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Welcome to the Folger

Enjoy great stories  |  Explore what makes you curious  |  Share the best in art, history, and literature with friends and family at the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.

Our building is reopening this fall!

What’s on

Discover what’s playing and on exhibit, both on the road and virtually, including our Searching for Shakespeare: Celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare’s First Folio festival in April.

Pass the Story On: Shakespeare’s First Folio at 400
Two children looking at an open First Folio in an exhibition case

Pass the Story On: Shakespeare’s First Folio at 400

Come see a First Folio — the book that gave us Shakespeare — and explore how some stories are preserved while others are lost.
Sat, Apr 01 — Sun, Apr 30, 2023
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
The Bard, the Griot, and the Hip Hop Tradition
Black man speaking into a microphone

The Bard, the Griot, and the Hip Hop Tradition

Actor, writer, and musician Malik Work leads this interactive workshop designed to unveil the tools of theater and storytelling.
Sat, Apr 01 — Thu, Apr 06, 2023
Multiple venues
Words! Words! Words!

Words! Words! Words!

Get ready to shout, whisper, and laugh as you play with compliments and insults from the worlds of Shakespeare, Go-Go, and punk.
Sat, April 1, 2023, 12pm
MLK Jr Memorial Library
Night view of the Folger Shakespeare Library with the U.S. Capitol building in the background

Our collection

Shakespeare’s works

View the full list of plays and poems to read, search, and download our bestselling editions of Shakespeare’s works.

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Shakespeare’s most popular plays

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