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James L. Hedges Distinguished Lecture Series

This series celebrates the written word through endowed lectures by poets, prose writers, playwrights, and literary critics who explore the world in which we live through their creative use of language and literary forms, and honors one of Azusa Pacific University’s most distinguished professors: James L. Hedges, PhD, professor of English from 1974–2005 and now professor emeritus.

James L. Hedges Distinguished Speakers

  • James Hedges, 2010
  • Billy Collins, 2011
  • Lori Anne Ferrell, 2012
  • Robert Pinsky, 2013
  • Diane Glancy, 2014
  • Brett Foster, 2015
  • Gavin Jones, 2016
  • Dana Gioia, 2017
  • Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, 2018
  • A.E. Stallings, 2019
  • Christian Wiman, 2020
  • Tracy K. Smith, 2022
  • Makoto Fujimura, 2023