1994 – 1995 George Steiner
1995 – 1996 Martha C Nussbaum, Professor of Law and Ethics, The University of Chicago
1996 – 1997 Gabriel Josipovici, Professor of English, School of European Studies, University of Sussex
1998 – 1999 Amos Oz, Professor of Hebrew Literature, Ben Gurion University of Negrev, Israel
1999 – 2000 Roberto Calasso, Author and Publisher, Adelphi Edizioni, Milan
2001 – 2002 Umberto Eco
2002 – 2003 Nike Wagner (Michaelmas Term 2002) and Robert Alter (Trinity Term 2003), Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley
2003 – 2004 Mario Vargas Llosa
2004 – 2005 Sander Gilman, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
2005 – 2006 Michele Le Doueff
2006 – 2007 Wolf Lepenies
2007 – 2008 Bernard Schlink
2008 – 2009 Marjorie Perloff
2009 – 2010 Roger Chartier
2010 – 2011 James Wood
2011 – 2012 Ali Smith was awarded the CBE in 2015. Her Humanitas lectures formed the basis of her book Artful (2012) which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths prize.
2012 – 2013 Don Paterson
2014 – 2015 Javier Cercas. The third and fourth lectures in the series can be viewed online on the Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust website.
2015 – 2016 Dame Marina Warner
2016-2017 Sean O’Brien
2017-2018 Elif Shafak
2018-2019 Durs Grünbein
2022-2023 Juan Gabriel Vásquez