Notable speakers set for this area

Individual tickets for Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series went on sale this week.

Leading off will be Fareed Zakaria on Jan. 11, an editor at Newsweek International and the host of CNN's GPS Show.

Peggy Noonan, a New York Times best-selling author, newspaper columnist, and former presidential speechwriter, will take the stage Jan. 25.

Condoleezza Rice, the nation’s 66th Secretary of State, will speak Feb. 8.

Pervez Musharraf, a former president of Pakistan, is slated to speak March 10, and Phillipe de Montebello, who led New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for more than 25 years, will speak March 31.

The lectures take place at Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, at 10:30 a.m. or 7:30 p.m

The tickets, which cost between $60-86 each, are available for each of the five lectures scheduled for the series’ 30th anniversary year, officials said.

This year, attendees may also pay extra to eat: A “light bite/dessert reception” is available for evening lectures, and a lunch follows morning lectures, officials said.

To reserve tickets, call (941) 925-1343 or go online to www.RCLAssociation.org. The lecture series is the association’s major fundraiser; over 75 years, it has donated more than $6 million to support the students and library at Ringling College of Art and Design.

Sara