FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Haupt, 843-379-7025
jonathan@patconroyliterarycenter.org

Dates Set for November 2–4, 2018 | Beaufort, South Carolina

BEAUFORT, SC—The third annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival will be held in Conroy’s beloved Beaufort, South Carolina, this November 2–4. This year’s festival theme will address a trio of foundations central to Conroy’s writing life, and indeed to all of southern literature and culture: Faith, Family & Friendship. In his timeless fiction and memoirs, Conroy’s evolving sense of self was interwoven in his questioning of religion, his conflicted familial entanglements, and his stalwart belief in the fellowship of his tribe of friends. In multifaceted exploration of our three-pronged theme, the Conroy Festival will once again offer an immersive, enticing mixture of author discussions and readings, book signings, original scholarship, performances, workshops, tours, receptions, and gatherings—highlighted this year by the release of the new anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.

Festival Highlights:

  • Musical performance by the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers (who appear in Conroy’s novel Beach Music – this is NOT confirmed yet!)
  • Sunday brunch with Cassandra King Conroy in conversation with New York Times best-selling novelist Sandra Brown
  • Keynote by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist and native South Carolinian Kathleen Parker
  • Appearance by actor and poet Michael O’Keefe, star of The Great Santini
    Appearance and writing workshop by novelist, memoirist, and screenwriter Chris Offutt (True Blood, Weeds, Treme)
  • Beaufort launch of the new anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, edited by Nicole Seitz and Jonathan Haupt, foreword by Barbra Streisand, afterword by Cassandra King Conroy, and featuring essays by nearly 70 writers, many of whom will appear at the festival—including Patti Callahan Henry, Mary Alice Monroe, Anthony Grooms, Ron Rash, Catherine Seltzer, Nicole Seitz, Jonathan Haupt, Cassandra King Conroy, Melissa Conroy, Tim Conroy, Sallie Ann Robinson, Nathalie Dupree, Ellen Malphrus, Michael O’Keefe, Sandra Brown, and Kathleen Parker

See www.patconroyliteraryfestival.org for a full lineup and schedule to be announced this summer, with festival tickets to go on sale in early July.