Next up in Hospice of Santa Barbara’s (HSB) illuminate Speaker Series is A Conversation with Pico Iyer, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18. The event is free, but registration is required.

HSB created the illuminate Speaker Series last year to address various aspects of COVID-19, as well as offer help on how to navigate through the pandemic-driven new reality.

In fall 2020, Iyer kicked off the illuminate Speaker Series with an exploration of coping with life under the pandemic. He will be returning to illuminate to discuss some of the questions that have been on his mind recently as conditions evolve:

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 the past 18 months, changed and even instructed us?

What might Iyer’s adopted home of Japan have to offer as people think about grief, death and transitions? How has his thinking about loss changed after the death of his mother a few weeks ago?

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,” and his bestselling “The Open Road,” a 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.

Iyer’s 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 introductions to some 60 other works. An essayist for TIME since 1986, Iyer is a contributor for The New York Times, Harper’s, Granta, and 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 worldwide appeal and experience makes him a valuable and highly regarded source for inspirational guidance in this time of uncertainty,” Selberg said.

A Conversation with Pico Iyer will be moderated by Charles Caldwell from Hospice of Santa Barbara. 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.

HSB thanks Natalie Orfalea Foundation and Lou Buglioli, Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, and Santa Barbara Foundation for sponsoring the event.

For more, and to register for the Iyer event, visit: http://www.hospiceofsb.org/hsbseries.

For more information about Hospice of Santa Barbara, including volunteer opportunities, call 805-563-8820 or visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org.