This is a book about the continuing significance of Shakespeare in global culture and the arts. We justly celebrate Shakespeare as a creator of plays and poems, characters and ideas, words and worlds. But so too, in the four centuries since his death in 1616, have thinkers, writers, artists, and performers - of all kinds and from all around the world - recreated him. Readers of this book are invited to explore Shakespeare’s afterlife on the stage and the screen, in poetry, fiction, music, and dance, as well as in cultural life and literary criticism. A series of concise introductory essays are here combined with personal reflections written by prominent contemporary practitioners of the arts. At once a celebration and a reflection, this unique book explores Shakespeare as a global cultural figure who continues to inspire artists, audiences and readers around the world.