Collard greens, okra, fried chicken, company chicken, pileau (pronounced perlo), sweet tea, pound cake and more appear throughout my poetry. Each dish is important to my experiences with my family and my community. Think of the dishes that are staples for you. What are the memories you have with that food? How do you feel while eating it? Who are you with? The tastes, textures, and smells are the menu for memory, emotion, and therefore poetry. In this workshop, we will explore the connections between [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with Columbia City Poet Laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin, author of the debut poetry collection Travelling Mercy, on Saturday, March 23, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited. Please call to reserve in advance: 843-379-7025. Boykin will also be teaching a poetry writing workshop earlier that same afternoon, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. To learn [...]

Publishing Pursuits: Traditional or Indie? Workshop Led by Kim Poovey You’ve finished your manuscript and are ready to share it with the world! The question is whether to go with a traditional publisher or try your hand at independent (Indie) publishing. There are pros and cons to both. Learn the differences between traditional, hybrid, and Indie publishing and how to decide which is the best option for your manuscript. This workshop will cover: *Aspects of traditional publishing with large and small presses, hybrid publishing, and [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center and the award-winning Rhett House Inn will host a monthly book club discussion of Pat Conroy's dozen books in order of publication, moderated by Charlene Spearen and Jonathan Haupt. Book discussions will be held monthly beginning at 6:30 p.m. Limited to 20 participants each month. $10/person. Advance registration required. Participants are expected to read the books and to come prepared to discuss them. January 25: South of Broad February 21: My Reading Life(rescheduled from February 22) March 28: The [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held virtually on Thursday, April 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is poet Heather Corbally Bryant, author of The Coffin Makers. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres. Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org. About Our Featured Writer Heather Corbally Bryant is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, in collaboration with the award-winning Rhett House Inn, will host an evening with historical novelist Carolyn P. Hartley, author of the Buried Sunshine Series, on Thursday, April 18, at 5:00-7:00 p.m., at the Rhett House Inn (1009 Craven St., Beaufort). $15 registration fee includes a glass of wine and refreshments by Mimi Rodrigues. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited. Advance registration required to attend. https://aneveningwithcarolynphartley.eventbrite.com “The Buried Sunshine Series is a courageous family saga, [...]

Need alone is not enough to win grants. Led by Penny Federspill, Grants Make Cents will provide the basic skills needed to learn the essential elements of successful grant writing. These elements include methods of finding an appropriate grant funder, from your own backyard to paid research data firms. The presentation will be comprised of all the parts of a grant narrative, accompanied by examples, with special attention directed to needs assessment, objectives, evaluation, and budgeting. This will include hands-on exercises. Time will be allotted [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with award-winning poet Ray McManus, author of The Last Saturday in America, on Thursday, April 25, at 5:00 p.m., at the Rhett House Inn's garden (1009 Craven St., Beaufort). This is an outdoor event. Free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025. About the book and author "These are poems about boys listening to men who were once boys who [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center and the award-winning Rhett House Inn will host a monthly book club discussion of Pat Conroy's dozen books in order of publication, moderated by Charlene Spearen and Jonathan Haupt. Book discussions will be held monthly beginning at 6:30 p.m. Limited to 20 participants each month. $10/person. Advance registration required. Participants are expected to read the books and to come prepared to discuss them. January 25: South of Broad February 21: My Reading Life(rescheduled from February 22) March 28: The [...]

The Beaufort Bookstore and the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with Mark Larson, award-winning educator and author of Working in the 21st Century: An Oral History of American Work in a Time of Social and Economic Transformation, on Monday, April 29, at 5:00 p.m., at the Beaufort Bookstore (2127 Boundary St, #15, Beaufort). Larson will be in conversation with two of the interview subjects of his book, Dr. N’kia J. Campbell, officer of academic initiatives for the Beaufort County School District, [...]

The South Carolina Academy of Authors (SCAA), in partnership with the Pat Conroy Literary Center, will hold its biennial induction weekend in Beaufort this May 3-5. The SCAA selects new inductees whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina’s literary legacy by earning notable scholarly attention or achieving historical prominence. Including this year’s induction, the SCAA, founded in 1986, will have officially inducted more than 100 authors into its literary hall of fame. This year’s [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, May 9, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is poet Elizabeth Leverton, author Peace, Rhododendron. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres. Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org. About Our Featured Writer Elizabeth Leverton earned a BA in English Lit and a master's [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an afternoon with debut novelist Caroline Cleveland, author of When Cicadas Cry, on Saturday, May 11, at 2:00 p.m., at Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Cleveland will be joined in conversation by Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt. Free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing through NeverMore Books. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025. About When Cicadas Cry In this stunning debut by a South Carolina [...]

In partnership with NeverMore Books, the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with award-winning novelist Mindy Friddle, author of Her Best Self, in conversation with Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt, on Thursday, May 23, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing through NeverMore Books. Seating is limited: please reserve in advance to attend this free author event: 843-379-7025. About Her Best Self Janelle Wolf longs to be the woman [...]

In this workshop, we discuss what it’s like as a literary magazine editor moving through the slush pile: sins we’re willing to forgive, and those we’re not. We’ll also explore tools to finding literary magazines that are a best fit for your work, how to rate them, and when to submit to what. Finally, we’ll look at strategies for submitting to contests. If submitting your work is in part a numbers game, then this class is about figuring out your best odds. This virtual workshop [...]

The Friends of Hunting Island, in partnership with the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, will host a drop-in book signing for the newly published coffee table book, Up Here: The Hunting Island Lighthouse and its Lightkeepers, with authors Theodore Panayotoff and Linda Miller on Saturday, June 8th, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Attendance is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for sale and signing. Book purchases benefit the Friends of [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held virtually on Thursday, June 13, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is novelist Laura Mahaffey, author of Subject to the Tide. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres. Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org. About Our Featured Writer Laura Mahaffey writes romance with a dash of suspense, a hint of folklore, and [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to host a free public drop-in launch event for Donna Keel Armer’s Moringa: Tree of Life ~ Book 2 in the Cat Gabbiano Mystery Series. Join us on Saturday, June 15, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at 601 Bladen St., in downtown Beaufort. No advance registration required. Books will be available for sale and signing. Refreshments will be provided. The author will speak briefly at 5:45 p.m. About Moringa: Tree of Life (Book 2 in the Cat [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with McCracken King Poston Jr., author of Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom, on Thursday, June 27, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing through the Beaufort Bookstore. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025. About the book and author Like a nonfiction John Grisham thriller with echoes of Rainman, Just [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, July 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is novelist Rebecca Thompson, winner of the Ann Head Literary Prize and author of the duology The Girl of the Tree and Seeking the Truth. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres. Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us [...]