Robin Patricia Williams (born 1953) is an American educator and writer of computer-related books. She is particularly known for her manuals of styleThe Mac is Not a Typewriter and The Non-Designer's Design Book, as well as numerous manuals for various Mac OS operating systems and applications, including The Little Mac Book.[1]
Williams is an author, college instructor, lecturer, and leads The Understanders,[3] a Shakespeare discussion and reading group. She has been a leader in New Mexico computer-related organizations[4][5][6] and The Mary Sidney Society.[7]
She is married to John Tollett[8] and has three children.[2]
Writings
An autodidact,[citation needed] she has written, designed, indexed, and produced more than fifty computer-related books,[1] translated into twenty-three languages.[citation needed]
Williams spent years studying William Shakespeare,[9] and in 2006 issued her book Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?[10] in which she proposed the writer Mary Sidney as a candidate in the Shakespearean authorship question. She also teaches Shakespeare and leads The Understanders' 16-week discussion groups about individual plays.[3]
The first question I am asked by curious freshmen in my Shakespeare course is always, "Who wrote these plays anyway?" Now, because of Robin Williams' rigorous scholarship and artful sleuthing, Mary Sidney Herbert will forever have to be mentioned as a possible author of the Shakespeare canon. Sweet Swan of Avon doesn't pretend to put the matter to rest, but simply shows how completely reasonable the authorship controversy is, and how the idea of a female playwright surprisingly answers more Shakespearean conundrums than it creates....