Inspired by Shakespeare

In an excerpt from Grace Tiffany’s imaginative novel, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter, we meet Judith Shakespeare at age 61, a midwife-apothecary in war-torn 17th-century England on the run to avoid arrest for witchcraft.

To commemorate Black History Month, we’re sharing interviews with acclaimed Black theater artists—actors, directors, playwrights—and scholars about performing and adapting Shakespeare, then and now.

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.

Austin Tichenor discovers the TV series Shakespeare & Hathaway, which features former police detective Frank Hathaway teaming up with amateur sleuth Luella Shakespeare to solve crimes in—where else?—Stratford-upon-Avon.

Enjoy our top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts from 2024. Happy reading!

Scenes of winter in the Folger collection, from snowy outdoor scenes to fashionable illustrations to mentions of winter in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

The end of the year brings feasts, celebrations, and family. Our reading list of Folger Book Club picks offers a wide range of ways to reflect on the ties that bind us.

Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello interviews director, Brenna Corner, about Verdi’s opera inspired by Macbeth.

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.