You stay classic: Five ways to brush up on your Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s legacy, on the 400th anniversary of his death, is being commemorated with books, events and, of course, productions. A small sampling: WORLDS ELSEWHERE: JOURNEYS AROUND SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE (Henry Holt, April 5)

Journalist and scholar Andrew Dickson uses historical records to examine how Shakespeare’s work became a global phenomenon, finding resonance in a wide array of countries and cultures and inspiring fascination in figures as disparate as Joseph Goebbels and Nelson Mandela. FIRST FOLIO! THE BOOK THAT GAVE US SHAKESPEARE TOUR In January, Washington’s Folger Shakespeare Library began taking a selection of its 82 First Folios — books of 36 plays assembled in 1623, among them 18 that had not been published elsewhere — on a tour of the USA. The official site lists dates and locations. SHAKESPEARE 400 CHICAGO For those who live in or can travel to Chicago, the theaterrich city is celebrating Shakespeare with 850 events at 120 sites, ranging from a “culinary complete works” program in which top chefs present dishes inspired by plays to Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Battle of the Bard,” a high school Shakespeare slam. KING AND COUNTRY: SHAKESPEARE’S GREAT CYCLE OF KINGS The Brooklyn Academy of Music is welcoming the Royal Shakespeare Company for a six-week residency (through May 1) featuring the politically charged cycle of Richard II,

Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V. Related events will include classes, talks and a visual art display (from Folger Shakespeare Library). SHYLOCK IS MY NAME (Hogarth)

In his new novel, Man Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson re-imagines one of Shakespeare’s most provocative and controversial characters, from The Merchant of

Venice — reminding us that Shakespeare’s plays remain relevant and ripe for discovery four centuries on.