Sunday, January 12 / 3 pm / SB Museum of Natural History

Rick Bass is the author of sixteen books including Colter, In the Loyal Mountains and the recent collection The Hermit’s Story. An ardent environmentalist, he particularly fights to protect the Yaak River region near his home in Montana. Co-presented with the SB Museum of Natural History.

General public $10 / UCSB students and SBMNH members $8

Saturday, January 25 / 3 pm / Mary Craig Auditorium, SB Museum of Art / Free

UCSB Professor of Dance Frank Ries prepares us for the February 5 Royal Winnipeg Ballet performance of “the crown jewel of Russian ballet” with an entertaining lecture/demonstration featuring historical slides, videos and a rare presentation of mime scenes that have not been performed as part of The Sleeping Beauty since 1890.

Monday, January 27 / 4 pm / Campbell Hall / Free

Denise Chávez, author of the American Book Award-winning novel Face of an Angel, has recently published the acclaimed Loving Pedro Infante. Her writing captures the pungent world of New Mexico border towns.

Sunday, February 2 / 3 pm / Campbell Hall

Columnist Arianna Huffington is the thought-provoking voice from “somewhere beyond convention” on KCRW’s Left, Right & Center. Her lecture, like her book Pigs at the Trough, will critique corporate greed and political corruption.

General public $10 / UCSB students $8

Sunday, February 9 / 3 pm / Campbell Hall

Journalist Ahmed Rashid is the author of the perceptive, pertinent international best seller Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia and the indispensable book Jihad upon which he will base this lecture.

General public $8 / UCSB students $6

Thursday, February 13 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Best known for The Serpent and the Rainbow, renowned anthropologist Wade Davis is National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. His latest book Light at the Edge of the World, weaves a dazzling tapestry of words and images celebrating the diversity of traditional cultures. Co-presented with Brooks Institute of Photography in association with the SB Museum of Natural History.

General public $12 / UCSB & Brooks Institute students & SBMNH members $10

Friday & Saturday, March 7 & 8 / Friday, 1–3:30 pm / Saturday, 10 am–5 pm / UCSB MultiCultural Center Theater / Free

The UCSB/Worldwatch Institute Symposium “The Challenge of Sustainable Development” will examine the environmental challenges and possible solutions for the 21st century, discussing planning that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane, and feature lectures and panels by Worldwatch Institute scientists and researchers. Award-wining public service announcements produced by Earth Communications Office (ECO) will also be screened at breaks during the Symposium.

Monday, March 10 / 8 pm / Victoria Hall, 33 W. Victoria St.

Acclaimed writer and part-time SB resident Pico Iyer (The Global Soul) recently published Abandon, a novel about an English graduate student in California obsessed with Sufism. Iyer is one of the keenest observers of our multicultural world.

General public $8 / UCSB students $6

Thursday, March 13 / 8 pm / Campbell Hall

Coleman Barks is the foremost translator of the 13th century Persian mystic Rumi, currently the best-selling poet in North America. This very special performance will feature Barks, accompanied by musicians Barry and Shelly Phillips, reading the spiritual and beautiful words of Rumi. Barks is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in the UCSB College of Creative Studies.

General public $15 / UCSB students $10