The annual Charleston Gazette-West Virginia University Festival of Ideas - a lecture series designed to enhance cultural life in the Kanawha Valley - will resume March 10 with a discussion by a provocative U.S. author and political commentator.

Arianna Huffington is the author of 11 books, editor-in-chief of the online Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist and co-host of the public radio political roundtable, "Left, Right & Center."

Her lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Charleston Civic Center Little Theater. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Refreshments and a book-signing reception will follow.

Huffington was born in Greece in 1950 and moved to England at 16 to enter Cambridge University, where she became president of the Cambridge Union Society. After British TV appearances, she lived in London with a broadcast journalist and wrote her first book. In 1980, she moved to California and became involved with former Gov. Jerry Brown.

In 1986, she married millionaire Michael Huffington, who was elected to Congress but later lost a race for the U.S. Senate. Her 1988 book, "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer," became a Merchant-Ivory movie starring Anthony Hopkins. Her 1994 book, "The Fourth Instinct," explores people's desire for meaning in a secular, post-religious world.

She and Huffington divorced in 1997. She briefly ran for California governor in 2003, the same year she published "Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America."

She has appeared on television's Comedy Central and various TV shows elsewhere. She and other writers for "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" were nominated for an Emmy.

She calls herself a "former right-winger who has evolved into a compassionate and progressive populist." In addition to her other wide-ranging pursuits, she hosts a commentary show on Air America Radio. In 2006, Time magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

She's a follower of offbeat minister John-Roger and his Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Her latest book is "On Becoming Fearless - in Love, Work and Life. "Huffington lives in Los Angeles with her two teenage daughters.

The Gazette-WVU Festival of Ideas has been a Charleston feature for almost a decade. Here's a roster of past programs:

In 1999, the Capitol Steps comic troupe; 2000, Vietnam correspondents Peter Arnett and George Esper, plus war historian Stephen Ambrose; 2001, satirist Mark Russell, plus Pulitzer Prize winners David Halberstam, Liz Balmaseda, Tom French and Terry Wimmer, plus poet Maya Angelou, plus presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

In 2002, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, plus Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria, plus two Vietnam photographers and a Vietnamese survivor of napalm bombing; 2003, New York Times germ warfare expert Judith Miller and columnist Anna Quindlen; 2004, "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh and Newsweek managing editor Jon Meacham; 2005, Seymour Hersh and Julian Bond; 2006, George Stephanopoulos; 2007, Gore Vidal.

Arianna Huffington is the author of 11 books, editor-in-chief of the online Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist and co-host of the public radio political roundtable, "Left, Right & Center."

Her lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Charleston Civic Center Little Theater. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Refreshments and a book-signing reception will follow.

Huffington was born in Greece in 1950 and moved to England at 16 to enter Cambridge University, where she became president of the Cambridge Union Society. After British TV appearances, she lived in London with a broadcast journalist and wrote her first book. In 1980, she moved to California and became involved with former Gov. Jerry Brown.

In 1986, she married millionaire Michael Huffington, who was elected to Congress but later lost a race for the U.S. Senate. Her 1988 book, "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer," became a Merchant-Ivory movie starring Anthony Hopkins. Her 1994 book, "The Fourth Instinct," explores people's desire for meaning in a secular, post-religious world.

She and Huffington divorced in 1997. She briefly ran for California governor in 2003, the same year she published "Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America."

She has appeared on television's Comedy Central and various TV shows elsewhere. She and other writers for "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" were nominated for an Emmy.

She calls herself a "former right-winger who has evolved into a compassionate and progressive populist." In addition to her other wide-ranging pursuits, she hosts a commentary show on Air America Radio. In 2006, Time magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

She's a follower of offbeat minister John-Roger and his Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Her latest book is "On Becoming Fearless - in Love, Work and Life. "Huffington lives in Los Angeles with her two teenage daughters.

The Gazette-WVU Festival of Ideas has been a Charleston feature for almost a decade. Here's a roster of past programs:

In 1999, the Capitol Steps comic troupe; 2000, Vietnam correspondents Peter Arnett and George Esper, plus war historian Stephen Ambrose; 2001, satirist Mark Russell, plus Pulitzer Prize winners David Halberstam, Liz Balmaseda, Tom French and Terry Wimmer, plus poet Maya Angelou, plus presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

In 2002, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, plus Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria, plus two Vietnam photographers and a Vietnamese survivor of napalm bombing; 2003, New York Times germ warfare expert Judith Miller and columnist Anna Quindlen; 2004, "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh and Newsweek managing editor Jon Meacham; 2005, Seymour Hersh and Julian Bond; 2006, George Stephanopoulos; 2007, Gore Vidal.