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Esther French

Esther French is the Digital Managing Editor at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Quiz: Shakespeare's fathers (and their children)
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Shakespeare's fathers (and their children)

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Esther French

Shakespeare’s Fathers   Which Shakespeare characters (fathers or their children) speak these lines? A daughter’s love   “Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, loved me. I return those duties back as are right fit: Obey you, love…

50 episodes and counting: Shakespeare Unlimited podcast explores race, imperialism, magic, music, Star Wars, and more
Shakespeare and Beyond

50 episodes and counting: Shakespeare Unlimited podcast explores race, imperialism, magic, music, Star Wars, and more

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Esther French

The Shakespeare Unlimited podcast connects Shakespeare and his plays with our world today through interviews with actors, directors, and scholars—but also with astronomers, a conservator, and a professional magician, among others. The 50th episode, which deals with race, Othello, and how…

The Elizabethan Garden: 11 plants Shakespeare would have known well
Elizabethan Garden
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Elizabethan Garden: 11 plants Shakespeare would have known well

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Esther French

The text for this blog post is adapted from an article in the Summer 2009 issue of Folger Magazine. Shakespeare, who grew up in a riverside country town and was the grandchild of prosperous farmers, refers with familiarity to an extraordinary number of plants…

The perfect Shakespeare-inspired cocktails for summer: Juliet’s Emoji-to and Caliban's Wrong Island Iced Tea from 'Shakespeare, Not Stirred'
Shakespeare and Beyond

The perfect Shakespeare-inspired cocktails for summer: Juliet’s Emoji-to and Caliban's Wrong Island Iced Tea from 'Shakespeare, Not Stirred'

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Esther French

Mix your own drinks with recipes inspired by Shakespeare characters! Two professors combined their love of cocktails with their love of Shakespeare to create Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas, a collection of recipes with names like “Kate’s…

War and America's Shakespeare
American soldier in Vietnam
Shakespeare and Beyond

War and America's Shakespeare

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Esther French

“Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear.” Quoting from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Abigail Adams praised the courage of the militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill in a letter to her husband, John Adams, in 1775. From the…

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Hawaii, West Virginia, and North Carolina
Shakespeare and Beyond

Follow the First Folio tour! Updates from Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Hawaii, West Virginia, and North Carolina

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Esther French

(Photo Credit: Tulane School of Liberal Arts) Tulane University welcomed the First Folio to its city earlier this month in true New Orleans style: Dr. Michael White and the Liberty Brass Band led a jazz funeral for Shakespeare, followed by a…

Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?

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Esther French

America’s ShakespeareHow well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?The Booth BrothersLess than a year before John Wilkes Booth became infamous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, he and two of his brothers (normally onstage rivals) teamed up for a…

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career
Shakespeare and Beyond

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career

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Esther French

That’s a hot ticket! (Photo Credit: Library of Congress) Can you feel the feverish excitement in the air? This photograph from April 14, 1936, shows the crowded streets outside the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on opening night for the Federal Theatre…

Creating Shakespeare's First Folio
First Folio
Shakespeare and Beyond

Creating Shakespeare's First Folio

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Esther French

A First Folio at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Photo by Lloyd Wolf. Imagine a world without Macbeth, Twelfth Night, or Julius Caesar. We likely wouldn’t have half of Shakespeare’s plays without the First Folio. Who was responsible for making this book,…

The Wonder of Will Live: Hear from Kal Penn, Justice Stephen Breyer, and other presenters
The Wonder of Will Live
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Wonder of Will Live: Hear from Kal Penn, Justice Stephen Breyer, and other presenters

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Esther French

What better way to pay tribute to the world’s greatest storyteller than with stories, Folger Director Michael Witmore said as he welcomed the audience to a special event commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death on April 23, The Wonder…

Shakespeare's birthday party
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's birthday party

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Esther French

William Shakespeare entered and exited the world on the same date: April 23. This past weekend, the Folger Shakespeare Library commemorated the 400th anniversary of his death (1616-2016), but we also threw him a big birthday party as we do every year.…

Celebrating Shakespeare at 400
Shakespeare and Beyond

Celebrating Shakespeare at 400

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Esther French

The Wonder of Will Live Watch the live broadcast of The Wonder of Will Live on Saturday, April 23, at noon EDT, on C-SPAN2’s Book TV or streaming online. Hear Shakespeare stories from Kal Penn, Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen…

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