller, traditional images of the bard. But they are more suggestive of the humorous and humane man who wrote the greatest plays in the English language.Shakespeares Face tells the riveting story of how the painting came to reside in the home of a retired engineer in a mid-sized Ontario town. The painting is reputed to be by John Sanders of Worcester, England. As a retirement project, the engineer, whose grandmother kept the family treasure under her bed, embarked on authenticating the portrait: the forensic analyses that followed have proven it without doubt to the period.In a remarkable publishing coup, Knopf Canada has gathered around Stephanie Nolens story a group of the worlds leading Shakespeare scholars and art and cultural historians to delve into one of the most fascinating literary mysteries of our times: Is this the face of genius?Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Shakespeares Face by Stephanie NolenBy the late afternoon I was beginning to go a little cross-eyed. I had examined countless documents and read the test results from the paintings painstaking forensic analysis. I now had everything I needed to write my story except for one crucial item. Is he here? I asked, almost in a whisper....The owner laid the package carefully on the cluttered table. He gently pulled back the kraft paper wrapping, underneath which was a layer of bubble wrap. Then he peeled back this second layer to reveal his treasure.I was caught off-guard by how small the portrait was and how vivid. The colours in the paint seemed too rich to be 400 years old. Except for the hairline cracks in the varnish, the face could have been painted yesterday. And there was nothing austere or haughty about it, nothing of the great man being painted for posterity. It was a rogues face, a charmers face that looked back at me with a tolerant, mischievous slightly world-weary air....It was painted on two pieces of solid board so expertly joined that the seam was barely visible. A date, Ano 1603, was painted in small red letters in the top right hand corner. The right side had been nibbled by woodworms.... I stood and gazed, quelling an instinctive urge to pick the portrait up and hold it in my hands. And as my professional skepticism crumpled for a moment, I found myself wanting desperately to believe that this was indeed Shakespeares face.

El sida es una de las catástrofes más terribles de la historia de la humanidad. Las últimas estadísticas reflejan que está presente en todos los países del mundo y cifran, de forma conservadora, en 37 millones el numero de enfermos, de los cuales el 70% de ellos se encuentra en el Africa subsahariana. Este dato es devastador y revela el enorme problema que supone el sida en Africa, donde algunos paises tienen mas de un 30% de la poblacion infectada por el virus. Stephanie Nolen narra con fuerza, urgencia, valentia y sinceridad 28 historias reales e inspiradoras que nos ayudan a entender desde dentro el enorme problema que supone el sida en Africa. Los relatos nos revelan como se ha extendido el sida, destruyendo las ilusiones de una joven y productiva generacion; como fortalece y amplifica la pobreza, los conflictos y otras enfermedades; como funcionan los medicamentos y por que hay mucha gente que, a pesar de no poder acceder a ellos, sigue luchando con coraje y dignidad para poder sobrevivir y poder ofrecer un futuro digno a sus hijos. La autora presenta un texto accesible, actual e imprescindible para entender, de forma definitiva, por que continua ignorandose esta pandemia global.