Tuesday, October 4 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall / Free

Associated Press and New Yorker writer Kathy Gannon will deliver an intimately observed history of Afghanistan from 1986 to the present. The longest-serving Western journalist in the region, Gannon will overturn simplistic understanding of the country’s politics in this eye-opening talk.

Thursday, October 6 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Howard Zinn, playwright, activist and historian, is the beloved author of the ground-breaking A People’s History of the United States. His influential writings and teaching shine a light on and give voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor. Zinn’s talk will explore the notion of “just” wars with his usual candor and critical understanding.

General public $15 / UCSB students $10

Sunday, October 16 / 3 pm / Victoria Hall Theatre, 33 West Victoria Street

His great storytelling talent makes his work a genuine pleasure. —The New York Times

Don’t miss this reading by brilliant Chinese writer Ha Jin. Waiting won the National Book Award for fiction in 1999—a particularly impressive feat as it was Ha Jin’s first novel and he had been writing in English for little more than a decade. The paperback edition of War Trash, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, has just been released.

General public $10 / UCSB students $8

Monday, October 17 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

The Persian love child of Art Spiegelman and Lynda Barry —Salon.com

Marjane Satrapi has garnered worldwide acclaim for her two best-selling volumes of Persepolis, graphic novels about growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the 1970s and ‘80s. Her intriguing lecture will discuss the process of turning dramatic reality into graphic fiction. Her latest book Embroideries is an entertaining and enlightening look into the sex lives of Iranian women.

General public $12 / UCSB students $10

Wednesday, October 19 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Yvon Chouinard, legendary climber, businessman and environmentalist, will present an inspiring lecture, based on his recent memoir. Founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc., Chouinard will discuss how he brought doing good and having grand adventures into the heart of a successful international corporation.

General public $10 / UCSB students $8

Wednesday, October 26 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Sobel shows a keen eye for the compelling stories beneath great discoveries. —Salon.com

Dava Sobel, the best-selling author of Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter, will use her rare gifts for weaving difficult scientific concepts into gripping stories in this lecture about the planets. Sobel’s talk will be a mesmerizing exploration of our place in the universe.

General public $10 / UCSB students $8

Friday, November 4 / 8 pm / Arlington Theatre

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his immense contribution to the cause of human rights. He spent years working to create a democratic and just society without racial divisions in South Africa. In 1995 Tutu was chosen by President Nelson Mandela to chair South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and investigate the crimes committed during the apartheid regime. Since 2000 the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre has promoted ethical, visionary and values-based human development.

General public $45, 30 / UCSB students $20
All tickets subject to facility and convenience fees

For information about private dinner and reception with Desmond Tutu, phone 893-3449.

Saturday, November 5 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

McCall Smith writes the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books —Cleveland Plain Dealer

Enjoy an evening with the author of the internationally bestselling The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series—with over 4 million copies in print in the U.S. alone—and his new The Sunday Philosophy Club series, which The New York Times hails as “sure to be a second hit franchise.” McCall Smith is the author of over 50 titles, ranging from children’s books to academic texts.

General public $25 / UCSB and Westmont College students $12 / $100 includes VIP seat and buffet dinner with Mr. Smith at a Montecito home prior to the event

Co-presented by the Office of the Provost, Westmont College

Monday, November 28 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Lightman is a scientist who is a humanist in the noblest sense of the word. —Los Angeles Times

Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams and A Sense of the Mysterious, will chronicle the events and profile the personalities behind the extraordinary saga of 20th-century science—from the theory of relativity to the code of DNA—that have dramatically transformed our world.

General public $10 / UCSB students $8