Since its launch, the ETSU Festival of Ideas has featured an incredible roster of nationally recognized voices whose work spans literature, journalism, public service, and the arts.
2025
Anthony Doerr, author of the bestselling novels All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land
Levar Burton, award-winning actor, host and literacy advocate
2024
Mitch Albom, internationally-renowned bestselling author, journalist, and philanthropist
Piper Kerman, author of the bestselling memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison
2023
Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers, Pantsuit politics cohosts
David Brooks, NY Times Columnist and Best-Selling Author
The Art of Civil Discourse: A Campus-Community Conversation, Steve Darden, Opal Frye-Clark, Dr. David W. Harker, Dr. Martha Michieka
2022
Van Jones, CNN host and Dream Corps founder
Meghan McCain, political commentator and former co-host of The View
David Plazas, award-winning journalist
2020
Melissa Fitzgerald, actor and Advocating Justice Director for Justice for Vets
Mandy Harvey, American jazz and pop singer/songwriter
Jon Meacham, Pulitzer prize-winning presidential biographer and historian
Mike Wiley, playwright, director and actor
2019
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Jennifer Palmieri, former White House Communications Director