A Midsummer Day’s Dream

Donna Fletcher Crow @DonnaFletcherCr

I first heard of the Ashland [Oregon] Shakespeare Festival in the mid-1960s when some of my fellow drama students at the college I was attending in Idaho spent the summer as interns at the festival. I recall that one budding actor spent his entire summer carrying a banner on and off stage in one of the historical plays. Even attending the festival seemed like an adventure beyond dreams.

We fulfilled that dream four or five years later, when my husband and I returned to the west after graduate school (for him) and teaching (for me) in New England. We managed time to make the pilgrimage to Ashland and were totally captivated by this small town nestled in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains that was completely given over to Shakespeare and all things Elizabethan.

For many years thereafter a summer trek to the Shakespeare festival was a yearly event. For a few years we hired babysitters so we could take our growing family (eventually 4 children) with us and still attend all the plays on offer. When the children were old enough, we took them to the plays, too. Early education that has led to lifetime appreciation for all of them.

In those days it was “Stay 4 days, see 5 plays.” Even that left one’s head whirling. Today the schedule offers ten plays, with often 3 or more on the boards every day.

The classic outdoor Elizabethan stage began life in 1893 as a Chautauqua Arena and its ivy-covered walls still surround the theatre.

Beautiful Lithia Park is behind the theatre and spreads for miles along a babbling stream into the mountains.

The festival also has the state-of-the-art Angus Bowmer Theatre, named for the energetic young drama teacher at Southern Oregon Normal School (now Southern Oregon University) who founded the festival in 1935. There is also a smaller, more flexible performing space in the Thomas Theatre.

Through the years my husband and I have attended Shakespeare performances in England, Canada and many venues in the States, but we never tire of returning to Ashland where the dream is re-ignited every season by actors, directors, technicians and young interns who may spend the summer carrying banners.

It was a natural, then, that when I came to write my Elizabeth and Richard literary suspense series based on my favorite authors that Shakespeare would be one of my first. AMidsummer Eve’s Nightmare was first published in in 2010 (although written in 1992—the history of many novels often wanders, too). It has just been re-released in an all-new edition.

And so the story goes on. The love of literature and the dreams it creates never die; they are born anew in each generation and in each reader.

You can see all of Donna Fletcher Crow's books and more photos in her Research Albums on her website

Wandering Wednesday Rudyard Kipling in America

by Donna Fletcher Crow @donnafletchercr

One of the most things I enjoy most about writing my Elizabeth and Richard literary suspense series is exploring the lives, works and homes of the literary figures that serve as background to my literature professor sleuths’ adventures.

Rudyard Kipling is among the literary greats Elizabeth and Richard explore in my recent release The Flame Ignites. This is the first book in the series and tells of their stormy first meeting in a blazing redgold autumn in New England.

Elizabeth is researching her PhD thesis on the beloved American novelist Elswyth Thane who knew Kipling well years after he had abandoned his Vermont home and gone back to England.

But Kipling’s home Naulakha is still there, riding like “a ship a-sail on a hillside,” as Kipling himself said.

The property belonged to the Balestier family, brothers of Kipling’s wife Caroline, and one of the brothers served as Kipling’s literary agent for a while.  Kipling’s time in America was very productive. He wrote The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book, most of the stories in The Day’s Work, and Captains Courageous at Naulakha. I like to think that the view from his study aided his creativity.

Unfortunately, the Kiplings left after only four years, due to a family squabble over the use of some of the land. They returned to America about three years later, but not to Naulakha. Perhaps they had it in mind to return to their home, but Kipling and their older daughter, Josephine, got terribly sick on the crossing. Josephine died, so they sold the house and the family returned to England.

Donna Fletcher Crow is passionate about English history and loves telling the stories of the men and women who have shaped the world we live in. She is the author of some 50 books including the award-winning Arthurian epic Glastonbury, The Novel of Christian England. She currently authors three mystery series: Lord Danvers Investigates, The Monastery Murders, and The Elizabeth and Richard Literary Suspense.

Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 14 grandchildren. She loves gardening and reading. Research is one of her favorite parts of writing. She tries never to set a book in a place she hasn’t visited. You can see pictures from her garden and research trips on her website and follow her on Facebook at Donna Fletcher Crow, Novelist of British History.