Trio of Events to Focus on the Written Word

Anyone interested in the written word--writers, readers or collectors--will find this to be an exceptional weekend, with three important events scheduled.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators will hold an all-day conference in Thousand Oaks on Saturday. Dan Poynter offers a self-publishing seminar in Santa Barbara, also on Saturday. And the annual State Street Book Festival, sponsored by Earthling Bookshop and the Book Den, will be held Sunday.

Anyone interested in writing books for children should attend the SCBWI’s annual conference to meet and learn from successful authors, agents and editors, who will share their expertise in this genre. Organized every year by the Santa Barbara/Ventura chapter of SCBWI, the event will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Cal Lutheran University, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. The $55 fee includes lunch. Call 581-1906.

Dan Poynter, author of more than 70 books--including “Is There a Book Inside You?”--and acknowledged as one of the leading experts on self-publishing, will conduct a workshop on “How to Write, Produce & Promote a Book” from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Saturday in the Karpeles Manuscript Library, 21 W. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. Earthling Bookshop will serve lunch, which is included in the $75 fee. Register at Earthling, 1137 State St., or call 965-0926.

Hundreds of Ventura- and Santa Barbara-area publishers, authors and antiquarian-book sellers will display their wares at the book fair and festival, which begins at 10 a.m. Sunday. The two-block area at State and Anapamu streets, anchored by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Earthling, will be closed to vehicular traffic. Food booths, entertainment and activities for children are part of the day’s festivities.

As part of Sunday’s book festivities in Santa Barbara, Sue Grafton will sign her latest mystery, “M Is for Malice,” at 1 p.m. at Earthling. The bookstore anticipates a large turnout for the signing and is advising Grafton fans to purchase books in advance and get a number for a place in line.

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Dale Furutani will sign his first in a new series, “Death in Little Tokyo,” at noon Saturday at Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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G. Murray Thomas, editor of the literary journal Next, will read at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by open readings for poets at the Simi Valley Library Poetry Group in the library, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road. Donation of a book to the Friends of the Library bookstore will be welcome.

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Luis Omar Salinas, recipient of the distinguished Stanley Kunitz award and author of six published books of poetry, will read and sign his books, including “Follower of Dusk,” at several locations this week.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday he will be at Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St., Ventura. He heads to Santa Barbara for two visits, one at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Contemporary Arts Forum in the Paseo Nuevo shopping area, the other at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Barnes & Noble, 829 State St.

On Tuesday he appears twice in Ventura: at Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Road, at 10:30 a.m., and at Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., at 7:30 p.m. His last appearance will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Oxnard College, 400 S. Rose Ave. For details call Grant Marcus at 648-2455.

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Major publishing houses are responding to the public’s fascination with the sources of Western religious beliefs. Among the latest titles on bookstore shelves are the Pulitzer Prize-winning “God, a Biography,” by Jack Miles; “Searching for God in America,” by Hugh Hewitt; “The Genesis of Ethics,” by Burton L. Visotzky; “Miraculous Living,” by Rabbi Shoni Labowitz; and the new translation of classic biblical stories, “Genesis,” by Stephen Mitchell.

You can get involved in the discussion by joining the Spirituality and World Religions Book Group, which meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders Books, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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.