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Daniel Hahn talks to Alex Clark

If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation

Hay Festival 2026, 

What does it mean to translate Shakespeare? When we change all the poetry, all the wordplay, all the syntax – all the words! – is it still Shakespeare? And is it still any good? Daniel Hahn, seasoned translator and Shakespeare enthusiast, will change the way you think about language itself.

Drawing on his new book If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, he ranges widely across Shakespeare’s works, and across the world’s languages, exploring why we choose the words we do and what effect they have. He talks to literary journalist Alex Clark.