A Conversation with Pico Iyer is next on their illuminate Speaker Series line up.
Pico Iyer courtesy photo by Brigitte Lacomb.
SANTA BARBARA – Hospice of Santa Barbara (HSB) has adjusted to the new realities that come with COVID-19 by creating their illuminate Speaker Series – a series that started last year which not only addresses aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic but also offers help on how to navigate through this new reality.
Over the past year and a half, one way the organization has transitioned to serve is by providing helpful resources to our community and beyond as they relate to COVID-19 through this virtual series that features a new world-renowned speaker every month. Past speakers include Roshi Joan Halifax, Frank Ostaseski, Katy Butler, Sharon Salzberg, Dr. BJ Miller, Dr. Sunita Puri, Jene?e Johnson, Daniel Goleman, and Nora McInerny.
Next up on their illuminate Speaker Series is A Conversation with Pico Iyer that will be presented Wednesday, August 18th at 6:00 PM PDT. The event is free, but registration is required.
In the fall of 2020, Pico Iyer kicked off HSB’s illuminate Speaker Series with an inspiring exploration of coping with life under the pandemic. Pico will be returning to illuminate to discuss some of the questions that have been on his mind recently as conditions keep evolving: how can any of us live differently as we emerge from the pandemic? And how has living so close to death for so long, as all the world has been doing these past eighteen months, changed and even instructed us? What might his adopted home of Japan have to offer as we think about grief, death and transitions? How has his thinking about loss changed after the death of his mother a few weeks ago?
Pico Iyer is a novelist, travel writer, and four-time TED Talk speaker. He is the author of numerous books including The Global Soul, The Lady and the Monk, his bestselling The Open Road, an unprecedented portrait of the Dalai Lama. One of his most recent books, Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells, is a meditation on impermanence, mortality, and grief seeded in his part-time home of Japan, a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honoring the dead. His books have been translated into 23 languages, and he has written liner notes for Leonard Cohen, a film script, a libretto for a chamber orchestra, and the introductions to more than 60 other works. An essayist for TIME since 1986, Iyer is a consistent contributor for the New York Times, Harper’s, Granta, and more than 200 other newspapers and magazines worldwide.
“We are very excited to have Pico join us once again. He has played a key role in our illuminate Speaker Series over the past year, which officially launched when he was our keynote speaker for our virtual “Heroes of Hospice” event last September,” said David Selberg, CEO of Hospice of Santa Barbara. “His connection with Santa Barbara combined with his world-wide appeal and experience makes him a valuable and highly regarded source for inspirational guidance in this time of uncertainty.”
A Conversation with Pico Iyer will be moderated by Charles Caldwell from Hospice of Santa Barbara. Charles Caldwell has devoted the last two decades to working in nonprofit service. At Pacifica Graduate Institute, he graduated with an M.A. in Mythological Studies-Depth Psychology. In his studies, Charles is particularly moved by the confluence of esoteric traditions, systems theory, and quantum physics. He is inspired by his work at HSB and by his young son, Jack.
As we all know, people are reeling from this world-wide crisis emotionally, socially, and economically. People have shared a variety of intense feelings they are experiencing during this time, among them: fear, deep sadness, anxiety, grief, uncertainty over the present and what the future holds, vulnerability, despair, anger, hopelessness.
Hospice of Santa Barbara would like to give a special thanks to Natalie Orfalea Foundation and Lou Buglioli, Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, and Santa Barbara Foundation for sponsoring this event.
To find out more, and register for this free event, please visit: http://www.hospiceofsb.org/hsbseries.
Para obtener más información y registrarse para el evento, visite: http://www.hospiceofsb.org/hsbseries.
Interpretación simultanea al español disponsible.
Hospice of Santa Barbara — Hospice of Santa Barbara provides professional counseling, support groups, and patient care services free of charge to individuals and families who are grieving the death of a loved one or experiencing the impact of a life-threatening illness. Hospice of Santa Barbara also provides counseling in our offices and on fifteen local junior and high school campuses to children and teens who are grieving the loss of a loved one. For more information about Hospice of Santa Barbara, including volunteer opportunities, call (805) 563-8820 or visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org.