The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry was endowed in 1925. Harvard’s preeminent lecture series in the arts and humanities, the Norton Lectures recognize individuals of extraordinary talent who, in addition to their particular expertise, have the gift of wide dissemination and wise expression. The term “poetry” is interpreted in the broadest sense to encompass all poetic expression in language, music, or the fine arts; past Norton Professors have included T.S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges, Leonard Bernstein, Czeslaw Milosz, John Cage, and Nadine Gordimer. The 2009-10 Norton Lectures, the first organized under the auspices of the Mahindra Center, were given by Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Since then the Center has hosted William Kentridge, Herbie Hancock, Toni Morrison, Frederick Wiseman, Wim Wenders, Agnès Varda, and Laurie Anderson.

The upcoming Norton Lectures, in the Fall of 2023 and Spring of 2024, will be given by Viet Thanh Nguyen.