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The world's largest Shakespeare collection - plus, home to Folger Theatre, Consort, Poetry, Exhibitions, Research, Education, and more!
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Recreation of an 1805 London museum exhibit that helped shape the enduring narrative about Shakespeare and British culture. Click the link to read the Picture This Post review--

@folger.edu @shakespeare.lol #DCMuseums #DCArt #DCTheater #Shakespeare #Paintings #PictureThisPostMuseums #theater #art
Folger Shakespeare Library Presents Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling - Preview
A spokesperson describes the event as follows: “...The exhibition presents fourteen paintings from the Folger’s collection that were originally displayed t
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November 10, 2025 at 7:54 PM
On the blog, @austintichenor.bsky.social shares threes takes on "Macbeth" that focus on the human struggle within the tragedy in new and unexpected ways, including a production at the @the-rsc.bsky.social, a novel about Lady Macbeth, and a film for streaming.

www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
"I'm Lovin' It": Variations on Macbeth | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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November 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, which went on sale to the public on November 8, 1623, changing the course of English drama and literature. But what is a First Folio and why does it matter? www.folger.edu/explore/shak...
Shakespeare First Folio | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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November 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Imprisoned for nearly 20 years by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, fought her battles through words, sending and receiving coded letters. Historian Jade Scott @huntingrebels.bsky.social uncovers the human and political depths behind Mary’s captivity: www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...
Mary, Queen of Scots, with Jade Scott | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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November 6, 2025 at 5:35 PM
New on the blog! In an excerpt from Sir Anthony Hopkin's long-awaited memoir "We Did Ok, Kid," he talks about the fateful Saturday night as a boy when he say Olivier's 1948 adaptation of "Hamlet" and the film sparked his passion for acting: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Anthony Hopkins' first brush with Shakespeare | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Imagine you’re on a wooden ship in the early modern period. The sounds of the world at sea surround you. Wait, is that a TRUMPET? As unexpected as it might be, musicians were a huge part of life at sea in the early modern period. But what were they doing there? www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
Musicians on ships in Early Modern Europe | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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November 4, 2025 at 4:56 PM
The Folger Consort returns this week with a first-ever collaboration with Folger Poetry! Ahead of "Virtuosos of Violin and Verse" (Nov 7-9), we asked our musicians, what's your favorite modern song that feels like it could have been an early modern hit? 🎵 Consort tix: www.folger.edu/whats-on/vir...
November 3, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Director Les Kurbas's 1920 "Macbeth" was the first production of a Shakespeare play in Ukraine. Scholar Irena Makaryk talks about his work and the role that Shakespeare and theater played in Ukrainian culture, the Russian Empire, and the early Soviet Union: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Pioneering Shakespeare in Ukraine | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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October 31, 2025 at 1:40 PM
If you're in or around Capitol Hill this Halloween, stop by the Folger for some trick-or-treating. 🎃 👻 🍫 You can check out a full calendar of events at the Folger by visiting www.folger.edu/whats-on/
October 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Decorated papers are a familiar sight in the Folger collection, typically used as embellishment in or on books. What can we learn from these designs? What do they tell us about the early modern book trade? More on The Collation: www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
A Closer Look at Paste Papers with Folger Conservators | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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October 28, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Just in time for Halloween, we're talking poisons on the blog! ☠️ What do we know about the historical reality of Aqua Tofana and other stories of women wielding poisons? The truth is very little, but the myths are just as telling as the reality. www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
"One drop to heal, three drops to kill": Women and early modern poison | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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October 27, 2025 at 6:25 PM
St. Crispin's Day is right around the corner (tomorrow, October 25). We take a look at what it is and how Shakespeare shaped its legacy: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Saint Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Why are libraries the site of so many murder mysteries?! ☠️ Aspiring detectives can find out during "Death Between the Pages," a murder mystery inspired by the Folger collection! Work in teams to examine clues, uncover historical artifacts, and solve the mystery. www.folger.edu/whats-on/dea...
Death Between The Pages | Folger Shakespeare Library
Death Between the Pages is a murder mystery inspired by the Folger collection that takes place in the Reading Room. Work in teams to examine clues, uncover additional historical artifacts, and solve t...
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October 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Our director, Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, is giving a virtual talk with Theater J this Sunday, October 26 at 11 am! Sign up by the end of the day on Saturday to join her in a lively conversation about what Shakespeare means to us in 2025. Register: www.edcjcc.org/theater-j/sh...
Multiculturalism in Shakespeare: A Conversation with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper - Theater J
Sunday, October 26, 2025 11:00AM - 12:30PM
www.edcjcc.org
October 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Congratulations to the cast and creative team of "Julius X" for being Helen Hayes Recommended! 🥳 Time is running out to catch this phenomenal new play. See it only through October 26! 🎫 : folger.edu/juliusx

📷 : The cast of Folger Theatre's "Julius X," 2025. Photography by Erika Nizborski.
October 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Spooky season is Shakespeare season 👻 Challenge yourself with our haunting quiz about the phantoms and apparitions in Shakespeare's plays. www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Quiz: Ghosts in Shakespeare's plays | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
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October 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
You may know Anthony Burgess as the author of "A Clockwork Orange," but did you know he was also a prominent commentator on Shakespeare's life? More from @thurleyc.bsky.social on our Collation blog: www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...
Anthony Burgess and Shakespeare | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The Folger Book Club pick for November is "You Dreamed of Empires" by Álvaro Enrigue. Pick up this revelatory revenge story about Hernán Cortés entry into the city of Tenochtitla (today's Mexico City) and join us to talk about it on Thu, Nov 6 at 6:30 pm! www.folger.edu/whats-on/fol...
Folger Book Club: 'You Dreamed of Empires' by Álvaro Enrigue | Folger Shakespeare Library
The book club explores the 1519 meeting between Cortés and Moctezuma, presenting a hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story.
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October 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
"Julius Caesar" serves as inspiration for two new productions: "Julius X" by Al Letson, which reimagines the last days of Malcolm X through the structure of Shakespeare’s tragedy; and "Rome Sweet Rome," a hip hop “add-rap-tation” by the Q Brothers Collective:
www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Lend them your ears: Julius Caesar reimagined | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 15, 2025 at 2:41 PM
For the final days of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, scholar Carla Della Gatta looks at the growth of Latinx-inspired Shakespeare productions in the US beginning with "West Side Story" on Broadway in 1957.

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Latinx Shakespeares of the 20th century | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 14, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Shakespeare's plays are filled with unforgettable women—but too often, their voices are cut short. On the podcast, acclaimed actor Dame Harriet Walter talks about her book, "She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said": www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...
Harriet Walter: New Words for Shakespeare's Women | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
"Julius X" is on stage now, so of course we're thinking about "Julius Caesar." Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper explores the impact of one of its most famous moments, Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech.
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Shakespeare Short Take - "Julius Caesar"
YouTube video by FolgerLibrary
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October 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Folger Artist Fellow Elise Ansel shares how her questions about Henry Fuseli's take on Shakespeare's "Macbeth" inspired her to create two abstract, large-scale oil paintings but this time from a woman's perspective that celebrate the play's sisterhood: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Artist Elise Ansel Reimagines Macbeth | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 7, 2025 at 6:28 PM
The first track on Taylor Swift’s new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," is “The Fate of Ophelia”… which got us thinking, well, what is the fate of Ophelia? And why can’t we stop writing, painting, and singing about her?

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The fate of Ophelia | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
October 6, 2025 at 1:38 PM