Tina Fey, Dick Van Dyke, Kobe Bryant Considered for Malibu Speaker Series

By The Malibu Times · Mon Jul 14 2014

Tina Fey, Bryan Cranston and Kobe Bryant are among the big names the Malibu City Council Library Subcommittee is reviewing as potential candidates for the 2015 Malibu Library Speaker Series.

The subcommittee will meet to discuss possible speakers on Monday, July 14.

Last year, the council was allotted $100,000 for speaker fees, and while the "Set Aside Fund" for the council totals $2.5 million, the amount of money granted for the coming years series is still undetermined.

The council expects to host 10 speakers in 2015, one speaker per month except during August and December.

A list of potential speakers includes notable figures from screen including "Saturday Night Live" alum and New York Times Best Selling author, Tina Fey, and acting legend and Malibu local, Dick Van Dyke. 

Athletes Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tim Tebow, an unsigned free agent working with ESPN as a college football analyst, made the list of persons of interest for the series. 

Authors Paul Coelh ("The Alchemist"), and Jon Krakauer, ("Into the Wild"), are listed as potential speakers under the literature section. 

A full list of recommended speakers for the series is as follows: 

Arts 

• Dale Chihuly: Artist 

• Zippora Karz: New York Ballet and author of "The Sugarplum Fairy"

• Chester Whitmoore: Choreographer

Entertainment

• Tina Fey: "Bossypants"

• Dick Van Dyke: Actor 

• Dustin Hoffman: Actor 

• Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-Ki Joo: Musicians 

• Bryan Cranston: Actor, screenwriter, director and producer 

Industry 

• David Mitch: Creator of "Deadwood" and "NYPD Blues"

• Danny Boyle: "Slumdog Millionaire" 

• Julie Taymor: "Lion King"

• Fran Drescher: Actress 

Environment 

• Carole Mintzer: Sierra Club

• Len Herring: Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Energy

• Josh Fox: "Gasland"

Education

• Ernestine De Soto: Chumash Historian 

• Gene Bream: Former Malibu High School history teacher

• Ron Sider: Founder of Evangelicals for Social Action 

• Sir Ken Robinson: Advisor on education in the arts

• Kevin Starr: Historian

• Diane Luby Lane: Founder of GetLit

Food

• Amelia Saltsman: Chef and author of the "Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cookbook"

• Giada deLaurentis: Chef and author of "Giada at Home" 

Literature

• Amy Krause Rosenthal: "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life"

• Jon Krakauer: "Into the Wild"

• Paul Coelh: "The Alchemist"

• Anne Fadiman: "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"

• Norm Ostead: "Crazy for the Storm"

• Dan Povenmire and Jeff Marsh: "Phineas and Ferb"

• Vanessa Patten: "You’re Grounded"

• Billy Collins: U.S. Poet Laureate 

Click here to read the entire subcommittee report.