William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23.
No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio..
He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.
In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613.
His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609.
In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen , and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece .
Here many of Shakespeare\'s plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin.
In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain\'s Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River.
Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain\'s Men (later under James I, called the King\'s Men).
A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers.
By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright.
Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585.
She was born on May 26, 1583.
In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna.
William probably went to the King\'s New School in Stratford, but he had no university education.
He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community.
The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23
