Arts & Culture

All Arts & Culture

  • Translating nine pounds of poetry

    Sinologist Stephen Owen devoted eight years to the first complete English translation of the great Chinese poet Du Fu.

  • Sacred words

    Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson gave a lecture called “The Divine” at Memorial Church.

  • Patterson receives Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

    Orlando Patterson, the John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.

  • The ace of bass

    Noted jazzman Rufus Reid is teaching Harvard students, and will share his wisdom and musicianship with the public. There will be two events open to the public — on April 6 and 9.

  • Beyond poetry

    Thomas Wisniewski, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a 2016 Harvard Horizons Scholar, seeks to reintegrate the neglected field of prose metrics into literary studies.

  • Searching for paradise

    Chilean poet Raúl Zurita will deliver a bilingual reading as the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies.

  • ‘The Global Philosopher’

    Harvard Business School (HBS) and BBC Radio 4 have worked together to produce the first episode of “The Global Philosopher,” a program hosted by Harvard political philosopher Michael J. Sandel.

  • ‘Average’ gets his ire up

    Todd Rose, lecturer in education, debunks the myth of the “typical” learner in his new book, “The End of Average.”

  • Jazz made visible

    “The Art of Jazz: Form/Performance/Notes” explores the interaction between jazz and the visual arts.

  • Professor’s book selected for Canto Classics series

    Harvard professor and Weatherhead faculty associate Robert Bates’ book “When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa” has been selected for inclusion in the Canto Classics series by Cambridge Univerity Press.

  • Always a critic

    The New York Times’ chief film critic, A.O. Scott, visits Harvard to discuss his new book, “Better Living Through Criticism,” on Thursday.

  • Engaging with Arendt

    Four lectures focusing on Hannah Arendt, the political theorist best known for coining the phrase “the banality of evil” when she wrote about the trial of Nazi architect Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker in the early ’60s, will be held March 9 and 30 and April 6 and 20 at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.

  • Humanities offer marketability in a competitive world

    Harvard sophomore finds support for his concentration in Ancient History (Greek and Roman), which allows him to pursue his passions “while maintaining marketability in an increasingly competitive world.”

  • Slavery’s chilling shadow

    Toni Morrison delivered the first of six Charles Eliot Norton Lectures to an adoring crowd at Sanders Theatre on Wednesday. Morrison is the 58th scholar given the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry.

  • Seeing more

    In his weekly 90-minute lectures, Professor Robin Kelsey brings historical awareness and contextual experience to 13 technologies that have transformed visual communication.

  • ‘Ways with Words’ conference will spark conversation

    The Radcliffe Institute will host “Ways with Words: Exploring Language and Gender,” a conference on March 3-4 that explores the interplay of gender, language, and why Facebook now offers three pronouns.

  • Blended voices, each with a personal charge

    Five poets are celebrated in “‘A Language to Hear Myself’: Feminist Poets Speak,” a Schlesinger Library exhibit running from Feb. 29 to June 17, with an accompanying performance March 1.

  • Egyptian-style handiwork with a digital past

    Harvard is behind the re-creation of a chair from a 4,500-year-old tomb.

  • Morrison’s first Norton Lecture set for March 2

    Toni Morrison will deliver the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, which will be held throughout March and April at Sanders Theatre. Hosted by the Mahindra Humanities Center, Morrison is the 58th scholar to be given the arts and humanities honor, officially named the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry.

  • Sandra Boynton shares her story

    Cartoonist, children’s book author, and songwriter Sandra Boynton will present a fast-paced audiovisual retrospective of her work on Feb. 23, part of the Askwith Forum series.

  • Field notes gathered by ear

    Grammy-nominated saxophonist Yosvany Terry is bringing the music of his native Cuba to campus as a senior lecturer and leader of the Harvard Jazz Ensembles.

  • Spawn of Bosch

    This year marks five centuries since the death of Hieronymus Bosch. Harvard Art Museums is paying tribute to the Dutch artist with the exhibit, “Beyond Bosch: The Afterlife of a Renaissance Master in Print.”

  • Conan: Explore, learn, take risks

    Conan O’Brien spoke with President Drew Faust about how his humanities education made him one of TV’s most successful comedians.

  • Adventures of the heart

    Visiting Professor Verena Andermatt Conley talks about her first venture into romance writing, “Cree.”

  • Turns of narrative

    An interview with novelist Claire Messud launches a new series in which Harvard writers discuss how their stories take shape.

  • Artfully at rest

    A selection of Mount Auburn Cemetery’s evocative funerary sculptures and monuments is the subject of a new book by Meg Winslow and Harvard’s Melissa Banta.

  • In his own works

    A new exhibit at Houghton Library marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

  • Sense of solitude

    The Irish novelist Colm Tóibín will sit down with Claire Messud, a lecturer and fellow novelist, as part of the Mahindra Humanities Center’s Writers Speak series.

  • ‘Pneuma(tic) Bodies’ at Carpenter Center

    Sculptures and drawings are part of “Pneuma(tic) Bodies,” which opens today at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts with a 6 p.m. dance performance featuring Jill Johnson.

  • Breaking bonds of time

    “Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia,” a special exhibit at the Harvard Art Museums, makes room for different perspectives.