Library lectures on tap

Most people don’t associate libraries with community programs. Though the Newport Beach Public Library has programs all year long, the highlight of the year is always the Martin W. Witte Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series.

The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation is selling tickets for the 2006 series. Tickets are still available for all dates. The speakers are nationally known figures selected because of their interesting and timely lecture topics, which cover everything from art and literature to politics and economics. The series is also a fundraiser for the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, whose contributions have made so many materials, programs and new technologies available to the public.

This year’s program is very exciting. As always, there will be a program on Friday night and another program on Saturday. The Friday program includes a wine reception before the lecture, and coffee and sweets following the presentation. Tickets for the evening events are $40 per person.

The season opens on Friday, Feb. 10, at 6:30 p.m. with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, winner of major journalism prizes, including the coveted Pulitzer for International Reporting. Hersh’s lecture could not be more timely. He will speak on his most recent bestseller, “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.” Hersh will speak again on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m., followed by refreshments in the library bamboo courtyard. The cost of the Saturday programs is $25 per person.

The second set of the lectures in the series, on March 10 and 11, features photojournalist Ron Haviv. The award winner’s work can be found in publications from Time magazine to Paris Match. He has covered the world’s headlines since the end of the Cold War. His particular focus, and the focus of this lecture, is on human rights violations from Latin America to the Sudan. His lecture is titled “Freelancing in a World of Risk.”

On Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8, Robert Thurman will give lectures on “The Spirituality of True Capitalism (Generosity = Prosperity).” Thurman is an international authority on world religions, with a specific interested in Tibetan Buddhism. He is the first Westerner to be ordained a Buddhist monk and is the chair of Religious Studies at Columbia University. At the request of the Dalai Lama, he cofounded Tibet House U.S. with Richard Gere, Philip Glass and Thurman’s own daughter, Uma.

The final set of lectures will be colorful, provocative and immensely interesting, as playwright Edward Albee will speak about art and its power to bring about dialogue and change. Albee is the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning author of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” “A Delicate Balance,” “Tiny Alice,” “Three Tall Women,” and “The Zoo Story,” among many others.

Though not available at the library, tickets can be purchased online at www.nbplfoundation.org. You may also fax in an order to (949) 209-4902 or order by phone at (866) 301-2411. It is a voice mail number, but your call will be returned within 24 hours. If there are any further questions, call the voice mail number or send an e-mail to [email protected].

* CHECK IT OUT is written by staff members of the Newport Beach Public Library. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at https://www.newportbeach library.org. For more information on the Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.