The Radcliffe Institute is unique among centers for advanced study across the country in its commitment to encouraging and developing the creative arts along with all other disciplines. Through fellowships, public lectures and exhibits, the Institute offers artists not only a quiet place to create or compose, but also an opportunity to showcase their new work.

Past fellows include novelists Sue Miller and Alica Walker, playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith, composer Augusta Read Thomas, poets Jorie Graham and Maxine Kumin, filmmaker Marlene Booth, and sculptor Mags Harries.

Notable Alumnae and Fellows in the Arts

Alumnae and fellows in the arts have included writer Gertrude Stein 1898, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin '46, AM '48, BI '63, writer Ursula LeGuin '51, poet Adrienne Rich '51, writer/journalist Frances Fitzgerald '62, poet Anne Sexton BI '62, '63, writer and feminist Tillie Olsen fel '63, '64, '86, actress Stockard Channing '65, film director Claudia Weill '68, writer and former president of Smith College Jill Ker Conway PhD '69, actress Lindsay Crouse '70, poet Katha Pollitt '71, writer Alice Walker BI '72, '73, writer Esmeralda Santiago '76, poet Jorie Graham BI '83, performance artist Anna Deveare Smith BI '92, and writer Gish Jen '77, BI '87, RI '02.