It takes the work of so many people to make such a beautiful volume happen, and I feel impossibly lucky that I’ve had the good fortune to have the excellent team at Flatiron behind me for not one but two of these amazing collections. Thank you once again to my wonderful, insightful dream of an editor, Sarah Barley; her fabulous assistant, Sydney Jeon; my amazing publicist, Cat Kenney, and publicity manager Chris Smith; the killer marketing team of Nancy Trypuc, Jordan Forney, and Katherine Turro, and copyediting/production team of Manu Velasco, Lauren Hougen, and Eva Diaz; audiobook producer extraordinaire Matie Argiropoulos; magnificent cover designer Jon Contino and art director Keith Hayes, who knocked it all the way out of the park once again; Devan Norman, who designed these absolutely beautiful pages; managing editor Emily Walters; and, of course, agent Victoria Marini and her assistant, Lee O’brien, for getting it into their capable hands.
To the contributors who poured their Shakespearean hearts and souls into this work—Kayla, Lily, Melissa, Patrice, A.R., Bri, A-M, Joy, Samantha, Kiersten, Emily, Austin, Lindsay, Tochi, Cory, and Mark—you have made the most incredible collection and I hope you love it and take as much pride in it as I do. Thank you for opening Shakespeare up to a wider audience in the very best, most brilliant, and most creative ways, and for trusting me with your work.
So much love and thanks to the friends (and agent Patricia Nelson) who keep me calm and guided through this and every process: Katherine Locke, Marieke Nijkamp, Maggie Hall, Emery Lord, Becky Albertalli, Tess Sharpe, Jess Cappelle, Sharon Morse, Candice Montgomery, Jessica Spotswood, Maxine Kaplan, Lev Rosen, Becca Podos, Sona Charaipotra, and too many more to name. Sasha, Barrie, and Liz—our monthly dinners turned weekly Zoom chats mean the world to me, and I am so lucky to have you in my life these past [More Decades Than I Care to Mention].
This book was largely written and edited during a global pandemic that changed the world as we know it in a million ways. It feels trite to thank all the medical professionals and essential personnel who kept everything going while I locked myself in my house for months, but I’m going to do it anyway: thank you. And thank you (as promised!) to *checks current name of WhatsApp group* Kind of a Big Deal [eggplant emoji] for kinship and sanity.
A huge debt of gratitude to all the bloggers, bookstagrammers, booktubers, booksellers, librarians, and teachers who helped both His Hideous Heart and this book find its readers, including but absolutely not limited to Rachel Strolle, Cody Roecker, the whole gang at Books of Wonder and East City Bookshop, Kimberly Gabriel, Eric Smith, Bethany Robison, Adriana M. Martínez, Amal El-Mohtar, Kate Welsh, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, and Bookish Valhalla.
Finally, to my family—you are all my adventures and happy endings. Thank you for everything.