2022: Tayari Jones
We Are All Witnesses To History: Socially Engaged Living as an Inspiration to Writers
2021: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Refugees, Language, and the Meaning of "America"
2021: Masha Gessen
Surviving Autocracy: Reckoning and Recovery
2020: Colson Whitehead
An Evening with Colson Whitehead, Jr.
2020: H.R. McMaster
An Evening with Lt. General H.R. McMaster
2019: The Hon. Jed S. Rakoff
"Big Problems With Our Criminal Justice System—and How To Fix Them"
2019: Nikki Giovanni
"A conversation with Nikki Giovanni"
2018: Valerie Jarrett
"A conversation with Valerie Jarrett"
2018: Robert Gates
"A conversation with Dr. Robert Gates"
2017: N. Scott Momaday
"The Crisis of Identity Facing Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples"
2017: Roz Chast
"An Evening with Roz Chast"
2016: Leonard Pitts Jr.
"An Evening With Leonard Pitts"
2016: Marlon James
"The Books That Made Me Write Books"
2016: Eric H. Holder Jr.
"Principled Leadership: The Courage to Face Challenge"
2015: Edwidge Danticat
"Create Dangerously"
2014: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
"Genealogy and Genetics"
2014: E.J. Dionne
"Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent"
2013: Junot Díaz
"An Evening With a Pulitzer Prize and New York Times Bestselling Author"
2013: Wole Soyinka
"Writing for Freedom"
2012: Robert Reich
"The Global Economy and the Future of Everything National"
2012: Carlos Fuentes
"From Law to Literature: A Personal Journey"
2011: Kay Redfield Jamison
"Minds on Fire: Mood Disorders and Creativity"
2011: Spike Lee
"America Through My Lens"
2009: Sherman Alexie
"Without Reservations: An Urban Indian’s Comic, Poetic, and Highly Irreverent Look at the World"
2009: Suzan-Lori Parks
"An Evening with Suzan-Lori Parks"
2008: Twyla Tharp
"The Creative Habit"
2008: Cory Booker
"An Evening with Cory Booker"
2007: David Brooks
"How Does Being American Shape Us?"
2007: Philip Glass
"An Evening with Philip Glass"
2006: Cornel West
"Democracy Matters"
2006: Edward Albee
"Improvisation and the Creative Mind"
2005: Fareed Zakaria
"The Future of Freedom"
2005: Nina Totenberg
"The Supreme Court and Its Impact on You"
2004: Robert Pinsky
"Poetry in the World"
2004: Terry Tempest Wiliams
"The Open Space of Democracy"
2003: Anna Deavere Smith
"Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change"
2003: David Halberstam
"The Children: The Unique Courage and Faith of Ordinary Citizens to Change America "
2002: Thomas Friedman
"Global Economy and American Foreign Policy"