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"