SUMMARY
- UCSB Arts & Lectures presents bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Elizabeth Strout
- In Conversation with Pico Iyer
- Celebrated works include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, its follow-up Olive, Again, The Burgess Boys and My Name Is Lucy Barton
- Pico Iyer has published 15 books on subjects ranging from the Dalai Lama to globalism to Islamic mysticism; and regularly writes for Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, the Financial Times and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide
- This presentation is part of the 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative
- Friday, May 13th / 7:30 p.m. Pacific / Campbell Hall
- $25 – $35: General Public / $10 for UCSB Students (Current student ID required)
- Health & Safety: Proof of full vaccination (including booster, when eligible) is required for all attendees. Visit https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/SeasonFAQs/ for updates and further details.
- Tickets/Info: (805) 893-3535, www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu
- This event includes an at-home viewing option (live stream only; no replay).
▶ ▶ ▶ Editors/Reviewers: Please include the full name of UCSB Arts & Lectures in all media coverage, including reviews.
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UCSB Arts & Lectures presents bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Elizabeth Strout in conversation with Pico Iyer on Friday, May 13th at 7:30 p.m. Pacific at Campbell Hall. This presentation is part of the 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative.
A New York Times Best Seller List mainstay, Elizabeth Strout captivates audiences with her finely drawn characters, incisive prose and powerful ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Her many celebrated works include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, its follow-up Olive, Again, The Burgess Boys and My Name Is Lucy Barton. Strout’s newest novel, Oh William!, continues Lucy Barton’s story and was released in October 2021.
ABOUT ELIZABETH STROUT
“Her unsentimental writing and sharp-eyed vision elevate the quotidian, finding truths that are at once heartbreaking and illuminating – and never, never dull.” Publishers Weekly
Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. From a young age she was drawn to writing things down, keeping notebooks that recorded the quotidian details of her days. She was also drawn to books, and spent hours of her youth in the local library lingering among the stacks of fiction. During the summer months of her childhood she played outdoors, either with her brother, or, more often, alone, and this is where she developed her deep and abiding love of the physical world: the seaweed covered rocks along the coast of Maine, and the woods of New Hampshire with its hidden wildflowers.
During her adolescent years, Strout continued writing avidly, having conceived of herself as a writer from early on. She read biographies of writers, and was already studying – on her own – the way American writers, in particular, told their stories. Poetry was something she read and memorized; by the age of sixteen was sending out stories to magazines. Her first story was published when she was 26 years old.
Strout attended Bates College, graduating with a degree in English in 1977. Two years later, she went to Syracuse University College of Law, where she received a law degree along with a Certificate in Gerontology. She worked briefly for Legal Services, before moving to New York City, where she became an adjunct in the English Department of Borough of Manhattan Community College. By this time, she was publishing more stories in literary magazines, Redbook and Seventeen. Juggling the needs that came with raising a family and her teaching schedule, she found a few hours each day to work on her writing.
ABOUT PICO IYER
Pico Iyer was born in Oxford, England in 1957. He won a King’s Scholarship to Eton and then a Demyship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Congratulatory Double First with the highest marks of any English Literature student in the university. In 1980 he became a teaching fellow at Harvard, where he received a second master’s degree, and in subsequent years he has received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.
Since 1982 he has been a full-time writer, publishing 15 books, translated into 23 languages, on subjects ranging from the Dalai Lama to globalism, from the Cuban Revolution to Islamic mysticism. They include such long-running sellers as Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, The Global Soul, The Open Road and The Art of Stillness. He has also written the introductions to more than 70 other books, as well as liner and program notes, a screenplay for Miramax and a libretto. At the same time he has been writing up to 100 articles a year for Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, the Financial Times and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide.
His four talks for TED have received more than 10 million views so far. Since 1992 Iyer has spent much of his time at a Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur, California and most of the rest in suburban Japan.
See A&L’s full 2022 lineup here
This is a moment that calls for Optimism, Resilience, Courage and Vision.
Santa Barbara needs Hope, and Arts & Lectures is uniquely positioned to respond.
A&L’s 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative has already inspired our community with presentations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, chef José Andrés and author Anne Lamott. We will continue to inspire, through shared experiences with thought leaders, creative problem solvers and arts visionaries who will guide us forward. CREATING HOPE programs strengthen human connection, promote emotional well-being, joy and compassion, and envision positive change. Learn more about the CREATING HOPE: https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/CreatingHope.aspx
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
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Elizabeth Strout is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.
This presentation is part of the 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative.
$25 – $35: General Public / $10 for UCSB Students (Current student ID required)
For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
Speaking with Pico Series Sponsors: Dori Pierson Carter & Chris Carter, Siri & Bob Marshall, Laura & Kevin O’Connor
Supporting Sponsor: Anonymous
Special Thanks:
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2021-2022 season.
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