The Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture Series brings nationally known scholars concerned with promoting culture through the humanities and a better understanding of the problems of democracy to Arizona State University.
This annual free public lecture is funded with a gift from Jonathan and Maxine Marshall.
An Evening with Jesmyn Ward
2025 featured speaker
Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. | Roskind Great Hall (ARM 101)
About the speaker
MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and two-time National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward has been hailed as the standout writer of her generation, proving her “fearless and toughly lyrical” voice in novels, memoir and nonfiction. In 2017, she became the first woman and the first person of color to win two National Book Awards for Fiction — joining the ranks of William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Philip Roth and John Updike. In 2024, "Men We Reaped," "Salvage the Bones" and "Sing, Unburied, Sing" were named in the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times.
Ward is currently a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she teaches creative writing.
Parking information
Visitor parking is available in several lots and parking garages near the venue. All parking fees are the responsibility of event attendees. For a list of parking locations and associated fees, please visit cfo.asu.edu/daily-and-hourly.
| Year | Lecturer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dan-el Padilla Peralta | Author, historian and professor at Princeton University |
| 2023 | Eddie Glaude Jr. | Author and political commentator |
| 2022 | Rita Dove | American poet and essayist |
| 2021 | Clint Smith III | #1 New York Times bestselling author |
| 2020 | Colson Whitehead | American novelist |
| 2018 | Claudia Rankine | Award-winning author |
| 2017 | Roger Cohen | Journalist and author |
| 2016 | Amy Goodman | Host and executive producer of Democracy Now! |
| 2015 | Jane Smiley | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, essayist and biographer |
| 2014 | Charles Blow | Visual op-ed columnist for The New York Times |
| 2013 | David Walsh | Chief sports writer of the British newspaper The Sunday Times |
| 2012 | Russ Feingold | Former senator, public speaker, educator. |
| 2011 | Nikki Giovanni | World-renowned poet, activist and educator |
| 2010 | Kerry Kennedy | International human rights advocate and author |
| 2009 | Heather Rae | Award-winning Cherokee film director and producer |
| 2008 | Calvin Trillin | Humorist, journalist and author |
| 2007 | Robin Wright | Acclaimed journalist |
| 2006 | Jon Meacham | Managing Editor of Newsweek |
| 2005 | Seymour Hersh | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist |
| 2004 | Paul Krugman | Professor, Economist, Author and New York Times Columnist |
| 2003-cancelled | Wendy Wasserstein | Playwright |
| 2002 | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. | Senior attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council |
| 2001-cancelled | Martha Nussbaum | Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago |
| 2000 | Baruch Blumberg | Director, NASA's Astrobiology Institute |
| 1998 | Martin Marty | Director, Public Religion Project, University of Chicago School of Divinity |
| 1997 | Daniel Goldhagen | Author, “Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” |
| 1997 | Arthur Caplan | Director, Center of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania President, American Association of Bioethics |
| 1996 | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |
| 1995 | Lester Brown | Founder, WorldWatch Institute |
| 1994 | Thomas Wicker | Former editorial columnist, The New York Times |
| 1993 | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |