Welcome

Founded in 1864, the German Shakespeare Society is one of the oldest literary societies in Europe, if not in the world. That same year, the Society established the Shakespeare Library, which today holds around 10,000 volumes and forms an integral part of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek. The Society brings together everyone interested in William Shakespeare’s works, encouraging engagement with his writing in all its aspects, especially in the German-speaking countries. It maintains close partnership with academia, schools and artistic practice.

Every April, the Society hosts the “Shakespeare Days” – usually alternating between Bochum and Weimar -, alongside the Shakespeare Academy for students and doctoral candidates. Throughout the year, we also organise autumn conferences, study days, teacher training courses, and workshops at various locations. The peer-reviewed Shakespeare Yearbook publishes latest research on Shakespeare.

Further publications include the English-German study edition, the Shakespeare Seminar Online and a perpetual calendar Florilegium Shakespeareanum.

The Shakespeare Scholarship, which is awarded in cooperation with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, enables doctoral students to spend a research stay in Weimar and thus supports dissertation projects in the field of Shakespeare studies. The Shakespeare Foundation awards the Martin Lehnert Prize annually and the Shakespeare Prize every two years.

A BBC Radio 4 contribution, which involved, inter alia, members of the German Shakespeare Society, outlines the significance of Shakespeare for the German-speaking region: Shakespeare is German.

Further information on our events, current calls for submissions and publications can be found here on our website as well as information on (gift) membership, our sponsors and partners, as well as on ways to support projects of the Shakespeare Society through donations.