Belknap Visitors

American novelist, editor, and Professor Emeritus Toni Morrison was a Belknap Visitor
American novelist, editor, and Professor Emeritus Toni Morrison was a Belknap Visitor

The program of Belknap Visitors in the Humanities was created to recognize distinguished individuals in the arts and letters. Belknap Visitors spend an intensive day on campus.

Past visitors have been Toni Morrison, Eudora Welty, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nadine Gordimer, Roy Lichtenstein, Athol Fugard, Doris Lessing, John Updike, Edward Albee, Czeslaw Milosz, Carlos Fuentes, Frank Stella, Robertson Davies, Peter Sellars, Arthur Miller, Merce Cunningham, Harold Pinter, Adrienne Rich, Maurice Sendak, Wim Wenders, Richard Serra, Chuck Close, Twyla Tharp, Ricky Jay, Toshiko Takaezu, Meryl Streep, Roz Chast, Alice Waters, David Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Rich, Maya Lin, and William Kentridge.

Read about previous Visitors.

Nominate a Visitor

Any member of the Princeton community may nominate a visitor. Belknap visits require significant advance planning. Nominations are usually made a year or more in advance of a potential visit. Questions regarding nominations can be sent to Kathleen Crown, Executive Director.

Nomination Form
Photo: A Kurdish refugee boy from the Syrian town of Kobani holds onto a fence that surrounds a refugee camp. November 3, 2014. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Belknap Global Conversations

This program of Belknap Visitors brings distinguished writers, artists, and scholars to campus for conversations that bridge “arts and ideas” in a global context. The program aims to provoke dialogue on a theme of broad interest in the realm of arts and letters that cuts across disciplinary boundaries and world regions.

We invite proposals for visitors whose work has global reach and will engage a cross-disciplinary audience from approaches that are practice-based and creative (e.g., a reading, performance, or master class) as well as critical (e.g., a conversation, lecture, or visit to a graduate seminar).

This program is intended to encourage new cross-departmental collaborations and to serve as primary financial support for a multi-departmental project that will be organized and hosted by the Humanities Council. (Requests for events to be hosted by departments or programs should be submitted through the Council’s Co-Sponsorship portal). The Belknap endowment can contribute from $2500 to $10,000 toward a Global Conversation, and distinguished guests will be named “Belknap Visitors in the Humanities Council.”

Read about previous Global Conversations.

Propose a Conversation

Proposals for conversations are invited from faculty in any department and programs. There are two avenues for making a proposal:

  1.  Two or more faculty members (or departments) representing different disciplinary approaches may submit a one-page proposal and preliminary budget. Visits might be comprised of two separate events (e.g., pairing a “master class” with a visit to graduate seminar; a performance with a “conversation”), or they might consist of one event that includes creative/critical approaches and diverse audiences.
  2.  Individual faculty members or departments may suggest a visitor who would fit this program.  The Council may co-host the visit or will work to identify possible partners in relevant departments or units.

Proposals are typically sent well in advance of the proposed visit, ideally as part of planning for the year ahead, and no less than six weeks before the anticipated date. Questions regarding proposals should be sent to Kathleen Crown, Executive Director.

Nomination Form

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