1981: John Chappell - actor
1983: W. D. Snodgrass - poet
1983: Vincent Dowling - actor and director
1983: Arthur Kincaid and Deirdre Barber - actors
1984: Laura Whyte - actress
1985: Cyril Mallett and Jean Lane - actors
1986: John Maxwell - actor
1987: James Mitchell Lear - actor and David Walters - director
1988: Elaine Sulka - director
1989: Natalie Ross - actress
1990: Brenda Wong Aoki - actress
1991: Mark Stevenson - actor
1992: Ken Richters - actor
1993: Joy Harlo - poet
1994: Kent R. Brown - professor of drama
1995: Amy Hempel - author
1996: Joy Harjo - poet
1997: Carolyn Forche - poet
1998: no lecture
1999: no lecture
2000: Tobias Wolff - author
2001: Brian Bedford - actor
2002: Jason Marr - actor
2003: Bret Lott - author
2004: Robert Olen Butler and Elizabeth Dewbury - authors
2005: Cleo Laine and the John Dankworth Band - jazz musicians
2005: Nikki Giovanni - poet
2006: William S. Yellow Robe Jr. - playwright
2007: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - acclaimed novelist and poet
2009: Paula Vogel - playwright and author
2010: David Giffels - author and journalist
2012: Philip Gerard - author and professor
2014: Phillip Richards - author and English professor at Colgate University
2015: Dan Wilson - professional actor, writer, and director
2016: Azar Nafisi - national bestselling author and professor of aesthetics, culture, and literature
2017: Living Theatre - theatre production
2018: Ocean Vuong - poet
2019: Mark Conway Thompson - actor and dancer
2022: Jacqueline Brown - author
2023: John-Andrew Morrison - actor
2024: Valeria Luiselli - author