UCLA Live is proud to present the words and wisdom of today’s most influential literary figures and cultural pundits through its 07/08 Spoken Word Series. This stunning season offers a wide-ranging roster of exclusive pairings and rare engagements including three Pulitzer Prize winners, top political journalists, the nation’s number one selling poet and the best-known Broadway musical composer—plus a quartet of best-selling contemporary authors.
The 07/08 UCLA Live Season was handpicked by UCLA Live Director David Sefton and includes Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, a rare appearance by preeminent poet and Pulitzer-winner Mary Oliver, and legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, winner of an Academy Award, seven Tonys and a Pulitzer, interviewed by friend and New York Times’ columnist Frank Rich.
Two exclusive engagements feature readings and commentary by pairs of popular best-selling authors. The first presents Anne Lamott, subversive spiritual writer of “Traveling Mercies,” with her “literary offspring” Elizabeth Gilbert, whose best-selling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love” was named by The New York Times Book Review as one of the “100 Notable Books of 2006” and is being developed by Paramount into a film starring Julia Roberts. The second event headlines two Iranian-born authors exploring the treatment of women in Iran before and after the 1979 revolution—Azar Nafisi, a professor and literary scholar, and Marjane Satrapi, whose politically controversial animated film adaptation of her autobiographical graphic novel “Persepolis” was recently awarded the Jury Prize at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
All evening performances begin at 8 p.m. and will be held at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Series and Choose-Your-Own subscriptions consist of multiple events sold at a discount when applicable, and are on sale now. Single tickets are on sale as of July 23 (July 16 for current subscribers and donors). To purchase tickets visit www.UCLALive.org or call 310-825-2101 .
UCLA LIVE’S 07/08 SPOKEN WORD SERIES
Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007, at 8 p.m., Royce Hall
Seymour Hersh
“The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and Beyond”
A Pulitzer Prize winner for his stories on Vietnam’s My Lai massacre, Seymour Hersh, widely acknowledged as the most influential and acclaimed investigative reporter of the past 40 years, will discuss American foreign policy and the abuse of power in the name of national security. Based on his latest book, “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and Beyond” (HarperCollins, 2004) and groundbreaking recent articles published in The New Yorker, Hersh exposes the underside of the Iraq war, the looming threat of Iran and the military quagmire caused by these conflicts.
RARE APPEARANCE
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, at 8 p.m., Royce Hall
Mary Oliver
One of the most celebrated and best-selling poets in America, Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, appears in a rare evening of poetry and commentary, followed by audience questions. Oliver’s most recent release, “Thirst” (Beacon Press, 2006), a collection of 38 new poems, traces the writer’s experience of grief and discovery of faith. In October 2007, Beacon Press will publish the book “Our World,” a collection of photos by Molly Malone Cook, who died in 2005 and was Oliver’s partner for many years, with text by Oliver.
RARE APPEARANCE
Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 8 p.m., Royce Hall
Stephen Sondheim with host Frank Rich
“A Little Night Conversation”
The great Broadway composer and lyricist Steven Sondheim and The New York Times’ columnist and former chief theater critic Frank Rich explore Sondheim’s storied career, discussing the personal and professional in a wide-ranging and rare conversation. The two became fast friends when Rich interviewed Sondheim for a New York Times Magazine cover story marking his 70th birthday in 2005. Famed for shows including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods” and “A Little Night Music,” Sondheim stands alone as the true heir to such Broadway masters as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Irving Berlin.
UCLA LIVE EXCLUSIVE
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 8 p.m., Royce Hall
An Evening with Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert
Two best-selling writers known for their unconventional spiritual explorations join forces in an intimate evening of readings and commentary. Author of “Plan B,” “Traveling Mercies” and “Operating Instructions,” Anne Lamott describes the missteps, detours and roadblocks in her walk of faith recounted in her latest essay collection, “Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith” (Penguin Books, 2007), set for paperback release in March 2008. Armed with humor, charm and a comic’s sense of timing, Elizabeth Gilbert’s most recent memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love” (Viking, 2006), chronicles the year she spent traveling around the world in search of personal restoration after a difficult divorce.
UCLA LIVE EXCLUSIVE
Wed, April 16, 2008 at 8 p.m., Royce Hall
Azar Nafisi and Marjane Satrapi in Conversation
Azar Nafisi is the author of the best-seller “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” (Random House, 2003), the astonishing true story of female university students who met in secret each week to read and talk about forbidden Western classics in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nafisi will be joined in discussion by fellow Iranian-born writer Marjane Satrapi, whose acclaimed graphic novel “Persepolis” (Pantheon, 2003) describes her coming-of-age in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Decrying conformity and totalitarianism, the animated feature “Persepolis” tied for Cannes’ third-place award, the Jury Prize, and is being prepped for English-language release by Sony Classics in fall 2007.
Tickets: Series and Choose-Your-Own subscriptions consist of multiple events sold at a discount when applicable, and are on sale now. Single tickets are on sale as of July 23 (July 16 for current subscribers and donors). Tickets may be purchased online at www.UCLALive.org, via phone at 310-825-2101 , in person at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
