Picking up on her tradition of annually commemorating the passing (and probable date of birth) of William Shakespeare (also known as The Bard or the Swan of Avon) on April 23rd, Mayflower Bookshop, jointly with Leiden poet Leo van Zanen, hosted the Annual Mayflower Bookshop Shakespeare event once more on a sunny April 24th.
Van Zanen, leading a walk from Mayflower Bookshop to wall poem ‘Sonnet XXX’ at Houtstraat 30, gave a small introduction, followed by recitation of the poem in English (by Freek Bouricius), in Dutch (by Van Zanen), and symbolically, in Russian and Ukrainian by the Russian-born artist Zina Anisimova. Anisimova added to the international atmosphere by alerting the audience to the prominence of Shakespeare in Russia, where almost everyone is as familiar with his plays and sonnets as are we. The commemoration ended with placing a colourful bouquet near the poem in honour of Shakespeare, after which the procession went back to the bookshop, where the event ended with a short talk by Van Zanen.