The new season schedules for the region's two popular speaker series are in place -- mostly -- and they reflect very different approaches.

Robert Morris University's Pittsburgh Speakers Series is taking on an international political cast while the Drue Heinz Lectures emphasizes the mainstream literary angle.

The major political names on the Robert Morris agenda are formers -- ex-first lady Laura Bush and ex-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Major literary lights on the Heinz Lectures calendar are Tom Wolfe, Elizabeth Gilbert and Paul Theroux.

Lectures' executive director Jayne Adair said last week that a "very big author to be announced" will fill the March 22 slot.

Kicking off the Heinz Lectures' 18th year will be the inspirational memoir writer Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the best-selling "Eat, Pray, Love."

Musharraf, who resigned in August to avoid impeachment charges after nine years running Pakistan, opens the Robert Morris season Sept. 30.

The remainder of the Heinz lineup, minus that "very big author," is:

Oct. 5: Short-story writer Lorrie Moore, whose best-known collection is "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?"

Oct. 19: Paul Theroux, 68, who assembled his impressive writing resume from a combination of off-beat travel books, powerfully written novels, and a particularly nasty attack on his former mentor, V.S. Naipaul, "Sir Vidia's Shadow."

Nov. 2: A pioneer practitioner of the "New Journalism" in his youth, the 78-year-old Tom Wolfe has changed his genre to fiction but continues to wear that same white suit. He has a new novel, "Back to Blood."

Nov. 19: Junot Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year for "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Woo." He represents the best of America's emerging Hispanic writers.

Dec. 7: Here's the chance to buy a cookbook for a Christmas present when Lidia Bastianich stops to talk about her new book and Strip District restaurant.

Feb. 8, 2010: Another popular travel writer, Barry Lopez appears in conjunction with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to discuss whales.

Feb. 22: Elizabeth Alexander became the fourth poet to write and read a poem for a presidential inauguration when she appeared at President Barack Obama's swearing-in. She's chairwoman of African-American Studies at Yale University.

April 5: The author of "Wicked," the novel that inspired the Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire, will appear.

The Drue Heinz Lectures are held in the Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. Tickets: 412-622-8866. Single tickets or subscriptions available.

The Pittsburgh Speakers Series is subscription only. Its lineup for 2009-10:

Oct. 12: Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, has followed in his father's flipper-splashes and now heads the Ocean Futures Society.

Nov. 23: Laura Bush joins the lecture circuit in her life after the White House.

Jan. 13, 2010: We switch political parties for Robert Reich, University of California professor and secretary of labor under President Clinton.

Feb. 10: Actress Mia Farrow started the celebrity adoption trend years ago and is now on the lecture tour to talk about humanitarianism, not Woody Allen.

April 7: In a era of angry, outspoken right-wing demagogues, New York Times columnist David Brooks is the exception with his soothing, Jell-O-like conservatism.

April 28: Greg Mortenson created a stir with his moving book, "Three Cups of Tea." He heads the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Asia.

All talks are in Heinz Hall. Subscriptions range from $285 to $420. To order, 412-392-4900.