Pat Conroy Literary Center

Echoes of Daufuskie: A Culinary & Cultural Journey Inspired by Pat Conroy
2026-03-06 10:00 (America/New_York) | 81 Calhoun St, Bluffton, SC 29910-7013, United States
Join us for an unforgettable day on Daufuskie Island, inspired by Pat Conroy’s groundbreaking memoir, The Water Is Wide.
Discover the Heart of Daufuskie Island!
Join us for an unforgettable day on Daufuskie Island, inspired by Pat Conroy’s groundbreaking memoir, The Water Is Wide. This immersive six-hour tour offers a unique perspective on the island that profoundly influenced Pat’s writing.
Tour Highlights:
– Depart by boat from Bluffton, enjoying scenic views as you make your way to Daufuskie Island.
– Experience insider stories and rich history from your host, Sallie Ann Robinson—Pat’s former student turned celebrated Gullah chef
—and insights from educator Jim Alberto, who taught at the same school after Pat.
– Enjoy a private guided tour of the island, delving into its cultural significance and the lasting impact of Pat’s teaching.
– Lunch on the island is at your leisure, with dining options available at the Old Daufuskie Crab Company (not included in the ticket price)
This tour provides a rare opportunity to connect with Pat Conroy’s legacy and explore the island that inspired some of his most powerful writing.
ABOUT MAY RIVER EXCURSIONS: Please check in at store (81 Calhoun St. Bluffton, SC 29910) about 15-20 minutes prior to the 10AM depart time. Park behind May River Excursions store in their private parking lot, and they will direct you to the public dock to meet your captain.

Strings of Storytelling: Author Talk & Book Signing with Brendan Slocumb
2026-03-06 17:00 | 711 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC 29902-4968, United States
Step into the captivating world of storytelling with award-winning novelist and bestselling author Brendan Slocumb.
Join Us for an Evening with Brendan Slocumb!
Step into the captivating world of storytelling with award-winning novelist and bestselling author Brendan Slocumb. Known for his compelling novels, including The Violin Conspiracy, Symphony of Secrets, and The Dark Maestro, Brendan will engage attendees in an enlightening discussion about his writing process, inspirations, and the power of music in literature.
About the Author:
Hailing from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Brendan Slocumb is not only a talented author but also a dedicated music educator with over two decades of experience teaching students from kindergarten to twelfth grade. A proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he holds a degree in music education with concentrations in Violin and Viola. His debut novel, The Violin Conspiracy, was published in 2022 and garnered significant acclaim as a GMA Book Club Pick. Following its success, he released Symphony of Secrets and The Dark Maestro, further establishing his voice in contemporary fiction.
Don’t miss this opportunity to meet Brendan Slocumb, get your books signed, and immerse yourself in the stories that intertwine music and the human experience.

Paddle & Pen: A Unique Kayak Tour and Creative Writing Adventure
2026-03-07 10:30 | 310 Okatie Hwy, Okatie, SC 29909-3915, United States
Join us for an unforgettable experience blending the beauty of nature with the art of storytelling!
Join us for an unforgettable experience blending the beauty of nature with the art of storytelling! In this exciting event, “Paddle & Pen,” you’ll embark on a kayak tour of the breathtaking Port Royal Sound, guided by the talented Katherine Tandy Brown, an esteemed freelance travel writer with over 20 years of experience.
Katherine’s unique teaching style combines her extensive writing knowledge with her passion for the outdoors, making her classes truly inspiring. Throughout this three-hour adventure, you’ll paddle through serene waters, soaking in the natural beauty around you, while practicing creative writing techniques tailored to your surroundings.
Katherine has shared her expertise in memoir writing, travel writing, and creative writing through various programs, including the USCB OLLI Continuing Ed and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Her favorite classroom has been nature itself, often teaching writing directly on a sandbar in the Beaufort River.
Itinerary:
– Kayak Tour: Experience the calm and beauty of Port Royal Sound.
– Creative Writing Session: Learn to capture the essence of nature in your writing with guided prompts and techniques from Katherine.
Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to explore the great outdoors while honing your writing skills in a supportive and engaging environment

Echoes of the Past: The Beaufort Witness Tree and Reconstruction History
2026-03-07 16:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
Discover the rich history of the Beaufort Witness Tree and the Reconstruction Era as Ranger Chris Barr
Join Us for an Engaging History Talk!
Discover the rich history of the Beaufort Witness Tree and the Reconstruction Era as Ranger Chris Barr, the Interpretive Program Manager & Public Information Officer for the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, guides you through this enlightening session.
Itinerary:
– 4:00 PM: Welcome and Introduction
– 4:05 PM: Dive into the fascinating history of the Beaufort Witness Tree, located right across from the Conroy Center.
– 4:30 PM: Explore the surrounding area during the Civil War and its significance in American history.
– 4:50 PM: Q&A session with Ranger Chris Barr
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with history in a captivating setting. We look forward to seeing you there!

Evening of Literary Delights: Open House at the Pat Conroy Literary Center
2026-03-07 17:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
Join us for a delightful evening filled with literature, good company, and vibrant discussions.
Join us for a delightful evening filled with literature, good company, and vibrant discussions. Whether you’re a lifelong reader or just discovering your love for books, this event is for you! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to immerse yourself in the literary community.
Event Highlights:
– Guided Tours: Discover the rich history and inspiring stories behind the Pat Conroy Literary Center.
– Tasty Treats: Savor delicious appetizers while relaxing with fellow literary enthusiasts.
– Beverages: Enjoy complimentary beer, wine, and soft drinks to toast to creativity and connection.
– Engaging Conversations: Connect with authors and fellow supporters, share stories, and foster your passion for literature.

March Forth at Penn Center: A Celebration of Nature, Literature, and Gullah
2026-03-08 08:00 | 16 Penn Center Cir E, St Helena, SC 29920, United States
Join us for an unforgettable afternoon at Penn Center as we immerse ourselves in the rich tapestry of nature, literature, and Gullah culture
Join us for an unforgettable afternoon at Penn Center as we immerse ourselves in the rich tapestry of nature, literature, and Gullah culture, honoring the legacy of the beloved author Pat Conroy.
Event Highlights:
– Nature Walk led by renowned naturalist Jake Zadik.
– Engaging presentations from best-selling authors Rob Edwards and Michael Moore.
– A delightful lunch catered by the talented Events by Debbi Covington, featuring a signature Tarragon Chicken Salad, Chef Salad, Pimento Cheese BLT, Pimento Cheese Sandwich (Vegan Option)
– A fascinating discussion with Gullah chef and author Sallie Ann Robinson, who will share her journey and culinary traditions, drawing inspiration from the teachings and influence of Pat Conroy, whose love for Gullah culture resonates in his works.
Itinerary:
– 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Check-in
Start your day by arriving early and mingling with fellow participants.
– 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Nature Walk with Jake Zadik
Experience the beauty of St. Helena Island while learning about the local ecosystem from a passionate naturalist and cofounder of the South Carolina Partners of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.
– 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM: Lunch
Savor a delicious catered lunch while connecting with other attendees.
– 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM: Talk by Rob Edwards & Michael Moore
Get inspired by award-winning filmmaker and author Rob Edwards, known for his work on Disney classics, and Michael Moore, who honors his great-great-grandfather, Robert Smalls, in his celebrated children’s book.
– 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM: Sallie Ann Robinson
Hear from Sallie Ann Robinson, Gullah chef and culinary historian, as she shares her experiences growing up on Daufuskie Island and highlights the importance of preserving Gullah traditions. Having been guided by the remarkable Pat Conroy, her insights will reflect the deep connections between his literary significance and Gullah culture.
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Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with nature, literature, and the vibrant Gullah culture, all while honoring the legacy of Pat Conroy! Limited spots available—secure your ticket today!

Virtual Open Mic Night -- Featuring Janice Daugharty, Author of A Righteous Wind
2026-03-12 18:00 - 19:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be presented as a virtual event, live-streamed to our Facebook page, on Thursday, March 12, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured presenter is novelist Janice Daugharty, author of A Righteous Wind. 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 virtual Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org.
About Our Featured Author:
Janice Daugharty is the author of 10 published novels and 2 short story collections. She lives in Georgia, on the Echols/Lanier county line, divided by Cow Creek. Her 250 acres she calls Cow Creek Farm.
“Getting into a Janice Daugharty novel can be like moving into the rural Georgia she writes about…. By the time you have to go, you wish you could stay a spell longer.”–Orlando Sentinel
About A Righteous Wind: Kim and Shelton, are left behind. Kim’s husband and young son, along with Shelton’s wife, and millions of others, have vanished without a trace. Is it the weather? Or some other fluke of nature or science. All signs point to the Biblical Rapture, but Kim and Shelton weren’t buying that. They join forces to come up with a reasonable explanation.

An Afternoon with Poet Myra Shapiro, Author of Crossing the Street to Paradis
2026-03-21 14:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an afternoon with award-winning poet and memoirist Myra Shapiro, author of Crossing the Street to Paradis, on Saturday, March 21, at 2:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Crossing the Street to Paradis is a glorious triumph. It shines like ‘shook foil’ as the strongest, bravest, most heartbroken and wildly funny of Shapiro’s work yet. To produce poetry of such magnificence in the ninth decade of a life is not only miraculous, it’s outrageous and completely inspiring. This is the most Myra Shapiro yet. And, above all, there is such a comfortable, unapologetic, and loveable human spirit who not only shares her thoughts but dares to shock us with her freedom to Imagine Anything and Everything. She has the radical chutzpah of a great poet!”– Carol Conroy, author of The Beauty Wars
From the award-winning poet and memoirist Myra Shapiro comes a luminous new collection that traverses love and loss, age and vitality, New York streets and Southern roots. Crossing the Street to Paradis is a vibrant tapestry of poems that embrace a life lived deeply—fiercely—and still unfolding.
Through moments as intimate as sipping ginger tea with John Donne or remembering the weight of a daughter’s curls, Shapiro turns the ordinary into the mythic. She writes of marriage and motherhood, pandemics and Passovers, rooftop gardens and subway benches, each line shimmering with wit, resilience, and grace.
In her 90s and still singing, Shapiro speaks to what it means to endure, to remember, to gather stones from Ireland and words from childhood, and to find, in the face of grief and global tumult, the enduring power of poetry. Perfect for fans of Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, and Billy Collins, this collection is a triumphant meditation on tenderness, resistance, and the joy of still being here.
ABOUT THE POET
Myra Shapiro, born in the Bronx, returned to New York City after forty-five years in Georgia and Tennessee where she married Harold Shapiro, raised two daughters and worked as a teacher and librarian. She holds a BA in American Literature (University of Chattanooga) MA in English (Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College) and MFA in Writing (Vermont College). She received the Dylan Thomas Poetry Award from The New School and was a finalist for the Robert H. Winner Award from the Poetry Society of America. She has held fellowships at the Banff Arts Center, MacDowell Colony, and Hedgebrook.
Shapiro’s books of poetry are I’ll See You Thursday, 12 Floors Above the Earth, When the World Walks Toward You, and her memoir, Four Sublets: Becoming a Poet in New York. Her poems have appeared in many periodicals and anthologies, and twice, in Best American Poetry. She serves on the Board of Directors of Poets House and teaches poetry workshops for the International Women’s Writing Guild.

An Evening With Margaret Seidler, Author of Payne-Ful Business, Charleston's Journey to Truth
2026-03-26 17:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with historical novelist Margaret Seidler, author of Payne-Ful Business, Charleston’s Journey to Truth, on Thursday, March 26, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
“While I can’t change the past, I can change what people learn about it and what they do about it today.”
In 2018, at age 65, DNA testing revealed cousins of African descent; ensuing genealogical research uncovered a Charleston family history that shook Margaret to the core. She hails from nearly 100 years of slave traders in the Transatlantic and Domestic Slave Trades. With a professional background in conflict resolution, she faced only one choice, share the truth. This inspired action to bridge today’s racial divide through storytelling and art. “Payne-ful” Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth, is a book collaboration with another SC native, African American artist John W. Jones, who brings these historic newspaper advertisements to life revealing the humanity of the enslaved offered for sale by my ancestor, William Payne.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margaret Seidler is a retired Organization Development consultant and master trainer. Her practice focused on creating higher performance in both organization and community systems. Her interest in helping other professionals become more effective leaders began in the early 1990s, when she recognized a dire need to improve her own leadership skills. Her areas of expertise include managing complex challenges and change, emotional intelligence, teambuilding, conflict resolution and interpersonal communication.
Since returning to her hometown of Charleston and establishing her consulting practice in 2001, Margaret published numerous articles. In 2008, her leadership book, Power Surge, was published by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Press of Amherst, MA.
A case study of her work in strengthening citizen/police relationships in response to the Mother Emanuel AME Church tragedy was published in 2017 in The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox, Oxford University Press, UK. In 2022, her broader work with the city of Charleston was published in Both/AND Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems, Harvard Business Review Press, MA.
Margaret’s community service included the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Board, as well as appointment by the South Carolina Governor to the Charleston International Airport Board.
Her education includes a BA in Psychology and Master of Public Administration from the University of South Carolina, as well as graduate course work in Organization Development at the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis. In 2009, Margaret became one of only eighteen certified Polarity Management™ Masters in North America. She has served as adjunct faculty in Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business, the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management.
Margaret is one of 47 contributors in Ukweli: Search for Healing Truth, South Carolina Writers and Poets explore American Racism, Evening Post Books, 2022.
Her book, “Payne-ful” Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth, was released in March 2024, has sold 5000 copies, won two national book awards as well as the South Carolina Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
In JAN 2026, Margaret discovered a Runaway newspaper ad for 16-year-old, Molly. She and artist Jones are committed to sharing this horrific story through his stunning art.

Author Event With Marissa McFarland and Kristen Ness
2026-04-02 17:00 - 18:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
Thursday April 2 – 5:30-6:30 PM EDT
Price: Free
Registration: Seating is limited; please call to reserve your spot: 843-379-7025.
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St., Beaufort
About the Authors:
MARISSA McFARLAND (neé Campanella) is the author of her debut novel, WHEN GOOBYES BEGIN. Her short story, New in Town, was featured in the online magazine, Pawners Papers.
Born and raised in Eastern Pennsylvania in an Italian American household, she now resides in Clemson, South Carolina with her husband and two boys.
When Marissa isn’t writing, she can be found chauffeuring her sons to soccer practices, reading audition lines with her youngest son, an actor, taste testing her older son’s baked goods for his baking business, or cheering on her favorite Philly sports teams.
Marissa began writing her first novel as a form of therapy while her family struggled through her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. As the disease progressed, Marissa knew she could reach other readers who have had similar experiences.
She is currently working on another novel, one that will bring laughter to her readers, especially the moms out there.
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KRISTEN NESS- has been practicing immigration law for more than twenty years while moonlighting in pursuit of her lifelong passion for writing and her obsession with marine biology. Growing up mostly in South Carolina, Kristen spent countless days with nature and fell in love with the ocean and its creatures on Isle of Palms, where, for the past ten years, she has walked the beach at sunrise each summer in search of sea turtle nests as a volunteer for the Island Turtle Team. Writing, real estate, politics, and even publishing run in her blood as the daughter of an English teacher and a land developer, and the great-granddaughter of the 14th Governor of North Dakota whose family owned and published The Bismarck Tribune. She has a BA in English from Duke University and a JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Kristen lives in Charleston, SC, with her husband, their two children, two guinea pigs, and a cat.

An Afternoon with Joy Corley
2026-04-11 14:00 - 16:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an outside event with childrens book author Joy Corley, and featuring the star of the book-Percy!. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Percy Does Yoga… Not!
Percy is an 80 pound pit bull who knows NOTHING about personal space. His goal on any given day is to lay on you, beside you and to be as close to you as possible, regardless of how uncomfortable you may be! This is a true story of Percy coming to understand “me vs we” time and how we can learn to give each other space and grace at the same time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joy Corley, earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of South Carolina. She worked in many different capacities in the field of social work until retiring in 2021, after 24 years as a Care Coordinator at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
Joy became a lover of children’s books after her son Clay was born in 1982. She always wanted to write a children’s book and was just looking for the right inspiration whenever Percy came into her life.
Always an animal lover, Percy became the new character in a long list of characters in the household she shares with her husband, Rick and 5 other rescues. Joy also enjoys reading, being a volunteer with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Sea Turtle Program and Beaufort County County Animal Services

Author Event with Robert Gwaltney and Bren Mcclain
2026-04-23 17:00 - 18:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with novelists Robert Gwaltney and Bren McClain, on Thursday, April 23, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ROBERT GWALTNEY
Robert Gwaltney is the author of Sing Down the Moon (Mercer University Press, 2026) and The Cicada Tree (Moonshine Cove Publishing, 2022), works of Southern literary fiction that explore inheritance, identity, and the fragile boundary between the living and the dead. Rooted in the landscapes and histories of the American South, his writing blends the gothic tradition with elements of magical realism to illuminate the forces that shape who we become.
Raised in Cairo, Georgia, alongside three younger brothers in the rash-inducing subtropical heat of the region, Gwaltney is a lifelong resident of the South — a circumstance that has left an indelible mark on his voice as a writer. Sense of place remains central to his work, where memory, myth, and longing intertwine.
By day, he serves as Vice President of Easterseals North Georgia, championing early childhood literacy and strengthening families at critical stages of development. In all the hours between, he writes.
He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his partner.
BREN McCLAIN
I got set for life at the age of three. My two loves – writing and animals – were born.
My daddy tells me I can’t possibly remember. But I do. The pickup truck had wooden railings around the back, and it came around the side of our house. I was standing by our kitchen table, watching out the window. Inside those railings was our milk cow. I called her Mama Red. And she was leaving.
I had no idea back then that what I had witnessed and felt that day with that milk cow would shape me as a writer.
Fast forward through getting a BA in English from Furman University in Greenville, SC, and teaching high school English for one year. Writing drew me again, but this time as a journalist, writing for my hometown newspaper, The Anderson Daily Mail; working as a radio reporter, and as a television reporter and anchor at various stations across the Southeast. But then I switched to corporate America, where I became desperate to be creative and picked up a legal pad – oh yes, I remember the date, September 18, 1988 – and began writing a short story called “Desperation Dance.”
I’ll cover a lot of ground fast here: I wrote two failed novels, got a literary agent, lost a literary agent. But, when I returned to what was set in motion in a three-year-old Anderson, South Carolina, farm girl – writing and animals – my literary career changed, and my novel, One Good Mama Bone, was born. I even went so far as to write about a mama cow. I named her Mama Red. And I love her. My heart first opened with that milk cow.
Things I wanted to say but couldn’t get worked in:
-​2017 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction
-2019 Patricia Winn Award for Southern Literature
-Long-listed for the Southern Book Prize, Southeastern Independent Booksellers Association
-A 2017 Great Group Reads selection by the Women’s National Book Association
-Named top book of 2017 by Lit Picks
-A Southern Independent Booksellers Association Okra Pick
Finalist for The Crook’s Corner Book Prize for a debut novel set in the American South
-Named Pulpwood Queen Book of the Year 2017
-An excerpt from One Good Mama Bone was named a 2012 Finalist for the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Award for a
Novel-in-Progress.
-South Carolina Arts Commission awarded me the Fiction Fellowship in 2005.
I’m a two-time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project (2003 and 2007).
I grew up on a seventy-two acre beef cattle and grain farm in Anderson, South Carolina.
I have a twin, and, to this day, we’re known as “the McClain twins.” Which is fine by me.
I’m at work on my next novel, Took, which features another farm animal, chickens. Happy to say it has won the 2016 William Faulkner-William Wisdom prize for Novel-in-Progress.

An Afternoon with Author Greg Howard
2026-04-25 14:00 - 15:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an afternoon with Greg Howard, young adult author of several books including The Whispers, on Saturday, April 25, at 2:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Greg Howard was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry where his love of stories blossomed at a young age. Originally set on becoming a songwriter, Greg followed that dream to Nashville, Tennessee, where he spent years producing the music of others before eventually returning to his childhood passion of writing stories. Greg writes about LGBTQ characters and issues as his focus is writing the kind of books he wishes he’d had access to as a gay kid growing up in the South. He currently resides in Nashville with his three rescued fur babies–Molly, Toby, and Riley.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A middle grade debut that’s a heartrending coming-of-age tale, perfect for fans of Bridge to Terabithia and Counting By 7s.
Eleven-year-old Riley believes in the whispers, magical fairies that will grant you wishes if you leave them tributes. Riley has a lot of wishes. He wishes bullies at school would stop picking on him. He wishes Dylan, his 8th grade crush, liked him, and Riley wishes he would stop wetting the bed. But most of all, Riley wishes for his mom to come back home. She disappeared a few months ago, and Riley is determined to crack the case. He even meets with a detective, Frank, to go over his witness statement time and time again.
Frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation, Riley decides to take matters into his own hands. So he goes on a camping trip with his friend Gary to find the whispers and ask them to bring his mom back home. But Riley doesn’t realize the trip will shake the foundation of everything that he believes in forever.

Author Event with Marybeth Whalen
2026-05-07 17:00 - 18:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with author Marybeth Whalen, at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort) on May 7 from 5-6:30. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited for this free event; please call in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of Every Moment Since and 9 previous novels. Marybeth received a BA in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where “a rising tide raises all books.” Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six kids who are now all in various stages of adulting. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A story about finding hope in the face of hardship and connection in the face of crisis, Handle with Care is a novel for our time.
“Rich with complex characters, a tightly woven plot and natural suspense.” –Belle Burden, author of Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Three women walk into a post office. This is no joke–it’s the spark that ignites a life-altering crisis.
On a quiet spring afternoon, an ordinary small-town post office becomes ground zero for a domestic dispute. A husband draws a weapon and seals the doors, holding four women captive: his frightened wife, a young woman searching for meaning amid uncertainty, a mother on the brink of letting go as her only daughter graduates, and an elderly woman concealing a secret that could shatter everything she knows.
Outside, the negotiator works to keep a fragile peace, forced to confront her own issues as every word becomes a lifeline.
Each of the three women who walked into the post office is carrying something that, if mailed, would profoundly change her life. As minutes become hours in this daylong siege, these strangers forge lasting bonds. Handle with Care shines a light on hope found even in the darkest moments, and illuminates how even strangers, thrown together by chance and hardship, have the power to change each other’s lives.
This heartwarming women’s fiction novel is laced with depth and humor–it’s perfect for book clubs. Discussion questions are included to prompt lively conversations.

Virtual Open Mic Night -- Featuring William Walsh, Author of Haircuts for the Dead
2026-05-14 18:00 - 19:30 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be presented as a virtual event, live-streamed to our Facebook page, on Thursday, May 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured presenter is novelist William Walsh, author of Haircuts for the Dead. 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 virtual Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org.
About Our Featured Author:
William Walsh is the author of ten books and is the editor of the James Dickey Review. He teaches at Reinhardt University and directs the undergraduate creative writing program, as well as the low-residency MFA program. Walsh lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Haircuts for the Dead is his second novel.
“Those fortunate enough to have read William Walsh’s first novel, LAKEWOOD, know he is a vital voice in contemporary fiction. Now with HAIRCUTS FOR THE DEAD we can welcome a story addressing the most important concerns of our time: race, choice in sexual identity, the burdens of the past, and challenges to faith. Walsh portrays the elusive dynamics within families in this era of rapid change, as a story-within-a-story illuminates each. You will be moved by this novel of the search for a home and love, to be found in unexpected places.” –Robert Morgan, author of GAP CREEK
“In Hannah Gardner’s search for both a place and a love that feel like home, William Walsh has given us a rollicking tale of a charming heroine healing an injured heart and conquering a small part of a great big world.” –Jessica Handler, author of THE MAGNETIC GIRL

2026 Camp Conroy Summer Camp-Save The Dates
2026-06-08 09:15 - 2026-06-12 14:45 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
SAVE THE DATE!Camp Conroy is back this year!This years’ theme- AI: Artful Intelligence.
Camp Conroy will continue to appreciate special human ability and the joy of creating art while examining how technology can help us. Campers will read, write, and create art independently and collaboratively under the guidance of experienced instructors and artists.
Two week-long camps:
June 8-12:Campers 8-11
June 22-26: Campers 12-14
Space is limited to 20 campers (10 each week), so watch for more details, and let us know if you’re interested!
