Small House Takes Honors for Staying Power

Publishing today is an industry of changing fortunes. Publishing houses create new imprints, close down others and get swallowed up by big corporations owned by mega-giants. Editors are turned loose in this down-sizing decade, changing jobs frequently.

It is almost a phenomena to be an enduring small publishing house. And so the literary community plans to honor Noel Young, who 30 years ago founded the internationally recognized Capra Press in Santa Barbara.

During these years, Capra has issued more than 300 titles, beginning with Henry Miller’s “On Turning Eighty,” and the most recent, “Men Down West,” by Ken Lincoln. Literary friends, among them former Times book editor Digby Diehl, and several authors who Capra has published, including Gretel Ehrlich, Peter Beagle, Thomas Sanchez, Leon Elder, John McKinney and Charles Hillinger, will celebrate the occasion at 3 p.m. Sunday at Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St.

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Events at Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura, include a slide show presented by photographer Tim Hauf, author of “Channel Islands National Park,” at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

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The Ojai Institute, 160 Besant Road, is sponsoring an evening of poetry and music featuring pianist-composer Adam Asarnow and creative writing teacher Jari Chevalier, who has been published in numerous literary journals. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and includes refreshments. Admission is $8. Call 646-2536.

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April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate the occasion, award-winning local poets Jane Autenrieth Chapman, Patricia Bevan and Tim Pompey will read at 8 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Westlake Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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Diane Reichick, editor of Verve literary magazine and vice president of American Pen Women/Simi Valley branch, will be the featured poet at 8 p.m. Sunday at Borders Books, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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A fast-approaching deadline for term papers is probably nagging at most college students now. Well, Bandanna Books of Santa Barbara may be able to ease the way with its “Don’t Panic: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Writing an Effective Term Paper” by Steven Posusta. The slim, tightly written book costs $6.95. If you can’t find it in bookstores, call Bandanna at 962-9915 to order.

Younger students should get a kick out of the illustrated “How to Do Homework Without Throwing Up” (Free Spirit Publishing) by Trevor Romain. This amusing little guide may help change kids’ aversion to homework.

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In Santa Barbara

“Pasadena Cowboy,” by John Church, is a forceful memoir, according to Kevin Starr, historian, author and California’s librarian. This coming-of-age saga depicts life in Southern California and Montana from 1925 to 1947 and includes dozens of photos. Church will discuss his adventures at 7 tonight at Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St.

In a continuing celebration of poetry month at Earthling, Perie Longo, author of “Under Milkweed,” will present young people’s poetry at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

* Frances Halpern and Jon O’Brien are co-hosts of “Beyond Words” at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU-FM (88.3), Ventura County’s National Public Radio station.