Rorem is himself an important literary figure—the author of Paris Diaries and New York Diaries, which chronicle his life as a young composer in the postwar years. Gillinson, a cellist and the former managing director of the London Symphony, became the artistic and executive director of Carnegie Hall this fall.

D'Amboise, a former dancer with New York City Ballet, directs the National Dance Institute, which he founded.

Other arts figures scheduled to appear include Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater; actors Cynthia Nixon and John Lithgow; critic Margo Jefferson; sculptor Tom Otterness; and Dana Gioia, a poet and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Other speakers range from New York fire commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta to journalist Kurt Anderson.

"The Book That Changed My Life" takes place at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space on Broadway and 95th Street in Manhattan, starting at 11 a.m. Tickets are $10 for each 150-minute segment. Visit www.symphonyspace.org or call 212-864-5400 for more information.