Inspired by Shakespeare

Who was Lambert Simnel—the boy who nearly claimed the Tudor throne? Author Jo Harkin explores royal ambition, historical memory, and the fine line between fact and fiction in her new novel The Pretender.

Judith Shakespeare’s untold story comes to life in The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter. Tiffany imagines Judith’s journey through rebellion and scandal in a world of political upheaval and Puritan rule. Explore the history, fiction, and legacy of Shakespeare’s daughter.

How does King Lear resonate in a world reshaped by climate change? Julia Armfield’s Private Rites, set in a flooded London, explores inheritance, power, and queerness amid disaster. Longlisted for the 2024 Climate Fiction Prize, she shares how Shakespeare influences her work.

What if Gertrude had more power than we thought? What if Ophelia’s fate wasn’t sealed? Playwright Lauren Gunderson reclaims the voices of Hamlet’s women in A Room in the Castle, a sharp, feminist reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

In her If Shakespeare Were an Auntie trilogy, Nisha Sharma reimagines The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night as contemporary romances in the South Asian diaspora.

Actor Colman Domingo takes us behind the scenes of the making of his new film, Sing Sing, the inspiring true story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the maximum security prison.

The contemporary artist reflects on his new piece for the Folger’s Shakespeare Exhibition and how his work uses museums’ collections to explore their histories.

Isabelle Schuler tells us about her new novel, Queen Hereafter.

Hit musical & Juliet combines Romeo and Juliet with the songs of pop hitmaker Max Martin. Writer and executive producer David West Read (Schitt’s Creek) tells us about how the idea came to him while he was concussed.

Lolita Chakrabarti on writing the Shakespeare family, puppet kestrels, Ira Aldridge, and adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet for the stage.

Theater-maker and past Folger Fellow Debra Ann Byrd tells us about her solo show.

Talene Monahon’s play Jane Anger was inspired by the pandemic and a radical 16th-century proto-feminist pamphlet.