Shakespeare & Beyond

The First Folio tour in Hawaii (April 25 – May 25, 2016). Image courtesy of Kapi’olani Community College. Shakespeare’s stories have inspired creative works in almost every genre and medium: countless novels, poems, plays, movies, songs, comic books, paintings and…

Are you a fan of YA novels? Young adult literature is booming right now, from contemporary sob-fests like The Fault in Our Stars to action adventure series like The Maze Runner. And with Shakespeare a staple of the high school classroom, it makes…

We’ve got nine Shakespeare-themed Christmas gift ideas for you, selected from the Folger shop and all under $20. Find something for your friend, your sibling, your favorite English teacher, or yourself! 1. A Shakespeare quotes mug Drink hot chocolate from a mug with…

Here’s a round-up of Shakespeare-related books, fiction and nonfiction, that are on our must-read list. Ira’s Shakespeare Dream Glenda Armand (author), Floyd Cooper (illustrator) This story of famed African-American actor Ira Aldridge, who believed he could be a great Shakespearean…

First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare opening reception at the Mead Art Museum. May 9, 2016. Photo by Maria Stenzel. On a typical book tour, authors travel to read from their work, sign copies, and give talks. But…

The First Folio tour is coming to an end! These are the last tour stops where the First Folio will be on display, after which the books will be returning home to the Folger Shakespeare Library, where they will join the…

By Esther Ferington The roles of early modern women in Shakespeare’s time—both the fictional characters in his plays and the real-life women of his era—have been central to many projects created by Georgianna Ziegler, Louis B. Thalheimer Associate Librarian and…

“Let the sky rain potatoes… I will shelter me here.” Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor is referring here to a food that had but recently arrived to England, but was already on its way to popularity. A team of Folger researchers…

The Folger is home to the largest collection of early modern western European recipe books in the United States, and a team of Folger researchers recently uncovered a very early European potato recipe in our archives. This recipe, “to make a…

In this special anniversary year for Shakespeare, the Folger has commissioned Caroline Shaw to compose a new vocal piece inspired by The Tempest. Shaw, who has toured with Kanye West and is the youngest person to win the Pulitzer Prize…

Soldiers returning home. Armies clashing in a bloody struggle for power. Government officials abusing their authority. These are the Shakespeare characters populating the post-election landscape at our theater partners around the U.S. this month. Henry VI Two of the Folger’s…

The word “girl” means different things to us today than it meant in the Middle Ages, and Shakespeare was writing at a time when that meaning was changing, as Deanne Williams of York University in Toronto explains on a recent episode…