Malibu Library Speaker Series
Anne Lamott And Neal ALlen
- Thursday, March 19, 7:00 PM at Malibu City Hall
- Event at capacity, join the waitlist on the LA County Library website
Anne Lamott and Neal Allen discuss their new book, Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences. The book offers an intimate look at how Anne and Neal collaborate in writing, editing, and life together. With humor, warmth, and wisdom, they speak to audiences seeking relief from political anxiety, help navigate creative roadblocks, and offer practical ways to manage life's everyday gremlins.
Neal Allen is a writer, spiritual coach, and speaker. He is the author of Shapes of Truth and Better Days. A former journalist and corporate executive, he holds master's degrees in political science and Eastern classics.
Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, as well as several bestselling books of nonfiction, including Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son's first year; Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son; and the classic book on writing, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
bill mckibben
- Wednesday, April 22, 5:00 PM at Pepperdine University, Elkins Auditorium
- RSVP not required
Bill McKibben was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the “alternative Nobel.” His book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been translated into 24 languages. TIME Magazine called him “perhaps the planet’s best green journalist,” and he’s lectured and organized on every continent, including Antarctica. His recent books include The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon, an investigation of our tumultuous past and a roadmap towards a better future, and the New York Times bestseller Falter, which offers a piercing look not only at our environmental challenges, but at the existential questions that come with new technologies like artificial intelligence. The LA Review of Books says “McKibben in Falter once more explains nature’s workings, asks profound questions, and tells wonderful stories,” calling it “a humane and wise book, even a beautiful one.”
In his heartfelt, hopeful talks, McKibben offers realistic approaches to saving our planet, as individuals, of course, but also as thoughtful members of a mobilized group. When it comes to building a movement, we should consider “being a little bit less of an individual,” he says. Together, we can create “the right kind of pressure” to make change, like getting college campuses to divest from fossil fuels. He also explores the environmental possibilities of technology, like the use of solar panels across Africa. Audiences are uplifted by McKibben’s stories of people all over the world engaged in making the planet a more environmentally just, sustainable place. His talks “give people a sense that even in their deep worry—they are not alone,” he says.