Sexton Biographer to Discuss Work : The publication has generated controversy over the use of material from the poet’s sessions with her psychiatrist.

Diane Wood Middlebrook, author of the controversial “Anne Sexton: A Biography,” will make three appearances in Orange County next week.

Middlebrook, a professor of English at Stanford University, spent 10 years researching and writing her biography of Sexton, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who committed suicide in 1974. The author, who had the cooperation of Sexton’s family, had access to several hundred hours of tape-recorded sessions Sexton had with her psychiatrist.

The book is the only biography of a major American figure to include material from private sessions with a psychiatrist and has generated controversy over whether the tapes should have been made public without Anne Sexton’s written permission.

Middlebrook has been nominated for a National Book Award for nonfiction.

On Monday, Middlebrook will discuss her biography at 7 p.m. at Rizzoli bookstore in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

She will also discuss her work at noon Wednesday at Newport Center Library, 856 San Clemente Drive. Also on Wednesday, she will speak, read and sign copies of her book at a reception in her honor from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Upchurch-Brown Booksellers, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

Elephant-ear: The humanities and languages department at Irvine Valley College is now accepting submissions for its spring, 1992, issue of the Elephant-ear, a community journal that publishes nonfiction, fiction, poems and art. Copies of the 1992 issue will be available next May.

All submissions must be received by Jan. 14. For details, call managing editor Linda Thomas at (714) 559-3299.

Book Signings: Eight authors will sign from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Book Carnival, 870 N. Tustin Ave., Orange. They are: Joan Hess (“Mortal Remains in Maggody”), Sharyn McCrumb (“Missing Susan”), Caroline Hart (“Christie Caper”), Linda Barnes (“Steel Guitar”), Anthony Bruno (“Bad Business”), John Harvey (“Cutting Edge”) and Serita Steven and Rayanne Moore (“Red Sea, Dead Sea”). . . . Elias Miguel Munoz (“The Greatest Performance”) will read and sign from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Fahrenheit 451, 540 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. . . . Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette (“In Your Face: A Cartoonist at Work”) will sign at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at in Crystal Cove Auditorium in the UC Irvine Student Center.

Book Talk: Richard Ford’s “Wildlife” will be discussed at the New World of Fiction meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Newport Center Library, 856 San Clemente Drive. Free.

Writers Workshop: Joan Talmage Weiss will conduct a six-week writing workshop from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays, beginning Oct. 18, at Upchurch-Brown Booksellers, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach. Fee: $125. For reservations, call (714) 499-0011.

Readers Theatre: Peter Shaffer’s play “Equus” will be read by members of the South Orange County Community Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday at Upchurch-Brown Booksellers, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.