College & University

Our talented speakers are skilled at connecting with young audiences, and schools often select them for freshmen-year experience programs, convocations, and distinguished speaker series. They are inspiring lecturers who strive to relate to today’s youth and student groups.

Jim Abbott

Former Major League Pitcher, Olympic Gold Medalist and motivational speaker

Peggielene Bartels

American secretary turned African king

Sam Bracken

Inspirational Speaker and Guide to Initiating Positive Life Changes

Peter Buffett

Emmy Award-winning musician, author, and philanthropist

Ken Burns

Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker

Peter Carey

Two-time Booker Prize-winner, National Book Award finalist, and celebrated novelist

Dan Chaon

National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of literary novels and short story collections

Wade Davis

Ethnographer, Anthropologist, Field Scientist, Biologist, Author, Filmmaker and "The Voodoo Guy"

Cheryl Dellasega

Relationship Counselor and Expert on Peer Bullying

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Bestselling novelist and co-founder of The Camellia Network, assisting foster care youth

Charles Duhigg

Award winning journalist and media commentator

Jennifer Egan

Critically Acclaimed Novelist and Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad

Russ Feingold

Former United States Senator from Wisconsin

Jaimy Gordon

Author of the 2010 National Book Award-winning Lord of Misrule

Michael Greenberg

Bestselling Author and FYE Favorite

Carlotta Walls LaNier

Youngest of the Little Rock Nine, Civil Rights Advocate

Robert K. Massie

Internationally renowned historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer

Carine McCandless

Sister of Into the Wild literary icon Chris McCandless. Consultant and contributor for Jon Krakauer's internationally bestselling book and Sean Penn's critically acclaimed film

Colum McCann

Author of the National Book Award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin

Christopher McDougall

Author, journalist and innovator of the Barefoot-Running Movement

Paula McLain

Novelist, Poet and Book Club Favorite

Meg Meeker, M.D.

Pediatrician and nationally recognized parenting expert

Claire Messud

Journalist, Teacher and Author of The Emperor's Children

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Noted historian and international bestselling author of Jerusalem and Young Stalin

Edmund Morris

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Presidential Biographer

Thomas Mullen

Winner of the James Fenimore Cooper Prize and celebrated historical novelist

Josh Neufeld

Award-winning comics journalist and author of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

Joseph O’Neill

Author of the PEN/Faulkner Award-Winning Novel Netherland

Téa Obreht

National Book Award Finalist, Orange Prize Winner, and Author of The Tiger's Wife

Julie Otsuka

Author of National Book Award finalist, The Buddha in the Attic

Orhan Pamuk

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

John Prendergast

Human Rights Activist and Cofounder of the Anti-Genocide Group, The Enough Project

John Richardson

Picasso Expert and Author of the Life of Picasso Series

Karen Russell

Author of the acclaimed bestseller Swamplandia!

Mary Doria Russell

Prize-winning novelist and international bestseller

Richard Russo

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel Empire Falls

Esmeralda Santiago

Essayist, Award-Winning Screenwriter and Author of the Bestselling novel Conquistadora

Lisa See

Author of the Book Club Favorites, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Shanghai Girls

Jeff Shaara

New York Times bestselling author of historical and military fiction

Neil Shubin

Evolutionary Biologist and Discoverer of the "Missing Link"

Helen Simonson

International bestseller and community read favorite

T.J. Stiles

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Biographer, American Historian and Author of The First Tycoon

Darin Strauss

Bestselling novelist and author of the acclaimed memoir Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography

J. Courtney Sullivan

Journalist and Author of the New York Times bestseller, Maine

Gay Talese

Ground-Breaking Journalist and Renowned Writer

Deborah Tannen

New York Times bestselling author and communications expert

Abraham Verghese

Renowned Physician, Teacher and Author of Cutting for Stone

Dr. James D. Watson

Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Who Discovered, Along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, the Structure of DNA

Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize Winner and author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, The Warmth of Other Suns

Markus Zusak

New York Times Bestselling Author of The Book Thief, a Book Club Favorite and Beloved Novel Embraced by Readers of All Ages