The Power of the Podium
The ‘Lectures’ Arm of UCSB Arts & Lectures
Brings Thoughtful Speakers and Big Ideas
By Leslie Dinaberg | September 26, 2024
Read more of our 2024 Fall Arts Preview cover story here.
One of the most impressive elements of UCSB Arts & Lectures cultural programming is the lecture series, a thoughtful curation of authors, activists, researchers, and artists from all sorts of disciplines and walks of life.
Kicking off the fall festivities on October 5 is education visionary Salman Khan, whose nonprofit Khan Academy helped revolutionize the ways students learn. His talk will explore how we can use AI to make education even more accessible.
Salman Khan (left) and Dr. Jennifer Doudna | Credit: Courtesy
Renowned chef Yotam Ottolenghi is up next, on October 14, when he’ll share stories, discuss his new book, Comfort, and — get this — prepare one of his dishes live on stage at the Granada. October 17 brings journalist Josie Cox to discuss the historical fight to close the gender pay gap. Then, on October 22, Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will talk about CRISPR gene editing and the future of human health.
Percival Everett, whose novel James just made the Booker Prize list of finalists, comes to see us on October 25. That’s followed by bestselling author Yung Pueblo (Lighter, the Inward trilogy) in conversation with Pico Iyer on October 29. Writer Anne Lamott discusses finding love late in life and how we love our children, among other topics on November 13.
[Click to enlarge] From left: Yung Pueblo, Anne Lamott, and Father Gregory Boyle | Credit: Courtesy
ER physician and leading health equity advocate Dr. Uché Blackstock reflects on the deep inequities in the U.S. healthcare system and offers prescriptions for how to change them on November 20. She’s followed by the always-popular (for good reason) Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program in the world, on December 3.
Keep an eye out for additions, as the lectures list is an evolving organism, frequently growing as more bookings drop into the calendar.
For more information and tickets to all of these programs, see artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.
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