Conference Lectures, Seminars Feature the Glitterati of Literati

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, celebrating its 25th year, is completely sold out. However, if you’re serious about the business of writing and getting published, make it a point to attend any of the accompanying open-to-the-public lectures and seminars. There are 17, at $7 each. The weeklong literary bonanza begins Friday at the Miramar Hotel on South Jameson Lane in Montecito.

You can hear and meet literary legends William Styron, Ray Bradbury, Charles Schulz and Robert Fulghum. Join a serious discussion about humor with author/entertainers Jonathan Winters and Fannie Flagg. Learn how Bob Kane created Batman or how to get published at a variety of nuts-and-bolts seminars offered Saturday through June 26 at 4 p.m. The Tuesday agents panel is for registered conference attendees only, but the June 26 Editors Looking for Writers seminar is open to the public. Call (805) 684-2250 for further details.

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The celebration in honor of reading and to collect 10,000 books for the libraries of Ventura County continues at the Oaks shopping center, 222 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. The KCET Store of Knowledge is hosting story time from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. today, and Waldenbooks is sponsoring an appearance by members of the Berenstain Bears at 1 p.m. Saturday. Kids who bring new or used books to the special bins at the Oaks center court will get prizes.

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Two evening workshops are beginning this week at Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura. Ella the Storyteller will teach 7- to 12-year-olds how to perform their own stories beginning at 6:15 tonight and continuing June 26, and July 10 and 17. And the Kids You Might Otherwise Never Meet book club discussion group for 10- to 13-year-olds and their parents will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday. Call (805) 650-9688.

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Peter Delacorte’s third novel is a Hollywood fable and “an enchantingly imaginative, nimble tale of suspense and romance based on the premise of time travel,” according to a Publishers Weekly review. Delacorte will sign “Time on My Hands” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Westlake Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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Edd Byrnes, who became a star playing Kookie in the television series “77 Sunset Strip,” has penned a tell-all, naming-names, candid autobiography. He reveals a past that included drug addiction, male prostitution, alcoholism and overwhelming debt. He’s climbed back out of the morass and describes how in “Edd Byrnes: ‘Kookie’ No More,” which he will sign at 11 a.m. Sunday in Tottenham Court, 242 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai.

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The Ojai Center for the Arts, 113 S. Montgomery St., will hold its Poetry Festival from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday to celebrate publication of the ninth edition of the literary journal “rivertalk,” edited by Joan Raymund. Contributors to “rivertalk” will read their work. Call (805) 646-7801.

In Santa Barbara: William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose work includes “Lie Down in Darkness” “Confessions of Nat Turner” “Set This House on Fire” and “Sophie’s Choice,” will sign his books at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Earthling, 1137 State St. Styron, who will be honored for a lifetime of literary excellence at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, will speak about writing his first novel at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Miramar Hotel.

* 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.