Description:

The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences established the Leon Forrest Lectureship in 1999 in tribute to Professor Leon Forrest’s excellent scholarship, dedication to his students, and literary success. The inaugural Leon Forrest Lecturer was actor Danny Glover in 2000.  Through this lectureship, the Black Studies Department invites noted artists and academics to campus to celebrate the memory of Leon Forrest and explore Black literature and culture.  Past Leon Forrest Lecturers have included Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison, authors Jamaica Kincaid and Danzy Senna, playwright Lydia Diamond, scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., former Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, and the 2023 speaker Farah Griffin.