The Power of Talk,
from High Sources
A&L Brings an Impressive Speaker Series
to Santa Barbara
By Josef Woodard | September 14, 2023
Read more of the Fall Arts & Lectures preview here.
The “lectures” component of the UCSB Arts & Lectures program is an impressive ingredient in the dual equation, which sometimes requires the big house of the Arlington or the Granada when the on-campus home base of Campbell Hall isn’t sufficient for the audience demand.
This season, lectures are organized loosely into categories. “Word of Mouth,” dealing with relevant current topics and areas of global interest, features a list of writers, including historian Jill Lepore (Oct. 24) and psychologist and professor Adam Grant — whose new book is the on-demand Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, popular enough to warrant his appearance at the Arlington Theatre on November 16. Nicholas Thompson (high-ranking positions with The Atlantic and Wired) and Nita Farahany (The Battle for Your Brain) team up to address the AI elephant in humanity’s room on January 31, 2024. On April 24, Pulitzer Prize–winning Evan Osnos discusses U.S.–China relations.
Environmental issues take the spotlight in a new category, “Earth, Air, Fire, Water,” kicking off with investigative journalist and author of The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet Jeff Goodell (Oct. 17). Oceanic life during the climate crisis is the topic for Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (May 7) and oceanic photographer Cristina Mittermeier (Apr. 16), while tree life is in focus for forest ecologist Suzanne Simard (May 1).
Famed writer, travel-philosopher, and essayist Pico Iyer, who grew up in Santa Barbara and maintains roots here while living in Japan, has taken on a unique role as onstage interviewer for significant visitors with the beloved Speaking with Pico series. When prized fiction author George Saunders sat across from Iyer on the Campbell Hall stage a few years ago, Saunders expressed his great admiration for the insights of his interlocutor — flying without notes.
This season’s roster of Pico encounters kicks off formidably, with noted biographer Walter Isaacson on October 26. Isaacson’s latest subject: Elon Musk. On February 21, Iyer speaks with physician/author Abraham Verghese, whose book The Covenant of Water was hailed by another celebrated Santa Barbara (well, Montecitan), Oprah Winfrey. Novelist and short-story writer Lauren Groff speaks with Pico on April 9.
The lectures list is an evolving organism, growing as late-breaking additions drop into the calendar. Recent additions include AI developer and now cautionary sage (à la post-Hiroshima Robert Oppenheimer) Mustafa Suleyman (Oct. 5), Robin Wall Kimmerer speaking on indigenous botany (Nov. 14), and Eddie Ndopu speaking on disability (Nov. 2). Back by popular demand is author raconteur David Sedaris (Nov. 4).
As usual, A&L’s lectures series taps worldly, lofty speakers and offers the community a diverse range of subjects to talk about and think about.
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