Michelle Ephraim
@michelleephraim.bsky.social
Professor of English. Mom of 4. McSweeney's. Moth Radio Hour + Moth podcast. Author of GREEN WORLD: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare (Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction). Cohost, Everyday Shakespeare podcast. www.michelleephraim.com
Pinned
I'm delighted to announce that my memoir GREEN WORLD won the Wisconsin Library Association's 2025 Literary Award for Nonfiction! I had a blast in Madison at the award ceremony and spending time with dear friends! Plus the farmer's market at the Capitol (be still my heart!). @umasspress.bsky.social
Turns out that what I needed to write my book proposal was this configuration on the couch:
January 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Turns out that what I needed to write my book proposal was this configuration on the couch:
On our latest Everyday Shakespeare podcast episode, @carolinebicks.bsky.social and I talk #Hamnet, Shakespeare, grief, and how Ophelia is chronically misunderstood. We also venture into the no-no place that is purgatory in Protestant England. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
January 9, 2026 at 7:56 PM
On our latest Everyday Shakespeare podcast episode, @carolinebicks.bsky.social and I talk #Hamnet, Shakespeare, grief, and how Ophelia is chronically misunderstood. We also venture into the no-no place that is purgatory in Protestant England. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
No more, no more.
January 9, 2026 at 12:00 AM
No more, no more.
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
Hell is gonna run out of special places.
January 9, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Hell is gonna run out of special places.
On the last day of the semester, a student gifted me with some of the sketches he'd done during class. You know that kid who can simultaneously pay attention, contribute brilliantly to discussions, and doodle like a mad scientist? Love that.
December 28, 2025 at 3:26 PM
On the last day of the semester, a student gifted me with some of the sketches he'd done during class. You know that kid who can simultaneously pay attention, contribute brilliantly to discussions, and doodle like a mad scientist? Love that.
Quoting one of my students today: "This is the first time that Shakespeare has made sense to me."
I needed that smile, thanks. ❤️
I needed that smile, thanks. ❤️
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Quoting one of my students today: "This is the first time that Shakespeare has made sense to me."
I needed that smile, thanks. ❤️
I needed that smile, thanks. ❤️
💔
Heartbreaking and horrifying to go to bed reading about the mass shooting at Brown University and wake up to read about the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. Thinking of the victims, their loved ones, and those affected by the hate that drove these attacks.
December 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
💔
Well, this happened last night! SOLD OUT event @westnewtoncinema.bsky.social: Hamnet, followed by my post-show conversation with Stephen Greenblatt. Tears, laughter, Shakespeare, and a wonderful showing of family and friends. Thank you, @newtonvillebooks.bsky.social!
December 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Well, this happened last night! SOLD OUT event @westnewtoncinema.bsky.social: Hamnet, followed by my post-show conversation with Stephen Greenblatt. Tears, laughter, Shakespeare, and a wonderful showing of family and friends. Thank you, @newtonvillebooks.bsky.social!
Spoiler alert: This might ruin William Carlos Williams' "This Is Just to Say" for you.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
Jeffrey Epstein helped broker a major gift for Larry Summers’ wife. She said it ‘changed everything’ for her at Harvard. - The Boston Globe
In response to Globe questions, Harvard announced a new review of those with university ties who are also mentioned in the recently released Epstein emails.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Spoiler alert: This might ruin William Carlos Williams' "This Is Just to Say" for you.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...
OMG! I wanted to share my new personal website: michelleephraim.com
Check out my essay on how doing The Moth gave me some insight into the craft of memoir writing.
Thank you, @authorbytes.com, for nailing it.
Check out my essay on how doing The Moth gave me some insight into the craft of memoir writing.
Thank you, @authorbytes.com, for nailing it.
Home - Michelle Ephraim
A hilarious and heartbreaking story of one young woman's quest to become a Shakespeare scholar and to find community and home.
michelleephraim.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
OMG! I wanted to share my new personal website: michelleephraim.com
Check out my essay on how doing The Moth gave me some insight into the craft of memoir writing.
Thank you, @authorbytes.com, for nailing it.
Check out my essay on how doing The Moth gave me some insight into the craft of memoir writing.
Thank you, @authorbytes.com, for nailing it.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
– Sonnet 116
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
– Sonnet 116
November 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
– Sonnet 116
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
– Sonnet 116
Boston-area friends! On SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th I will be @westnewtoncinema.bsky.social discussing the film HAMNET with Harvard University professor Stephen Greenblatt!! Our conversation will follow the 2:00 pm film showing.
Tickets available here: www.westnewtoncinema.com/movie/behind...
Tickets available here: www.westnewtoncinema.com/movie/behind...
www.westnewtoncinema.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Boston-area friends! On SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th I will be @westnewtoncinema.bsky.social discussing the film HAMNET with Harvard University professor Stephen Greenblatt!! Our conversation will follow the 2:00 pm film showing.
Tickets available here: www.westnewtoncinema.com/movie/behind...
Tickets available here: www.westnewtoncinema.com/movie/behind...
I'm delighted to announce that my memoir GREEN WORLD won the Wisconsin Library Association's 2025 Literary Award for Nonfiction! I had a blast in Madison at the award ceremony and spending time with dear friends! Plus the farmer's market at the Capitol (be still my heart!). @umasspress.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I'm delighted to announce that my memoir GREEN WORLD won the Wisconsin Library Association's 2025 Literary Award for Nonfiction! I had a blast in Madison at the award ceremony and spending time with dear friends! Plus the farmer's market at the Capitol (be still my heart!). @umasspress.bsky.social
I'm excited to talk w/the brilliant Karen Kirsten about her memoir Irena’s Gift @brandeisuniversity.bsky.social! One reviewer calls it “a cross between a noir WWII mystery and a Shakespearean drama,” so, wow, there's that.
Monday 11/10, 6-7:30 pm. Register (free!): www.brandeis.edu/.../fall.../...
Monday 11/10, 6-7:30 pm. Register (free!): www.brandeis.edu/.../fall.../...
November 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I'm excited to talk w/the brilliant Karen Kirsten about her memoir Irena’s Gift @brandeisuniversity.bsky.social! One reviewer calls it “a cross between a noir WWII mystery and a Shakespearean drama,” so, wow, there's that.
Monday 11/10, 6-7:30 pm. Register (free!): www.brandeis.edu/.../fall.../...
Monday 11/10, 6-7:30 pm. Register (free!): www.brandeis.edu/.../fall.../...
Cocktails? Murder mysteries? SHAKESPEARE??!!!! This is all of my favorite things, @folger.edu.
Why are libraries the site of so many murder mysteries?! ☠️ Aspiring detectives can find out during "Death Between the Pages," a murder mystery inspired by the Folger collection! Work in teams to examine clues, uncover historical artifacts, and solve the mystery. www.folger.edu/whats-on/dea...
Death Between The Pages | Folger Shakespeare Library
Death Between the Pages is a murder mystery inspired by the Folger collection that takes place in the Reading Room. Work in teams to examine clues, uncover additional historical artifacts, and solve t...
www.folger.edu
October 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Cocktails? Murder mysteries? SHAKESPEARE??!!!! This is all of my favorite things, @folger.edu.
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:32 PM
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
"JULIUS X invites the audience to bear witness and to take part in the struggle for equality and the dream of a better tomorrow," says DC Theater Arts. Read the full review: dctheaterarts.org/2025/09/30/j...
‘Julius X’ at Folger fuses Shakespeare with life and death of Malcolm X
The searing production magnifies collective struggles and unearths individual conflict within two parallel tragedies, creating a wholly new story for our times.
dctheaterarts.org
October 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
"JULIUS X invites the audience to bear witness and to take part in the struggle for equality and the dream of a better tomorrow," says DC Theater Arts. Read the full review: dctheaterarts.org/2025/09/30/j...
Shonen Knife at The Middle East/Sonia in Cambridge on Saturday night. I was obsessed with them in high school. Absolutely amazing.
September 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Shonen Knife at The Middle East/Sonia in Cambridge on Saturday night. I was obsessed with them in high school. Absolutely amazing.
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
Charlie Kirk called me a ‘lunatic’ and a ‘prostitute’ and demanded I be deported.
Nothing, *nothing*, justifies killing him, or robbing his kids of their dad.
We don’t know the identity or motive of the shooter but murder can *never* be the response to political disagreements.
Nothing, *nothing*, justifies killing him, or robbing his kids of their dad.
We don’t know the identity or motive of the shooter but murder can *never* be the response to political disagreements.
September 10, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Charlie Kirk called me a ‘lunatic’ and a ‘prostitute’ and demanded I be deported.
Nothing, *nothing*, justifies killing him, or robbing his kids of their dad.
We don’t know the identity or motive of the shooter but murder can *never* be the response to political disagreements.
Nothing, *nothing*, justifies killing him, or robbing his kids of their dad.
We don’t know the identity or motive of the shooter but murder can *never* be the response to political disagreements.
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
"Our struggling state-funded university would really, really like to hire an assistant professor of mathematics. The new faculty start-up package includes $27 in Yankee Candle Company coupons and whatever our retiring professor leaves in her desk."
Honest Academic Job Postings
English department seeks a tenure-track assistant professor specializing in Shakespeare, Romanticism, Victorianism, modernism, post-modernism, post...
buff.ly
September 9, 2025 at 1:31 PM
"Our struggling state-funded university would really, really like to hire an assistant professor of mathematics. The new faculty start-up package includes $27 in Yankee Candle Company coupons and whatever our retiring professor leaves in her desk."
This is quite the review. I love that Chloe Zhao nailed it and then some. #Hamnet
www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...
www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...
‘Hamnet’ Review: Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley Rip the Heart Right Out of Your Body in Chloé Zhao’s Unspeakably Devastating Shakespeare Fanfic
Chloé Zhao turns the imagined story of how Shakespeare wrote "Hamlet" into a nuclear-grade tear-jerker.
www.indiewire.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This is quite the review. I love that Chloe Zhao nailed it and then some. #Hamnet
www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...
www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...
It's every Shakespeare professor's dream to have a kid going to @bardcollege.bsky.social amiright?
August 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
It's every Shakespeare professor's dream to have a kid going to @bardcollege.bsky.social amiright?
Reposted by Michelle Ephraim
I really needed this today.
Ayanna Thompson sent me a link to this jaw-dropping thing they built with a Mellon grant at @acmrs.bsky.social
You can get lost in it.
A spectacular reminder that digital resources don't have to be about surveillance, coercion, & disciplining the labor force.
Ayanna Thompson sent me a link to this jaw-dropping thing they built with a Mellon grant at @acmrs.bsky.social
You can get lost in it.
A spectacular reminder that digital resources don't have to be about surveillance, coercion, & disciplining the labor force.
Throughlines — Race in the premodern classroom
Created by field-leading scholars, Throughlines’ pedagogical approaches offer accessible and critical ways to incorporate discussions of race in the premodern studies classroom.
www.throughlines.org
August 5, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I really needed this today.
Ayanna Thompson sent me a link to this jaw-dropping thing they built with a Mellon grant at @acmrs.bsky.social
You can get lost in it.
A spectacular reminder that digital resources don't have to be about surveillance, coercion, & disciplining the labor force.
Ayanna Thompson sent me a link to this jaw-dropping thing they built with a Mellon grant at @acmrs.bsky.social
You can get lost in it.
A spectacular reminder that digital resources don't have to be about surveillance, coercion, & disciplining the labor force.