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Courtesy of the St. Louis Speakers Series
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Courtesy of the St. Louis Speakers Series
For 20 years, the St. Louis Speakers Series has brought a pretty amazing array of lecturers to town. Its first season, in 1998-99, featured Tom Wolfe, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Ralph Nader. Other names you might recognize from over the years: Maya Angelou, Beverly Sills, Terry Groce, Jane Goodall, Salman Rushdie, Vincente Fox, Martin Sheen, Jeannette Walls, John Irvin, Rita Moreno, and David Cameron.
This year, there's a similarly impressive and timely lineup. The trick with the Speakers' Series: there are no single tickets. It's a yearlong subscription. And it always sells out. The programming doesn't start till this October, but if the past is a guide, the tickets will be gone before the first day of summer.
Here's this the lineup for this season:
October 9: James Comes, former FBI Director
October 30: Neuroscientist Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice
November 13: Ms. Magazine co-founder and pioneering feminist Gloria Steinem
January 22: Former Florida governor and presidential candidate, Jeb Bush
February 26: Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
March 19: Eurasia group founder Ian Bremmer
April 30: Jay Leno, comedian, former Tonight Show host, and current host of Jay Leno's Garage on CNBC
All lectures are held at Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand, beginning at 8 p.m., and are followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Subscriptions range from $315-$455. For more information, or to purchase a subscription, call 314-534-1700 or visit stlouisspeakers.org.