New Authors Eager to Share Their Works With the Public

Opportunities abound to meet authors and share in the results of their literary toil. Mystery writers and poets, a columnist and nature photographer, storytellers and children’s authors await your presence.

There are a couple of happenings this week at Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. J.A. Jance will sign “Dead to Rights,” the fourth in her Sheriff Joanna Brady series, at noon Friday. And Lindsay Maracotta presents her debut mystery, “The Dead Hollywood Moms Society,” at noon Saturday.

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Virginia Cornell has just published “The Latest Wrinkle,” an illustrated collection of her columns that ran for many years in Montecito Life and the Carpinteria Herald. Cornell will lecture from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Carpinteria Friends of the Library Used Book Store, 1013 Casitas Pass Road, Shepard Plaza, Carpinteria.

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Tim Hauf, a recipient of the Douglas Shively Award of Excellence for Photography, will present a slide show and sign his new book, “Channel Islands National Park, a Photographic Interpretation” at a champagne reception at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St., Ventura.

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A newly formed spirituality and world religions book group will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the cafe at Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. The discussions will be based on Huston Smith’s book, “World’s Religions.”

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Arlen Handberg will demonstrate “Genealogy on the Internet” and how to access libraries and archives on the World Wide Web at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the Computer Interest Group of the Conejo Valley Genealogical Society, Adult Education Center, 1025 Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks. Call 497-8293.

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By way of clarification: A person named Friday hosts the Poetry on Tuesdays readings at 2 West Coffee Co., Ventura. Phil Taggart is the featured poet who will read at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Open-reading sign ups are at 7:30 p.m. The group also sponsors writers’ workshops. Call 643-6411.

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The author-illustrator team of Sarah Stewart and David Small will entertain and sign “Fenwick’s Suit” and “The Library,” at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura. The bookstore has expanded and now offers a selection of “good books for grown-ups” in addition to teacher and parenting titles.

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In Santa Barbara

Occasionally a book is created with a feel and appearance that gives great pleasure before it’s even opened. “Poetry in the Garden,” edited and published by Jacqueline Miller Bachar, is such a volume. It’s beautifully crafted, illustrated from the editor’s collection of antique prints, and presents the poetry of 49 California women, including Mary Freericks and Inge Knapp, two local poets.

Bachar will be the featured guest at a poetry and music reception under the oaks, hosted by the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, at 1 p.m. Saturday. She will then read and sign at 4 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 829 State St. Call 682-4726 for details.

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Using the garden as metaphor for a spiritual journey, Judith Handelsman has written the handsomely designed “Growing Myself,” which she will sign at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St.

Frances Halpern is co-host with Jon O’Brien of “Beyond Words” at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU 88.3 FM, Ventura County’s National Public Radio station.