Michelle Ephraim

Biography

Education: BA English and History Tufts University Magna Cum Laude 1991 MA English University of Wisconsin, Madison 1993 PhD English University of Wisconsin, Madison 1999 Michelle Ephraim is the Shakespeare scholar at WPI. She is the author of Reading the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage (Ashgate, 2008) as well as numerous articles on 16th- and 17th-century literature. Professor Ephraim also teaches writing courses: Short Story, Creative Non-Fiction, and Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy. Her essays have appeared in publications such as the Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Lilith, Tikkun, The Morning News, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her award-winning blog, Everyday Shakespeare, co-written with fellow Shakespearean Caroline Bicks (Associate Professor, Boston College), became the inspiration for their literary humor book, Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas (Penguin, 2015 and Scribe, 2015). Professor Ephraim and Shakespeare, Not Stirred have been featured in The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Guardian, WGBH Boston Public Radio, WBUR "Here and Now," The Huffington Post, The Improper Bostonian and other media venues. She has spoken widely on the topic of Shakespeare's relevance to modern life. Prof. Ephraim is represented by Allison Devereux at Wolf Literary. Ephraim is currently working on a book that combines Shakespeare scholarship and memoir. Praise for Reading the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage: “Anyone lucky enough to happen upon Michelle Ephraim’s 15 June 2008 article in the Washington Post, ‘Father’s Day with Shakespeare,’ a touching piece about using Shakespeare to cope with her own father’s passing, will unavoidably think of her as a deeply engaged writer with a keen ability to cut straight to the heart of even the messiest matter. Ephraim’s new book is characteristic…. This book is a must-have for anyone concerned with Shakespeare or early modern English performance. It is a must-have for feminist critics of theater and for those who are interested in representations of Jews onstage. Its clarity makes it useful for upper-division undergraduates, but its depth and breadth make it appropriate for a graduate seminar. All readers will find this book engrossing, a versatile bridge uniting many discourses of theatrical history and criticism.” (Comparative Drama 43.3)

Research Interest

Shakespeare; English Literature; Creative Writing; Jewish Studies; Women's Studies