Shakespeare & Beyond
New ideas for summer reading
Explore great Shakespeare-related ideas for summer reading from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s online book club, blogs, and podcast.
Earle Hyman: An actor makes history
Explore photos, stories, and a video to learn more about actor Earle Hyman, whose bust is in the Folger’s Shakespeare Exhibition Hall.
A memorable Macbeth: Setting the Scottish play in 19th-century Haiti
Read about the 1936 “voodoo Macbeth” in this excerpt from The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War by James Shapiro.
How do Shakespeare’s characters react when they lose family or love?
Stephen Greenblatt explores this question in this excerpt from Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud, a book co-authored with Adam Phillips.
Judi Dench's take on Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
What’s going through Viola’s head as she woos Olivia on Orsino’s behalf? Dame Judi Dench reflects on this key scene in this excerpt from her newly published book.
A ballad for Titus Andronicus
Listen to a ballad that was written around 1594 as a spin-off of Titus Andronicus, the revenge tragedy that’s considered one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest and most violent plays.
Q&A: Madeline Sayet on "Where We Belong," Shakespeare, and Indigenous writers
“Things don’t just happen. Everything around us was actually created intentionally at some point in time, right? So in order to break down systemic oppression, you really have to look at how things were constructed.”
The African Company and Black Shakespeare in 1820s New York
Joyce Green MacDonald is the author of this excerpt from The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Race, a collection of essays edited by Patricia Akhimie.
Excerpt: "Shakespeare's House"
“When it came to Elizabethan furniture, you could never be completely certain that it wasn’t bewitched,” writes Richard Schoch.
The education of Henry VIII
How did Henry VIII’s childhood and education help shape him into the king he would become? This excerpt from Hunting the Falcon offers some intriguing insights.
Holiday gift guide: Shop the Folger
Use our guide to find the perfect present for the loved ones in your life: the writer, the artist, the new parent, the book lover, the puzzle enthusiast, and more.
Quiz: How well do you know "The Winter's Tale"?
Test your knowledge of this Shakespeare play.