Johnson & Wales University has announced the 2015-2016 series of speakers that comprise the free Cultural Life Series presented by the John Hazen White College of Arts & Sciences.

Tonight at 7 Jeannette Walls, author of “The Glass Castle,” will be speaking at the Schneider Auditorium at Xavier Hall, 261 Pine St., Providence.

Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Walls graduated with honors from Barnard College. She published the best-selling memoir, “The Glass Castle,” in 2005, and has been a New York Times bestseller for more than six years. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, “The Silver Star” and “Half Broke Horses,” named one of the 10 best books of 2009 by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. A former gossip columnist for MSNBC.com, Walls currently lives in rural Virginia.  

On Oct. 28 at 1:45 p.m. Helene Wecker, author of “The Golem and the Jinni,” an immigrant tale that combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology will speak at the Harborside Academic Center amphitheater, 265 Harborside Boulevard, Providence.

Wecker grew up in Illinois, and received her bachelor’s degree in English from Carleton College in Minnesota. She later moved to New York to pursue a master’s degree in fiction at Columbia University.

On Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 11:35 a.m. Sut Jhally, professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst whose work focuses on cultural studies, advertising, media, and consumption, will speak at the Pepsi Forum at Wales Hall, 8 Abbott Park Place, Providence.

A producer of more than 40 documentaries on media literacy topics, Jhally is also the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation, which produces and distributes films that inspire critical reflection on the impact of American mass media.  

On Wednesday, March 16 at 11:35 a.m. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science and a leading authority on autism, will speak at Schneider Auditorium at Xavier Hall, 261 Pine St., Providence.

Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Grandin didn’t speak until she was 3½. Her parents were told to institutionalize her. Instead, she was raised in the ’50s by her patient mother who insisted that she learn social skills, along with academics. She teaches at Colorado State University and speaks around the world on both autism and cattle handling. Grandin developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world. A 2009 HBO movie titled “Temple Grandin” earned Clare Danes her first Emmy Award for her portrayal of Grandin.

On Tuesday, April 12 at 11:35 a.m. Jesmyn Ward, an American novelist and an associate professor of English at Tulane University, will speak at Schneider Auditorium at Xavier Hall, 261 Pine St., Providence.

She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction and a 2012 Alex Award with her second novel “Salvage the Bones,” a story about familial love and community in the days before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Prior to teaching at Tulane, Ward was an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama.

All events are free and open to the public on a limited basis, but attendees must have reservations. Contact the College of Arts & Sciences at 598-1400 for more information.