Author Jo Nesbo to adapt Shakespeare's Macbeth

The Hogarth Shakespeare, a major international publishing initiative across the Penguin Random House Group, has commissioned Jo Nesbo – number one bestselling author of the Harry Hole thrillers – to retell Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most powerful tragedies.

Nesbo joins a line-up of novelists on the new Hogarth Shakespeare list, which sees contemporary authors retelling Shakespeare’s plays for a twenty-first century audience. 

Margaret Atwood has chosen The Tempest, Howard Jacobson The Merchant of Venice, Anne Tyler The Taming of the Shrew and Jeanette Winterson The Winter’s Tale. 

The series will launch in 2016 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. 

The novels will be published simultaneously across the English-speaking world in print, digital and audio formats.