Library Foundation of Newport Beach
PROGRAMS
Witte Lecture Series
The Witte Lecture Series will began its 30th season of distinguished speakers in January 2027. There are four scheduled speakers each season, and each lecture is presented twice. The speakers for the 30th season include historian Rutger Bregman, author and National Geographic explorer Sy Montgomery, Journalist Ronan Farrow, and executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute Corby Kummer. Past speakers have included Anne Applebaum, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Frum, Anna Deveare Smith, and many others. Witte Lectures do have a fee. Friday night includes a light dinner after the lecture, and the author is available to sign books and interact with the audience. Saturday includes light refreshments after the lecture during the author interaction and book signing. Individual tickets are available as is a season pass.
The Witte Lectures will be presented in the new Witte Hall, which has 299 seats in a tiered auditorium, state of the art technology, and assistive listening devices. The Witte Series continually sells out. The Witte Lectures was one of the first distinguished speaker series in Orange County.
Library Live
Library Live is a series of four lectures featuring authors of note, usually with a book published in the last six months. Each lecture is presented once. Library Live is a ticketed program and single tickets and season passes are available. The 2026-2027 season is its 19th. Authors this season include Tim Greiving, Susan Orlean, Stephan Witt, Lauren Groff, and Patrick Ryan. This season's Library Live lectures begin with a special presentation by Tim Greiving during the Newport Beach Art Week in August. Library Live will also be presented in Witte Hall.
Library Live has continually sought to contract diverse speakers to its stage. The past four seasons included Min Jin Lee (Pachinko), Omar El-Akkad (What Strange Paradise), Charles Yu (Interior Chinatown), Brit Bennett (Vanishing Half), Lisa See (Lady Tan's Circle of Women), Javier Zamora, and Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See.)
Free Community Programs
The Foundation presents four programs that are free to the public. The only adult book club at the Library is the Foundation's Book Discussion Group, which attracts 35-45 readers nine times a season. The Financial Literacy Workshop, presented with partner It's Your Money & Estate, has 12 morning workshops a season and draws an average of 75 participants. The Foundation partners with UCI Health for Medicine in Your Backyard, a series of nine evening programs presenting the latest studies and newest technologies in medicine and health.
Each of these programs are within the goal of expanding literacy in the public venue: medical/health, financial, and literature.
Spotlight on Science
A free program featuring extraordinary and renowned scientists who shed light on innovative and exciting research in the sciences. Its focus is to promote and expand scientific literacy in the community. Spotlight on Science will be held in Witte Hall. Scientists for this season include Rob Knight, Ph.D., speaking on how microbes shape health, Paul Robertson, Ph.D., speaking on finding earth-like planets, Sir David MacMillan on catalysts, and Victoria Orphan, Ph. D., on deep sea microbes.
Science, research, and the scientific method is too often misunderstood or ignored in contemporary American society. The Foundation's goal is to present critically important scientific research and discoveries to the community and engender discussion on these initiatives.
Project Adult Literacy
Project Adult Literacy is a program of the Newport Beach Public Library; a free program that works with adults on literacy to improve reading, writing, and communication skills. The former support group for this program disbanded and the Library Foundation stepped in to provide additional support for this very valuable program and to promote and advance its objectives. The Foundation maintains a restricted account from the remaining funds of the former Pals4PAL support group and grants 5% of that fund to the Library for the program annually. That grant is currently $25,000 annually.
The Library requested support for this fiscal year for its annual publication of writings by its learners, specific software subscriptions for adult literacy programs, promotional materials, and training for its tutors and staff.
CONTACT
Library Foundation of Newport Beach
1000 Avocado Avenue
Newport Beach, California 92660
Jerold Kappel
jkappel@LibraryFoundationNB.org
Phone: 9497173890