Launched in 1998, the prestigious President's Lecture Series has hosted several Nobel Peace Prize winners, along with other high profile speakers. Co-sponsored by Chico Performances, this community-oriented event is also sponsored by the Office of the President at CSU, Chico, and the Office of the Provost at CSU, Chico..
Past lecturers have included Naomi Judd (2010), Sean Carroll(2009), Dr. Richard Leakey (2008), Jean-Michel Cousteau (2007), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (2006), Dr. Jane Goodall (2005), Robert Hass (2004) Scott Carpenter (2003), Jody Williams (2003), Oscar Arias (2002), Shimon Peres (1998), Desmond Tutu (1999), Mikhail Gorbachev (2000), Lech Walesa (2001), Oscar Arias (2002), Jose Ramos-Horta (1999), and Mary Matalin & James Carville (1998).
PAST PRESIDENT'S LECTURE SPEAKERS
- 1998 — Mary Matalin & James Carville — Political Consultants
- 1998 — Ferid Murad — 1994 Nobel Prize: Physiology and Medicine
- 1999 — Shimon Peres — Human Rights Activist, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize
- 1999 — Jose Ramos-Horte — Human Rights Activist, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize
- 1999 — Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu — 1984 Nobel Peace Prize
- 2000 — Mikhail Gorbachev — Former Pres. Of Soviet Union, 1990 Nobel Peace Prize
- 2001 — Lech Walesa — Former Pres. Of Poland, 1983 Nobel Peace Prize
- 2002 — Oscar Arias — Former Pres. Of Costa Rica, 1987 Nobel Peace Prize
- 2003 — Scott Carpenter — Original Mercury Astronaut and NASA executive
- 2003 — Jody Williams —International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize
- 2004 — Robert Hass — U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995-1997
- 2005 — Dr. Jane Goodall — United Nations Messenger of Peace
- 2006 — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Environmentalist / Attorney
- 2007 — Jean Michel Cousteau — Environmental Advocate
- 2008 — Dr. Richard Leakey — Environmentalist and Paleoanthropologist
- 2009 — Sean Carroll — Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics
- 2010 — Naomi Judd — Musical Artist / Hepatitis C Spokesperson
2011–2012 Chico Performances
President's Lecture Series Speaker:
Sir Salman Rushdie
Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World
September 29, 2011
LAXSON AUDITORIUM
7:30 p.m.
$40 Premium | $35 Adult
$33 Senior | $25 Student/Child
"A pop culture icon, one of the most thought-provoking proponents for free speech today." — Lavin Agencyk
Sir Salman Rushdie is one of the most celebrated authors of our time — of any time. A brilliant provocateur, he's penned a handful of classic novels, influenced a generation of writers, and received a Queen's Knighthood for "services to literature." He stands as both a pop culture icon and one of the most thought-provoking proponents for free speech today.
Sir Salman Rushdie's novels, greeted always with anticipation and acclaim, include The Satanic Verses, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and 2008's The Enchantress of Florence. For his masterwork of magic realism, Midnight's Children, he won the prestigious Booker Prize, and later, the Best of the Booker. An eclectic writer and noted public intellectual, Rushdie has won many of the world's top literary prizes, published a heralded collection of essays, Step Across the Line, written a book on The Wizard of Oz, and served for two years as president of The PEN American Center, the world's oldest human rights organization.
In his spellbinding lectures, Sir Salman Rushdie braids together the worlds of literature, politics and philosophy — a show of intellectual pyrotechnics and deadpan humor that conveys fully the texture of modern life. He speaks about the major themes coursing through his writing, his life and our world: freedom of expression, religion, pop culture, current events at home and abroad, East-West relations, and the role of the artist to shape our understanding of the world.
For those more interested in his writing, he touches on storytelling, the magical realism he made famous, and the unique sensibility of his self-proclaimed "globe-swallowing, capricious books." Few authors are as enrapturing in person as Rushdie is, or as fully embracing of their well-earned place in the spotlight.
Sir Salman Rushdie's latest, Luka and the Fire of Life, is a children's novel and a companion to Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Rushdie's memoirs will be published by Random House in 2012.
This lecture is sponsored by The Office of the President and The Office of the Provost at CSU, Chico as part of the annual President’s Lecture Series.