Writers Conference to Be Held on Religious Market Publishing : The event, sponsored by Christian Writers of Ventura, will also offer information about other specialty areas.

Writers who have overlooked the religious market will have an opportunity to learn about this and other specialty publishing markets at the annual Writers’ Day Conference sponsored by Christian Writers of Ventura. This year’s panelists are Susan Titus Osborn, editor of the Christian Communicator, and Wes Haystead, Jessica Shaver and Jan Johnson, whose credits include hundreds of articles and dozens of books. Subjects include fiction and poetry techniques, free-lancing for newspapers and magazines, how to write query letters and book proposals and how to do research. The conference costs $30 and is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at South Coast Fellowship, 4050 Market St., Ventura. Call Julie Carobine at 647-4566 for registration details.

*

The Genealogical Society, which usually meets at the Thousand Oaks Library (closed due to earthquake damage), will regroup at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Waverly School, 1025 Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks. Gail Teague will describe “Where to Get and How to Use Computer Program PAF 2.3.” The 6:30 p.m. beginners class will focus on “Libraries and Their Specialties.” Call 497-8293 or 498-6006 for details.

*

Artist Brian Pinkney, who wanted to be a drummer when he was a little boy, will sign his latest children’s picture book, “Max Found Two Sticks,” from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura. Pinkney has illustrated a number of award-winning books, including a new edition of “Dream Keeper” by Langston Hughes.

*

The noted playwright and screenwriter James Prideaux will be the featured speaker at the Ventura County Writers’ Club. His credits include “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln,” which won Julie Harris her fourth Tony and earned Prideaux a New York Drama Desk Award, and the PBS television productions “Mrs. Lincoln’s Husband” and “Lyndon,” based on Merle Miller’s biography of President Johnson. Noted also for his celebrity profiles, Prideaux will share candid observations of performers he has written for and worked with, including Katherine Hepburn, Dame Judith Anderson, Geraldine Page, Meryl Streep and Elizabeth Taylor. The evening begins at 7:30 Tuesday at Ottavio’s, 340 Mobil Ave., Camarillo. There is a $5 fee for non-members. Call 482-5648 or 644-9592 for details.

*

Gay Walker, a marriage and family counselor, will describe techniques to unlocking “inner wisdom” in a four-week class on Journal Writing for Personal Growth, which begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Road in Ventura. Register at 654-6459.