Institutions · Education · Conversation

Public Work

Bringing a writer’s attention to the work of institutions: the ideas they advance, the people they gather, and the futures they make possible.

Tope Folarin speaking at the Letelier–Moffitt Human Rights Awards. — Letelier–Moffitt Human Rights Awards · 2023

Leadership · Policy & public life

Institute for
Policy Studies

Executive Director · May 2021–present

Tope leads the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based institution working at the intersection of research, public policy, and social movements.

Previously chair of its board, he brings literary and civic perspectives to institutional leadership. The IPS endowment doubled during his tenure.

Institute for Policy Studies

Selected address · July 2026

Who Counts as a Human Being?

On citizenship, human dignity, and the unfinished work of democracy. Opening remarks at the Henry A. Wallace Symposium.

Watch the address Read the transcript

Teaching & literary community

Georgetown University

Lannan Lecturer in Creative Writing

At Georgetown, Tope teaches fiction and the medical humanities and convenes conversations across literature, the arts, and public life. He also serves as a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University in Qatar.

The Lannan Center

HoCoPoLitSo

Bauder Writer-in-Residence · 2024–2025

As the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society’s writer-in-residence, Tope visited schools to read, discuss the writing life, and work with young writers.

About the residency

Tope Folarin seated among students in a classroom at Wilde Lake High School. — With students at Wilde Lake High School · Photo via Patch

Forthcoming · March 30–April 1, 2027

Human Creativity
in the Age of Simulation

I’m directing the 2027 Lannan Symposium at Georgetown University: three evenings exploring artificial intelligence, authorship, and human creativity.

About the symposium

Stewardship & service

The life
of institutions.

The Phillips Collection

Board of Trustees

PEN/Faulkner Foundation

Board member

Avalon Theatre

Board member · Washington, DC

Pathfinder International

President’s Council

Cosmos Club

Elected member

Tope Folarin speaking to an audience at the University of Delaware. — Speaking at the University of Delaware

Convening

In conversation.

Tope’s public conversations bring writers, artists, scholars, and civic leaders into sustained dialogue. Guests have included Martin Amis, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Shehan Karunatilaka, Leila Aboulela, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Jamie Raskin.

Explore conversations