Pat Conroy Literary Center

Evening with novelist Carolyn P. Hartley, author of the Buried Sunshine Series
2024-04-18 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | The Rhett House Inn, 1009 Craven St., Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Thursday, April 18, 2024 – 5-7:00 PM EDT
Price: $15 (includes a glass of wine and refreshments by Mimi Rodrigues)
Registration: Register at Eventbrite
Venue: The Rhett House Inn | 1009 Craven St., Beaufort
Website: Facebook Event Page
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.
Register at Eventbrite
“The Buried Sunshine Series is a courageous family saga, a sizzling coming of age story, as heroine, Adele Dawson discovers her roots in this action-adventure series.”—Millie West, award-winning author and screenwriter awards
About Book One: Redemption
Greed is invisible until you see the damage it inflicts on innocent children. Redemption exposes raw families caught between social lines when federal funds, intended to trickle down from corporate landowners never makes it into the hands of tenant farmers.
When agriculture was the bedrock of the American economy, families, suddenly penniless lost nearly everything in historic floods, bank failures, political and social annihilation. But at their core, one family would not let catastrophes defeat them. Adele Christina Dawson, the oldest stepchild of an imbittered farmer, is suddenly thrust into adulthood when her mother dies giving birth to a tenth child.
“Adele Dawson is intelligent, feisty, and strong, and she emits a beam that carries this story forward, that lifts it up from the rushing current of thick Mississippi Mud.”—Main Street Rag
About Book Two: Reconciliation
Adele Dawson, finally back with her West Virginia birth family, is driven to learn why her father died so young and why her mother remarried despicable August Beck, a con artist, then gave birth to eight of his children. When her half-sisters also come to live with her, they get wise to a secret museum of treasures in Adele’s once-lavish stone mansion. She unlocks secrets inside a locked trunk about her mother’s coerced life in corruption, greed, and extortion, secrets that now threaten to extinguish the entire family.
Her paternal grandmother’s final wish is that Adele rebuild the family’s coal mine, nearly bankrupt from the Depression, and restore the river stone mansion to its original beauty. The more involved she becomes in the mining business, the more she discovers her mother’s enemies have concealed themselves within the family business. On the verge of gaining trust from superstitious coal miners, her saboteur stepfather creates mine blasts that injure workers, forcing the reconstruction to miss critical deadlines.
“This thrilling novel series leaves the reader spellbound with a story that captures everything a reader could wish for. Once you start reading you won’t stop. A must read.”—William A Petty, historian, curator, and author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn P. Hartley is an award-winning author, most recently for the Buried Sunshine novel series: Redemption (2019), Reconciliation (2022), and Rebellion (forthcoming 2024).
Reconciliation achieved #1 bestseller rank in seven Amazon categories, including American History Romance. She is lead author of The Caregiver’s Toolbox (CTB), an Amazon #1 hot new release for nine consecutive weeks in two healthcare categories. After six years, CTB is still a popular backlist title.
In prior careers, Carolyn was a book packager for Prentice Hall, McGraw-Hill, Universal Press Syndicate, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and VP of marketing and communications for Fleishman Hillard International, where she placed clients on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, among others. Carolyn publishes her creative non-fiction, essays, and short stories in literary and consumer magazines, including North American Literary Review, Child, Whispering Prairie Press, Family Circle, and Working Women’s Magazine, and, for six years she was a columnist for Woman’s World. She developed public service announcements for Al Franken, Miss America, and the Points of Light Foundation. She also is founder of JMerrillPress, LLC, an independent woman-owned publisher that focuses on women of courage.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Virtual Open Mic Night, Featuring Heather Corbally Bryant, Author of The Coffin Makers
2024-04-11 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 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. She has also taught at Harvard, the University of Michigan and the Pennsylvania State University where she has won awards for her teaching. She has written eleven books of poetry, a prize-winning academic book, How Will the Heart Endure: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War, and a work of creative nonfiction, You Can’t Wrap Fire in Paper. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, and have won Honorable Mention in the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition.
“Heather Corbally Bryant’s eleventh collection of poetry shows her deepening grasp of language, and follows her grappling with the exigencies of a global pandemic in both intricate and plainspoken poetry.”–Laura Munson, bestselling author and founder of Haven Writing Retreats
“In The Coffin Makers, Heather Corbally Bryant offers us poetic witness to a world turned upside down by catastrophic fear, in clear, beautiful poems, marking out our moments of grief, isolation and hope, step by step. These poems will remain with us as graceful testament to our moment of crisis.”–Eibhear Walshe, Director of Creative Writing, University College Cork

April 2024 Open Mic Night
2024-04-11 18:00 - 19:30 | Online – Facebook Live
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.
When: Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 6 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Where: Virtual
Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org
We want to build our community of writers and an appreciation for the art and talent of new, emerging, and long-time writers. Thank you for supporting this partnership!
Event Facebook Page
About The Coffin Makers
“Heather Corbally Bryant’s eleventh collection of poetry shows her deepening grasp of language, and follows her grappling with the exigencies of a global pandemic in both intricate and plainspoken poetry.”–Laura Munson, bestselling author and founder of Haven Writing Retreats
“In The Coffin Makers, Heather Corbally Bryant offers us poetic witness to a world turned upside down by catastrophic fear, in clear, beautiful poems, marking out our moments of grief, isolation and hope, step by step. These poems will remain with us as graceful testament to our moment of crisis.”–Eibhear Walshe, Director of Creative Writing, University College Cork
About our featured writer:
Heather Corbally Bryant is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. She has also taught at Harvard, the University of Michigan and the Pennsylvania State University where she has won awards for her teaching. She has written eleven books of poetry, a prize-winning academic book, How Will the Heart Endure: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War, and a work of creative nonfiction, You Can’t Wrap Fire in Paper. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, and have won Honorable Mention in the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Beaufort Human Library, Fourth Edition
2024-04-07 12:30 - 16:00 | Technical College of the Lowcountry – Building 12 Auditorium, 104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Sunday, April 7, 2024 – 12:30-4:00 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 3 1/2 hrs
Location: Technical College of the Lowcountry’s MacLean Hall (104 Reynolds St, bldg 12, Beaufort, SC)
Check Out the Fourth Edition of the Beaufort Human Library, April 7
“Where oral history meets speed dating.” The Beaufort Human Library project seeks to foster empathy and understanding across communities by offering the public opportunities to “check out” more than a dozen Human Books who will be sharing their personal stories of facing challenges and striving for acceptance. These engaging conversations will cover topics including occupations, education, healthcare, gender, race, faith, immigration, addiction, abuse, and law enforcement, among others. Ultimately the dialogues will focus on building bridges of understanding, person to person, through storytelling.
The fourth edition of the Beaufort Human Library will be held on opening day of National Library Week: Sunday, April 7, from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. in MacLean Hall, building 12 of the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL), at 104 Reynolds Street in Beaufort. Free and open to the public, the event is hosted by TCL; the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center; DAYLO: Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization; and volunteer community organizers.
Following a featured Book presentation in the TCL auditorium from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m., all of the volunteer Human Books will be available throughout MacLean Hall to be checked out for 30-minute small group conversations from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. No advance registration is needed. Volunteer Librarians and student Bookmarks from DAYLO will be on hand to help guests navigate their Beaufort Human Library experience.
Website: Facebook Event Page

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

The Death of Santini -- Pat Conroy Book Club
2024-03-28 18:30 - 19:30 | The Rhett House Inn
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 Death of Santini
April 25: A Lowcountry Heart
Learn more and register at: https://patconroybookclubatrhetthouseinn.eventbrite.com
A﻿bout Our Discussion Leaders
Dr. Charlene Monahan Spearen received her MFA degree in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of South Carolina. She is currently serving as the Public Relations and Special Projects Coordinator for Penn Center after a successful career in academia at Allen University. She served as the Program Coordinator for the University of South Carolina’s Arts Institute and was the Assistant Director for the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. In addition to her work throughout the Carolinas, Spearen has been a featured reader and Creative Writing instructor and scholar in County Monaghan and County Mayo, Ireland. She has published a full-length collection of poems titled A Book of Exquisite Disasters. Her poems have appeared in journals and publications throughout the United States.
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Conroy Center and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint with Pat Conroy, named by Garden & Gun magazine as one of “the top ten things to love about the South.” Haupt’s book reviews and author interviews have appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, Lowcountry Weekly, Beaufort Lifestyle, Savannah Morning News’ Beacon magazine, Southern Review of Books, and Southern Writers Magazine’s Suite T blog. He is co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, the recipient of seventeen book awards. He serves on the boards of the Friends of South Carolina Libraries and the South Carolina Academy of Authors. In 2020, Haupt was recognized with the Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award presented by the Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the U.S.

Pat Conroy Book Club: The Death of Santini
2024-03-28 18:30 - 19:30 | The Rhett House Inn, 1009 Craven St., Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Thursday March 28, 2024 – 6:30-7:30 PM EDT
Price: $10
Registration: Register at Eventbrite | Limited to 20 participants
Venue: The Rhett House Inn | 1009 Craven St., Beaufort
Website: Facebook Event Page
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 on fourth Thursdays 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.
Discussions will be held at The Rhett House Inn (1009 Craven St., Beaufort)
Register at Eventbrite
January 25: South of Broad
February 21: My Reading Life
March 28: The Death of Santini
April 25: A Lowcountry Heart
ABOUT OUR DISCUSSION LEADERS
Dr. Charlene Monahan Spearen received her MFA degree in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of South Carolina. She is currently serving as the Public Relations and Special Projects Coordinator for Penn Center after a successful career in academia at Allen University. She served as the Program Coordinator for the University of South Carolina’s Arts Institute and was the Assistant Director for the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. In addition to her work throughout the Carolinas, Spearen has been a featured reader and Creative Writing instructor and scholar in County Monaghan and County Mayo, Ireland. She has published a full-length collection of poems titled A Book of Exquisite Disasters. Her poems have appeared in journals and publications throughout the United States.
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Conroy Center and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint with Pat Conroy, named by Garden & Gun magazine as one of “the top ten things to love about the South.” Haupt’s book reviews and author interviews have appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, Lowcountry Weekly, Beaufort Lifestyle, Savannah Morning News’ Beacon magazine, Southern Review of Books, and Southern Writers Magazine’s Suite T blog. He is co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, the recipient of seventeen book awards. He serves on the boards of the Friends of South Carolina Libraries and the South Carolina Academy of Authors. In 2020, Haupt was recognized with the Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award presented by the Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the U.S.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Publishing Pursuits: Writers Workshop Led by Kim Poovey
2024-03-27 18:00 - 20:00 | 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, United States, South Carolina 29902
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 Indie publishing
*The pros and cons of traditional and Indie publishing
*Questions you need to ask when considering traditional or hybrid publishing
*The ins and outs of Indie publishing
What this workshop does not cover:
*How to write a query letter
*How to pitch to agents
This in-person workshop will be held at the Pat Conroy Literary Center (601 Bladen St.), limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of 5 needed to hold the class.) $40/person. Register in advance at https://publishingpursuitsworkshop.eventbrite.com.
ABOUT OUR INSTRUCTOR:
Kim Poovey is an author of historical fiction and hauntings. She began her writing career with a traditional publishing house for her first two novels, Truer Words and Through Button Eyes: Memoirs of an Edwardian Teddy Bear. In 2017, she switched to Indie publishing and hasn’t looked back. Under her imprint, Dickens Ghost Publishing, LLC, Kim has produced five books; a collection of short stories, the first three novels in her Dreamist series about a woman who can communicate with the dead in her dreams, and Shadows of the Moss, book one in a historical fiction trilogy. Kim has presented for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) through USCB as well as presenting at Camp Conroy for the past two summers. In addition, Kim has written for several magazines, including Beaufort Lifestyle, Bluffton Breeze, Citizen’s Companion, and the Civil War Times. When not writing, Kim is a school psychologist who lives with her husband and fur babies in a haunted 1890s cottage in the Lowcountry.

Workshop: Publishing Pursuits: Traditional or Indie? Led by Kim Poovey
2024-03-27 18:00 - 20:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Register: patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Wednesday, March 27, 2024 · 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST
Cost: $40
Limited to 15 participants (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
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 Indie publishing
*The pros and cons of traditional and Indie publishing
*Questions you need to ask when considering traditional or hybrid publishing
*The ins and outs of Indie publishing
What this workshop does not cover:
*How to write a query letter
*How to pitch to agents
This in-person workshop will be held at the Pat Conroy Literary Center (601 Bladen St.), limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of 5 needed to hold the class.) $40/person.
Learn more and register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Website: Facebook Event Page
About our instructor:
Kim Poovey is an author of historical fiction and hauntings. She began her writing career with a traditional publishing house for her first two novels, Truer Words and Through Button Eyes: Memoirs of an Edwardian Teddy Bear. In 2017, she switched to Indie publishing and hasn’t looked back. Under her imprint, Dickens Ghost Publishing, LLC, Kim has produced five books; a collection of short stories, the first three novels in her Dreamist series about a woman who can communicate with the dead in her dreams, and Shadows of the Moss, book one in a historical fiction trilogy.
Kim has presented for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) through USCB as well as presenting at Camp Conroy for the past two summers. In addition, Kim has written for several magazines, including Beaufort Lifestyle, Bluffton Breeze, Citizen’s Companion, and the Civil War Times. When not writing, Kim is a school psychologist who lives with her husband and fur babies in a haunted 1890s cottage in the Lowcountry.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with Jennifer Bartell Boykin, Author of Traveling Mercy
2024-03-23 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 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 more and register for the workshop, please visit https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Traveling Mercy navigates the journeys of a Black woman from rural South Carolina. Her travels transcend time as she encounters history, nature, and grief. She sits with the eldest residents before her birth, with the first ancestor who came to these shores, with her parents through their marriage, and through her own loneliness in the wake of their deaths. Planting as she harvests, this book is a lament and a love story to survival.
“After reading a single magnificent poem in Traveling Mercy, “the sapling in your chest floods with too much water and light.” Read a handful of poems, and find yourself on the poet’s ferry crossing the river “between thens and tomorrows.” Every magical, existential line is an iteration of Jennifer Bartell’s dexterous poetics. This accomplished debut elegizes human loss while celebrating the resilience that persists through witness and language. Traveling Mercy is a dazzling first book.”–National Book Award-Winning Poet Terrance Hayes
“Bartell’s Traveling Mercy is such an intimate history of a Black girl raised by Black women, raised by church fans and magnolia memories, dream-hymns of Black people pushing through mud and disease and held together by traditions. This rich collection of poems, by a Black girl who knows how and why to style okra seeds in her hair, spills with fat oysters and a community’s petrified pounded grace. Bartell assures she will never give us one chance to hold our breath, as we jump into this never-ending deep end of blazing life, therefore, prepare to be drenched.”– National Book Award-Winning Poet Nikky Finney
Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the author of Traveling Mercy (from Finishing Line Press). Her poetry has appeared in Obsidian, Callaloo, the Raleigh Review, kinfolks: a journal of black expression, the museum of americana: a literary review, and Scalawag. Bartell Boykin is the recipient of fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She teaches creative writing and English dual-enrollment courses at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, where she was named the 2019–20 Teacher of the Year. She is also an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and an Augusta Baker Scholar at the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, where she is pursuing her master of library and information science degree. Bartell Boykin was born and raised in Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina.

An Evening with Columbia City Poet Laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin
2024-03-23 17:00 - 18:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Saturday, March 23, 2024 · 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm EST
Free
Please call to reserve in advance: 843-379-7025
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with Columbia City Poet Laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin, author of the debut poetry collection Traveling 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 more and register for the workshop, please visit https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Website: Facebook Event Page
ABOUT THE BOOK
Traveling Mercy navigates the journeys of a Black woman from rural South Carolina. Her travels transcend time as she encounters history, nature, and grief. She sits with the eldest residents before her birth, with the first ancestor who came to these shores, with her parents through their marriage, and through her own loneliness in the wake of their deaths. Planting as she harvests, this book is a lament and a love story to survival.
“After reading a single magnificent poem in Traveling Mercy, “the sapling in your chest floods with too much water and light.” Read a handful of poems, and find yourself on the poet’s ferry crossing the river “between thens and tomorrows.” Every magical, existential line is an iteration of Jennifer Bartell’s dexterous poetics. This accomplished debut elegizes human loss while celebrating the resilience that persists through witness and language. Traveling Mercy is a dazzling first book.”–National Book Award-Winning Poet Terrance Hayes
“Bartell’s Traveling Mercy is such an intimate history of a Black girl raised by Black women, raised by church fans and magnolia memories, dream-hymns of Black people pushing through mud and disease and held together by traditions. This rich collection of poems, by a Black girl who knows how and why to style okra seeds in her hair, spills with fat oysters and a community’s petrified pounded grace. Bartell assures she will never give us one chance to hold our breath, as we jump into this never-ending deep end of blazing life, therefore, prepare to be drenched.”– National Book Award-Winning Poet Nikky Finney
About our writer:
Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the author of Traveling Mercy (from Finishing Line Press). Her poetry has appeared in Obsidian, Callaloo, the Raleigh Review, kinfolks: a journal of black expression, the museum of americana: a literary review, and Scalawag.
Bartell Boykin is the recipient of fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She teaches creative writing and English dual-enrollment courses at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, where she was named the 2019–20 Teacher of the Year. She is also an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and an Augusta Baker Scholar at the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, where she is pursuing her master of library and information science degree. Bartell Boykin was born and raised in Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Foodways in Poetry: Writers Workshop Led by Jennifer Bartell Boykin
2024-03-23 14:00 - 16:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center
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 food, memory, and poetry. Come with 1-2 dishes and memories associated with them in mind. If you have a family recipe you’d like to explore, bring that too.
Saturday, March 23, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.) $40/person. Register in advance at
https://foodwaysinpoetry.eventbrite.com
About our instructor:
Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the author of Traveling Mercy (from Finishing Line Press). Her poetry has appeared in Obsidian, Callaloo, the Raleigh Review, kinfolks: a journal of black expression, the museum of americana: a literary review, and Scalawag. Bartell Boykin is the recipient of fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She teaches creative writing and English dual-enrollment courses at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, where she was named the 2019–20 Teacher of the Year. She is also an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and an Augusta Baker Scholar at the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, where she is pursuing her master of library and information science degree. Bartell Boykin was born and raised in Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina.
In addition to teaching her workshop, Bartell Boykin will aslo be reading from and discussing her new collection of poems at the Conroy Center from 5:00-6:30 p.m. that same evening. Books will be available for sale and signing.

Workshop: Foodways in Poetry Led by Jennifer Bartell Boykin
2024-03-23 14:00 - 16:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Register: patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Saturday, March 23, 2024 · 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST
Cost: $40
Limited to 15 participants (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
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 food, memory, and poetry. Come with 1-2 dishes and memories associated with them in mind. If you have a family recipe you’d like to explore, bring that too.
In addition to teaching her workshop, Bartell Boykin will also be reading from and discussing her new collection of poems at the Conroy Center from 5:00-6:30 p.m. that same evening. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Saturday, March 23, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.) $40/person.
Learn more and register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Website: Facebook Event Page
About our instructor:
Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the author of Traveling Mercy (from Finishing Line Press). Her poetry has appeared in Obsidian, Callaloo, the Raleigh Review, kinfolks: a journal of black expression, the museum of americana: a literary review, and Scalawag.
Bartell Boykin is the recipient of fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She teaches creative writing and English dual-enrollment courses at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, where she was named the 2019–20 Teacher of the Year. She is also an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and an Augusta Baker Scholar at the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, where she is pursuing her master of library and information science degree. Bartell Boykin was born and raised in Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

March 2024 Open Mic Night
2024-03-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, March 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is award-winning poet Evelyn Berry, author of Grief Slut. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres.
When: Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 6 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Where: Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort)
Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org
We want to build our community of writers and an appreciation for the art and talent of new, emerging, and long-time writers. Thank you for supporting this partnership!
Event Facebook Page
About Grief Slut
“Grief Slut exposes the paradoxical nature of queer life in the South. Required reading in an age of trans discrimination, Berry’s lines will serve as balm and bulwark. exposing the joyous heartbreak of rural queerness.”—Sim Kern, author of The Free People’s Village and Seeds From the Swarm
“Evelyn Berry’s Grief Slut is a book-length aubade to the genderqueer self and body, to the South, to violence and desire and Baja Blast. Grief Slut is a riotously beautiful collection of poems, a love song to flesh and the experience of too muchness that is oh-so-human, oh-so-queer, and oh-so-Southern.”—Han VanderHart, author of What Pecan Light
About our featured writer:
Evelyn Berry is a trans, Southern writer, editor, and educator. She’s the author of Grief Slut (Sundress Publications, 2023) and Buggery (Bateau Press, 2020), winner of the BOOM Chapbook Prize.
She’s a recipient of a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, 2022 Dr. Linda Veldheer Memorial Prize, 2019 Broad River Prize for Prose, and 2018 Emrys Poetry Prize, among other honors. Berry has been performing in venues around the country (and world!) for more than ten years. Her work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, South Carolina Review, Gigantic Sequins, Raleigh Review, Taco Bell Quarterly, and elsewhere. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Afternoon with Dr. Kathleen Corley, author of the The Magical Place We Call School
2024-03-09 14:00 - 15:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Saturday, March 9, 2024 – 2:00-3:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an afternoon with award-winning educator and Red Cedar Elementary School principal Dr. Kathleen Corley, author of the The Magical Place We Call School: Creating a Safe Space for Learning and Happiness in a Challenging World.
Free and open to the public, this author event will be held on Saturday, March 9, at 2:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited. Please call to reserve in advance: 843-379-7025.
About the Book
“Some day, a techie will invent a chip that can pre-install 40 years of classroom wisdom into every new teacher or principal. Until then, we’ve got Dr. Kathleen Corley’s book.”–Lenore Skenazy, president of Let Grow, author of Free-Range Kids
“An often encouraging, compassionate, and reasoned approach to running elementary schools.”–Kirkus Reviews
At a time when public discourse rages on about what students should or should not be taught, when books are being banned, when school shootings fill the news, and when families are still reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic—here comes The Magical Place We Call School. With its fresh focus on the power and perils of education, it’s an intentional way of thinking that will intrigue readers everywhere.
In her literary debut, school principal Dr. Kathleen Corley, a forty-year veteran in elementary education, writes knowingly and with unique humor and insight about the value of education, how kids think and learn, what they need to succeed in and out of school, and how their home life affects their performance. Plus, she tackles some of the most daunting societal issues impacting children today, from bullying to gun violence and beyond.
Dr. Corley reminds us that something extraordinary still occurs in classrooms across America—not just miraculously, but by design and with tenacity.
In The Magical Place We Call School, Corley shares human interest stories that shed light on what is and isn’t working and provides a calm hand and a much-needed perspective from the front lines of learning. Her deep caring for the children, educators, and parents in her midst shines through, providing a true sense of what she calls “the magic of schools.” It’s a book not to be missed.
About the Authors
Dr. Kathleen Corley is an award-winning educator, an authority on school culture, and the charismatic principal at Red Cedar Elementary School in Bluffton, S.C. Renowned for her unique communication and management skills, Corley has a bachelor’s in music education from the University of Illinois, a master’s in music administration from Chicago Musical College, Roosevelt University, and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Illinois.
Chicago-born, Dr. Corley began her career in education as an elementary music teacher and transitioned to education administration to make a wider impact upon student achievement and school culture. She entered the administrative ranks as an assistant principal in Palatine, Illinois, then became an elementary school principal in Lynchburg, Virginia, Salem Massachusetts, and Bluffton, South Carolina. She was the founding principal at three of those schools and has been an educator for over forty years (and still counting). Corley has been an assistant professor at Salem State University and continues to mentor principals.
Glenn Plaskin is the bestselling author of twenty-five books and his profiles and syndicated columns have appeared in the New York Times, the Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Family Circle, US Weekly, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, W, and Playboy. His TV appearances include The Today Show, Oprah, Larry King, Joan Rivers, Sally Jessy Raphael, Geraldo, and Good Day New York. Plaskin is also a recognized collaborator and ghostwriter for CEOs, entertainment personalities, high achievers, newsmakers, performing artists, and public speakers.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Afternoon with award-winning novelist Jeffrey Dale Lofton
2024-03-02 14:00 - 15:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Saturday, March 2, 2024 – 2:00-3:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, in collaboration with Lowcountry Pride, will host an afternoon with award-winning novelist Jeffrey Dale Lofton, author of Red Clay Suzie, Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize, on Saturday, March 2, at 2:00 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 NeverMore Books. Seating is limited. Please call to reserve in advance: 843-379-7025.
About Red Clay Suzie
“Lofton’s descriptive prose is spellbinding; having never been to Georgia myself, I feel like I now know exactly what the air tastes like and how the red clay feels beneath my fingers in the garden. Taken together, the author has created an almost impressionist masterpiece of inner machinations and sensory experiences that leave you pleasantly dazed and content when you finally turn the last page.”—San Francisco Book Review
“Make a glass of sweet tea, pull up a porch chair, and a cloth to mop your brow. Red Clay Suzie roots readers in the pacing of the South as Lofton coaxes his people from the heat and the rain and the gardens and the cars. It is a journey of refuge and emergence—helped and hindered by family and friends. Even through the characters’ most painful moments of discovery and loss, it is an absolute joy to read. Three cheers to Jeffrey Dale Lofton and his stellar debut novel.”—Claire Green, former President of Parents’ Choice Foundation
The coming-of-age story of Philbet, a gay, physically-misshapen boy in rural Georgia, who battles bullying, ignorance, and disdain as he makes his way in life as an outsider—before finding acceptance in unlikely places.
Fueled by tomato sandwiches and green milkshakes, and obsessed with cars, Philbet struggles with life and love as a gay boy in rural Georgia. He’s happiest when helping Grandaddy dig potatoes from the vegetable garden that connects their houses. But Philbet’s world is shattered and his resilience shaken by events that crush his innocence and sense of security; expose his misshapen chest skillfully hidden behind shirts Mama makes at home; and convince him that he’s not fit to be loved by Knox, the older boy he idolizes to distraction. Over time, Philbet finds refuge in unexpected places and inner strength in unexpected ways, leading to a resolution in the form of a letter from beyond the grave.
About Jeffrey Dale Lofton
Jeffrey Dale Lofton hails from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known as the home of Roosevelt’s Little White House. He calls the nation’s capital home now and has for over three decades. During those early years he spent many a night trodding the boards of the DC’s theaters and performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, and Studio Theatre. He even scored a few television screen appearances, including a residuals-rich Super Bowl halftime commercial, which his accountant wisecracked “is the finest work of your career.”
Ultimately he stepped away from acting for other, more traditional work, including providing communications counsel to landscape architects and helping war veterans tell their stories to add richness and nuance to historical accounts. At the same time, he focused on pursuing post-graduate work, ultimately being awarded Master’s degrees in both Public Administration and Library and Information Science. Today, he is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress, surrounded by books and people who love books—in short, paradise.
Red Clay Suzie is his first work of fiction, written through his personal lens growing up an outsider figuring out life and love in a conservative family and community in the Deep South.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

8th Annual March Forth
2024-03-02 - 2024-03-03 | Penn Center, 16 Penn Center Circle West, St. Helena Island, SC, 29920, United States
Eighth Annual March Forth to Be Held on March 2 & 3 in Port Royal, Beaufort, and St. Helena Island
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center’s eighth annual March Forth will be held on Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3. This special event commemorates the anniversary of Pat Conroy’s passing on March 4, 2016, with programs on major themes of his writing and teaching life, including social justice, inclusivity, conservation, education, and storytelling.
Learn more and register in advance at Eventbrite
March Forth will include appearances by novelist Jeffrey Dale Lofton, author of Red Clay Suzie (Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize); novelist, musician, and educator Brendan Slocumb, author of Symphony of Secrets and The Violin Conspiracy (A Good Morning America Book Club Selection); naturalist and biographer Patrick Dean, author of Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World; award-winning nature photographer Kelley Luikey; Spring Island Trust executive director Andy Jones; National Park Service Ranger Katherine Freeman; and the students of DAYLO.
March Forth is hosted this year by Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt, Conroy Center board member Ginger Olszewski, and Lowcountry Weekly publisher and columnist Margaret Evans.
Free events will be held at the Port Royal Farmers Market and the Conroy Center on Saturday, March 2. A ticketed all-day event (including a catered lunch by award-winning caterer and cookbook author Debbi Covington) will be held at Penn Center on St. Helena Island on Sunday, March 3. Books by presenting authors will be available for sale and signing through NeverMore Books.
March Forth is presented in collaboration between the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center and Penn Center, NeverMore Books, Lowcountry Pride, the Port Royal Farmers Market, the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park, the Rhett House Inn, MarshSong Cottage, Catering by Debbi Covington, and DAYLO (Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization), and sponsored in part by the Pulpwood Queens Book Club.
~SCHEDULE OF EVENTS~
TEDDY BEAR PICNIC READ-ALOUD and READ WITH A RANGER at the PORT ROYAL FARMERS MARKET on SATURDAY, MARCH 2
9:30-Noon. Student volunteers from local chapters of DAYLO will be reading children’s picture books to young readers and their families, with light snacks provided. DAYLO students will be joined by National Park Service Ranger Katherine Freeman from the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park for a special read-aloud, Read with a Ranger. This free event will be held near the gazebo at the Port Royal Farmers Market (1615 Ribaut Rd, Port Royal). No registration needed.
AN AFTERNOON WITH JEFFREY DALE LOFTON, AUTHOR OF RED CLAY SUZIE, at the CONROY CENTER on SATURDAY, MARCH 2
2:00-3:30 p.m. Award-winning writer Jeffrey Dale Lofton will discuss his debut novel Red Clay Suzie (Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize) at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort), presented in collaboration with Lowcountry Pride. Books will be available for sale and signing through NeverMore Books. Seating is limited for this free event; please register in advance at 843-379-7025.
TICKETED MARCH FORTH EVENTS at PENN CENTER on SUNDAY, MARCH 3
9:30-10:00 a.m. Attendee check-in.
10:00-11:30 a.m. Birding and nature walk of Penn Center led by naturalist and Spring Island Trust and Lowcountry Institute executive director Andy Jones.
11:30 to Noon. Catered lunch by Debbi Covington. (Register in advance by February 26 for lunch. Day-of registrations may be possible without lunch.)
Noon to 1:00 p.m. Novelist, musician, and educator Brendan Slocumb, author of Symphony of Secrets and The Violin Conspiracy (A Good Morning America Book Club Selection) in conversation with Conroy Center Executive Director Jonathan Haupt, presented with the generous support of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club.
1:00 to 1:20 p.m. Book signing break with NeverMore Books.
1:20 to 2:20 p.m. Naturalist and biographer Patrick Dean, author of Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World, in conversation with Lowcountry Weekly publisher and columnist Margaret Evans.
2:20-2:40 p.m. Book signing break with NeverMore Books.
2:40-3:40 p.m. A special slideshow presentation by award-winning nature photographer, naturalist, and educator Kelley Luikey.
3:40-4:00 p.m. Closing remarks.
~ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS~
Patrick Dean writes on the outdoors and the environment. He has worked as a teacher, a political media director, and is presently the executive director of a rail-trail nonprofit. An avid trail-runner, paddler, and mountain-biker, he lives with his wife and dogs on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Dean is the author of A Window to Heaven, about the summit of Denali, and Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World.

Dr. Andy Jones, executive director of the Spring Island Trust and Lowcountry Institute, is a lifelong naturalist, with a passion for the biodiversity of the Southeast. He studied biological sciences at the University of Tennessee, and completed his PhD on the evolutionary history of Philippine birds at the University of Minnesota. From 2006 until early 2022, he served curator of ornithology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He has also served as a board member and on the research committee of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, as a board member of Winous Point Marsh Conservancy, and as Secretary of the American Ornithological Society. He has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society for his contributions to ornithology.
Jeffrey Dale Lofton is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A veteran stage actor turned debut novelist, he is the author of Red Clay Suzie, written through his personal lens growing up an outsider figuring out life and love in a conservative family and community in the Deep South. The novel was Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize).

Kelley Luikey is an award-winning photographer, educator, and Master Naturalist. Her photography consistently ranks in the Top 100 Images for national and international competitions such as the National Audobon Society and North American Nature Photographers Association. Her work hangs in private homes and offices across the country, has appeared in numerous publications–including National Audubon Society magazine and the cover of Garden and Gun magazine. Through her work, she hopes to inspire others to appreciate and preserve the beauty of the Lowcountry. Luikey resides in Port Royal with her husband and two children. She currently exhibits at Pluff Mudd Art in Bluffton and MacDonald Marketplace in Beaufort.
Brendan Slocumb is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in music education, concentrations on Violin and Viola. For the past two decades, he has been a public and private school music educator from kindergarten through twelfth grade, teaching general music, orchestra, and guitar ensembles. His students were often chosen for district and regional orchestras. In 2005, Brendan was named Teacher of the Year for Robert E. Lee High School; he has been named to Who’s Who of American teachers, and is a Nobel Teacher of distinction. Brendan also serves as an educational consultant for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He is the author of two novels: The Violin Conspiracy (a selection of the Good Morning America Book Club) and the recently released Symphony of Secrets.

Evening with Raj Haldar, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Book Is Banned
2024-02-22 17:00 | Technical College of the Lowcountry – Building 12 Auditorium, 104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
When: Thursday, February 22, 2024 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Technical College of the Lowcountry | 104 Reynolds St Beaufort, SC 29902
Registration: Free Tickets at Eventbrite
Join us for a free, family-friendly evening of story and song with Raj Haldar, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Book Is Banned. This special event is hosted by the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center in collaboration with the Storybook Shoppe, DAYLO (Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization), and the Technical College of the Lowcountry.
Following Raj’s musical storytelling performance, he will be in conversation with the students of DAYLO to discuss the importance of intellectual freedom and pro-literacy advocacy.
This event will be held at the Technical College of the Lowcountry, Bldg 12, McLean Hall, 104 Reynolds St., Beaufort, on Thursday, February 22, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. Attendance is free with advance online registration. Books will be available for sale and signing after the program through the Storybook Shoppe children’s bookstore. Register Here.
Website: Facebook Event Page
ABOUT THIS BOOK IS BANNED
From #1 New York Times bestselling author of P Is for Pterodactyl Raj Haldar comes a silly and irreverent new picture book all about sharing ideas.
This is a book about dinosaurs. No, it’s not. Dinosaurs are not allowed.
Oh. This is now a book about avocados! Sorry. We deleted those too.
FINE. This book is about―nope! Forbidden!
Maybe you shouldn’t even try reading this book…But what could possibly be inside?
Discover just what can happen when ideas are erased instead of expressed with this hilarious picture book romp that kids (and grown-ups) will want to read over and over again. This Book Is Banned is a funny, engaging book perfect for families to read aloud with kids of all ages, parents eager to share a laugh while addressing meaningful themes, educators looking for an entertaining resource to discuss important issues, and readers with a penchant for humor, vibrant illustrations, and thoughtful content.
“A funny, thought-provoking book that opens the door to discussion about book banning with younger children.”―School Library Journal, STARRED review
“Well done and adorably funny… a really great introduction to the subject of banned books for little ones.”―Youth Services Book Review, STARRED review
“A zany, fourth wall–breaking exploration of book banning.”―Kirkus Reviews
“Haldar and Patton employ absurdist hijinks to explore the practice of book banning… By story’s end, readers will likely have had at least one beloved subject ousted―potentially prompting conversation about real-world events.”―Publishers Weekly
“The adult-child combination who reads This Book Is Banned together will have fun discussing the issue of banning in the hypothetical, thanks to the busy and engaging illustrations and text that await them. Young children will want you to read it to them over and over again… Strongly reminiscent of The Monster at the End of This Book.”―NY Journal of Books
About the author:
Raj Haldar is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling picture book P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever. But, for close to a decade, he has been better known as Lushlife, the rapper, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. In that time, he’s amassed a fervent global fanbase and released award-winning viral music videos that highlight his erudite lyrics.
The Sunday New York Times describes his work as “an intoxicating mix of captivating rhymes with audacious, gorgeous production.” So it should come as no surprise that Haldar has made the leap into the world of children’s literature. His latest book, entitled This Book is Banned, gives young readers a lighthearted entry point to begin understanding the dangers of book banning and censorship. His work has been featured by The Washington Post, Interview Magazine, VICE, Pitchfork, Village Voice, Mental Floss, BBC, SPIN and more. Raj currently lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife and two young daughters.
During his visit to the Lowcountry, Raj will also be appearing as a featured author at the Palmetto State Literacy Association annual conference and visiting local schools. He last appeared with leaders of DAYLO in a Banned Books Week national livestream for the Children’s Book Council, hosted by Pat R. Scales, and subsequently featured in Publishers Weekly.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Pat Conroy Book Club: My Reading Life
2024-02-21 18:30 - 19:30 | The Rhett House Inn, 1009 Craven St., Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Wednesday February 21, 2024 – 6:30-7:30 PM EDT (Rescheduled from Feb 22)
Price: $10
Registration: Register at Eventbrite | Limited to 20 participants
Venue: The Rhett House Inn | 1009 Craven St., Beaufort
Website: Facebook Event Page
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 on fourth Thursdays 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.
Discussions will be held at The Rhett House Inn (1009 Craven St., Beaufort)
Register at Eventbrite
January 25: South of Broad
February 21: My Reading Life
March 28: The Death of Santini
April 25: A Lowcountry Heart
ABOUT OUR DISCUSSION LEADERS
Dr. Charlene Monahan Spearen received her MFA degree in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of South Carolina. She is currently serving as the Public Relations and Special Projects Coordinator for Penn Center after a successful career in academia at Allen University. She served as the Program Coordinator for the University of South Carolina’s Arts Institute and was the Assistant Director for the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. In addition to her work throughout the Carolinas, Spearen has been a featured reader and Creative Writing instructor and scholar in County Monaghan and County Mayo, Ireland. She has published a full-length collection of poems titled A Book of Exquisite Disasters. Her poems have appeared in journals and publications throughout the United States.
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Conroy Center and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint with Pat Conroy, named by Garden & Gun magazine as one of “the top ten things to love about the South.” Haupt’s book reviews and author interviews have appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, Lowcountry Weekly, Beaufort Lifestyle, Savannah Morning News’ Beacon magazine, Southern Review of Books, and Southern Writers Magazine’s Suite T blog. He is co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, the recipient of seventeen book awards. He serves on the boards of the Friends of South Carolina Libraries and the South Carolina Academy of Authors. In 2020, Haupt was recognized with the Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award presented by the Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the U.S.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Workshop: Linked Poetry: Traditional and New Approaches
2024-02-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Register: patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Monday, February 19, 2024 · 2:00 – 4:00 pm EST
Cost: $40
Limited to 15 participants (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
Linked Poetry: Traditional and New Approaches is a poetry workshop for writers of all levels and ages who are looking to collaborate! We will begin with haiku writing exercises and build different styles of linked poems step by step. It is a highly interactive, hands-on workshop. Come with a writing partner or on your own.
Monday, February 19, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Learn more and register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Website: Facebook Event Page
About our instructors:
Natasha Akery is a language arts teacher and poet from North Charleston, South Carolina. She devotes her writing practice to haiku with themes of heritage, motherhood, and spirituality. You can find her poems on Instagram (@writethreelines) and in I Am a Furious Wish: Anthology of Lowcountry Poets, Vol. 1 published by Free Verse Press. Her first chapbook, in [the name], is a collection of haiku inspired by the desert and biblical stories. It is available through Bottlecap Press.

Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Miho Kinnas is a writer, translator and poet living in Hilton Head Island, SC. She is the author of three poetry collections, Today, Fish Only (2014), Move Over Bird (2019) from Math Paper Press and Waiting for Sunset to Bury Red Camellias (2023) from Free Verse Press. A book of collaboration with E. Ethelbert Miller, We Eclipse into the Other Side was also published in 2023 by Pinyon Publishing. Her poem, Three Shrimp Boats on the Horizon was selected for Best American Poetry 2023.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Workshop: Editing Basics for Authors, Led by Leslie Rindoks
2024-02-10 10:00 - 12:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Register: patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Saturday, February 10, 2024 · 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST
Cost: $40
Limited to 15 participants (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
Dorothy Parker once said, “I hate writing, but I love having written.” For many of us that’s true, the fun begins after we’ve written—when we have something to play with, something to revise.
In this workshop, participants will come to love their inner editors and learn that editing can be fun. We’ll begin by looking first at other writers’ work, then move on to participants’ work. Writers will need to bring the first 20 or so pp of their work in progress. We’ll evaluate major story elements and explore how they might make the work stronger, more effective, and more memorable.
This in-person workshop will be held at the Pat Conroy Literary Center (601 Bladen St.), limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of 5 needed to hold the class.) $40/person.
Learn more and register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Website: Facebook Event Page
TESTIMONIALS:
“Because of Leslie, I am a much better writer. Her guidance and tutelage were invaluable.” —Dan Pliszka, author of Life is Great! (Even if Your Boat Flips Over)
“For my novel, and its iterations over time, I am thankful for Leslie’s sharp eyes and clear-headed comments.” —Karen Salyer McElmurray, author of Wanting Radiance
“Leslie Rindoks is the best in the business. She’s timely, quick-witted, steadfast, and kind. Her mentorship took me from a timid wannabe writer to an author writer with a distinct style.” —Amelia Wyatt, author of Ozzy and the Island and Mind the Gap
“I owe Leslie so much for her knowledge and her intuition as to what makes a good story. She certainly knows her business. In my mind, she is quite brilliant.” —Michael Ambrose, author of the forthcoming Learning to Land
About our instructor:
Originally from Chicago, Leslie Rindoks studied writing at Iowa Writers’ Workshop and illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art. She holds a BFA and MFA in design, and an MFA in creative writing and publication arts. The founder of Lorimer Press and WayWord Books (waywordbooks.com), she has edited more than 70 books. Passionate about combining words and images, she was the lead writer and book designer for LUCK, A Collection of Facts, Fiction, Incantations & Verse and her work was featured in Far From the Centers of Ambition and 100 Love Notes.
Writing as Avery Caswell, she is the author of the story collection MotherLoad and the novels Salvation and Dry Spell. (averycaswell.com)

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

February 2024 Open Mic Night
2024-02-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Online – Facebook Live
The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be held virtually on Thursday, February 8, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is mystery novelist Sally Handley, author of The Mystery of the Bogus Blooms. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres.
When: Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 6 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Where: Facebook Live
Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org
We want to build our community of writers and an appreciation for the art and talent of new, emerging, and long-time writers. Thank you for supporting this partnership!
Event Facebook Page
About The Mystery of the Bogus Blooms
When Holly Donnelly gets invited to speak about home-composting at Pineland Park Community College’s Eco-Fair, the last thing she and her sister Ivy expect is to become involved in, not one, but two murder investigations. Throw in a controversy over a student GMO experiment that yields unexpected results, and once again the gardening duo find themselves called upon to help those falsely accused. Are the murders and the experiment connected? Can the stalwart sisters find the real killer and save the students’ scholarships? Not without a little help from their friends. Joining them to solve the mystery are trusted allies from past adventures, Kate Farmer and her neighbors, Benny and Razor, along with the plucky Peppy Alvarez and rookie FBI agent Nicky Manelli.
About our featured writer:
Sally Handley is author of the Holly & Ivy cozy mystery series and the stand-alone suspense novel, Stop the Threat. She also writes a series on the Kindle Vella platform entitled The Adventures of Trixie, written from her faithful companion’s point of view. A member of Sisters in Crime, Sally hosts a monthly on-line Mystery Book Club and a Meet the Authors Series on her YouTube Channel, @sallyhandley1430. For more information, visit her website at www.sallyhandley.com.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with Jeffrey Blount, author of Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way, in conversation with Rebecca Dwight Bruff
2024-02-01 17:00 - 19:00 | Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce, 711 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Thursday, February 1, 2024 – 5:00-7:00 PM EDT
Price: Free
Registration: Eventbrite
Venue: Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce | 711 Bladen Street Beaufort, SC 29902
Website: Facebook Event Page
“A heart-wrenching and beautiful story of a man and his family brought to its knees by the Civil War. . . . historical fiction at its finest.”–Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Best-Selling Author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with award-winning writer Jeffrey Blount, author of the newly published novel Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way, in conversation with fellow novelist Rebecca Dwight Bruff, author of Trouble the Water. Free and open to the public, this event will be held at the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce, 711 Bladen St., on Thursday, February 1, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. A reception will follow the author’s presentation, with books available for sale and signing through the Beaufort Bookstore.
About Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way
After a highly publicized fall from grace, James Henry Ferguson attempts to flee from the chaos in his life. He ends up in a community he had never heard of before, one that has been neglected and ignored by everyone in rural Ham, Mississippi. A place of abject poverty, the neighborhood is commonly referred to as “Around the Way.”
Within a place forgotten by the rest of the world, politics can be a dangerous game. When a troubling discovery is made, the entire neighborhood is rocked to its core and James is forced to confront his own past in order to help the community have a future. He will have to find the strength to fight for the neighbors he once disregarded and avert a heart-breaking disaster.
A self-identified failure is forced to uncover the wisdom of his past in order to recognize that money can’t solve every problem. Full of never-ending twists and turns, no one can prepare themselves for the surprises in store. Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way is a story about failure, self-discovery, empowerment, and the possibility of redemption.
“Blount makes us pause to take an up-close look at poverty and racism in our collective backyard. This powerful novel shows the true meaning of ‘it takes a village,’ and that doing the right thing should be color blind.”—Karen White, New York Times bestselling author
“This tender story is for any of us who have fallen and found the only way up is by reaching out a hand to others.” —Cassandra King, author of Tell Me a Story: My Life with Pat Conroy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey is the award-winning author of three novels. His most recent book, The Emancipation of Evan Walls was the winner of the 2020 National Indie Excellence Award for African American fiction.
He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of Meet The Press, the Today show, NBC Nightly News, and major special events. He is the first African-American to direct the Today show. He is also an award-winning documentary scriptwriter for films and interactives that are now on display in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. In 2017 and 2018, Jeffrey served as Journalist in Residence and Shapiro Fellow at the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University. A Virginia native, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Communications/Broadcast Journalism. Born and raised in Smithfield, Virginia, he now lives in Washington, DC.
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER
Rebecca Dwight Bruff is the author of the award-winning debut novel, Trouble the Water, published June 2019, and the non-fiction book, Loving the World with God, published 2014.
Bruff earned her Bachelors degree in education at Texas A&M University and Master and Doctorate degrees in theology, both from Southern Methodist University. In 2017, she was a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. She lives and writes in the South Carolina lowcountry.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with novelist Pam Webber, author of Life Dust
2024-01-26 17:00 - 18:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Friday, January 26, 2024 – 5:00-6:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with award-winning novelist Pam Webber author of the historical novel Life Dust, on Friday, January 26, 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. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025.
About Life Dust
“Life Dust doesn’t limit itself to being a drama with romantic undertones, but a character-driven book where love, war and humanity attempt to co-exist. A brilliant piece of writing to be enjoyed by many.”—Southern Literary Review
“This novel is a testament to the heroes of the Vietnam War and an eye-opening experience for readers. . . . Highly recommended.”—Historical Novel Society
Life Dust tells a story of courage: the kind that goes to war; and the kind that stays home. Along the way, it reveals what love, respect, and caring are about and what duty, honor, and country really mean.
Nettie’s world turns upside down when Andy, her soulmate since the sandbox days, is deployed to Vietnam. Struggling to cope with the constant worry, she dives into her work as a nursing intern in a busy Northern Virginia emergency department. In the process, she becomes entangled in the lives of a tortured man with everything money can buy except a chance to live the life he wanted and a vengeful nursing supervisor whose discontent leads to a string of late-night trysts in the shadowy recesses of the hospital.
Half a world away, Andy leads a military reconnaissance squad in a dangerous and unforgiving jungle. He receives orders to escort a high-ranking female freedom fighter, Bien, to a clandestine meeting with a North Vietnamese officer who wants to defect. Having previously been raped and brutally beaten by North Vietnamese soldiers, Bien is suspicious of the officer’s motives. However, something tells her he may be the younger brother who was kidnapped as a child and conscripted into the army of her attackers. Andy believes his unit is walking into a trap that could cost them everything.
Struggling to survive in different worlds, Nettie and Andy navigate the best and worst of human nature as they try to find their way back to one another.

2023 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Bronze Medalist in Christian (Historical Fiction)
2023 IPPY Awards Silver Medalist – Best Southern Regional Fiction
2023 Military Writers Society of America Awards Silver Medal in Historical Fiction

About Pam Webber
Pam Webber is a second career, best-selling author of historical fiction. Her novels, The Wiregrass, Moon Water, and Life Dust, have garnered multiple regional and national awards from organizations such as the Historical Novel Society, the Southern Literary Review, InD’Tale Magazine, Ingram Global Publishing, and the Military Writers Society of America.
As a former nursing educator, Pam approached the development of her skill as a creative writer by taking classes and studying independently with experts in character evolution, story arc, and literary infrastructure. She continued to hone her skill as a member of a small, professional writers group led by a talented and demanding New York Times bestselling author.
In her other life, Pam is a PhD prepared internal medicine nurse practitioner, an avid traveler, and nature lover. She and the love of her life, Jeff, live and work in the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They are the parents of three wonderful children, Michael, Sarah, and Cindy, and the lucky grandparents of Jace, Albin, James, and Alexandra.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Pat Conroy Book Club: South of Broad
2024-01-25 18:30 - 19:30 | The Rhett House Inn, 1009 Craven St., Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Thursday January 25, 2024 – 6:30-7:30 PM EDT
Price: $10
Registration: Register at Eventbrite | Limited to 20 participants
Venue: The Rhett House Inn | 1009 Craven St., Beaufort
Website: Facebook Event Page
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 on fourth Thursdays 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.
Discussions will be held at The Rhett House Inn (1009 Craven St., Beaufort)
Register at Eventbrite
January 25: South of Broad
February 21: My Reading Life
March 28: The Death of Santini
April 25: A Lowcountry Heart
ABOUT OUR DISCUSSION LEADERS
Dr. Charlene Monahan Spearen received her MFA degree in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of South Carolina. She is currently serving as the Public Relations and Special Projects Coordinator for Penn Center after a successful career in academia at Allen University. She served as the Program Coordinator for the University of South Carolina’s Arts Institute and was the Assistant Director for the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. In addition to her work throughout the Carolinas, Spearen has been a featured reader and Creative Writing instructor and scholar in County Monaghan and County Mayo, Ireland. She has published a full-length collection of poems titled A Book of Exquisite Disasters. Her poems have appeared in journals and publications throughout the United States.
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Conroy Center and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint with Pat Conroy, named by Garden & Gun magazine as one of “the top ten things to love about the South.” Haupt’s book reviews and author interviews have appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, Lowcountry Weekly, Beaufort Lifestyle, Savannah Morning News’ Beacon magazine, Southern Review of Books, and Southern Writers Magazine’s Suite T blog. He is co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, the recipient of seventeen book awards. He serves on the boards of the Friends of South Carolina Libraries and the South Carolina Academy of Authors. In 2020, Haupt was recognized with the Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award presented by the Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the U.S.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with Scott Gould in conversation with Mindy Friddle
2024-01-20 17:00 - 18:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Saturday, January 20, 2024 – 5:00-6:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with visiting award-winning fiction writer Scott Gould, author of Idiot Men: Short Stories, in conversation with fellow award-winning writer Mindy Friddle, on Saturday, January 20, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025.
(Gould will also be teaching a fiction workshop, Write What You Know Well Enough to Lie About, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Conroy Center that same day.
About Idiot Men
“Scott Gould is a literary shapeshifter. A rough Southern man who writes about trucks, beer, dogs and doublewides with the finesse of a poet. Idiot Men is like the best country song you have ever heard. His writing breaks your heart but makes you rejoice that you are still alive to recover.”–Jane Stern, author of Ambulance Girl
With Strangers to Temptation, Things that Crash, Things that Fly, and The Hammerhead Chronicles, Scott Gould cemented his reputation as one of the most inventive, distinctive voices of Southern literature. In his latest collection, Idiot Men, he once again gathers a cast of unforgettable characters in eleven stories chock full of exceptional storylines and hilarious writing.
You’ll meet a trucker driver whose wife flees to Jamaica with her lover, leaving him to babysit her hairless tomcat, Princess Di; a male nurse who discovers a trailer full of counterfeit NASCAR paraphernalia during a home health visit; an amateur arsonist sentenced to a year in a Smokey the Bear suit; a disgruntled roofer with a bad back and a meth-dealing twin brother… these are just a few of the idiot men you’ll encounter in a collection of stories that will appeal to readers who relish literature with a Southern flavor.
Gould’s Idiot Men provides the stage for wayward characters who make poor choices in life and love against a backdrop of elegant prose. These tales recalibrate morality and convention as readers will grow to love the characters despite-and perhaps because of-their flaws. These diverse, rich stories are ultimately connected by the spellbinding voice of a true Southern storyteller.
About Author Scott Gould
Scott Gould is the author of five books, including The Hammerhead Chronicles, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction, and Things That Crash, Things That Fly, which won a 2022 Memoir Prize for Books. Other honors include a Next Generation Indie Book Award, an IPPY Award for Fiction, the Larry Brown Short Story Award and the S.C. Arts Commission Artist Fellowship in Prose. Gould’s latest book is the story collection, Idiot Men.
His work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, Pangyrus, New Ohio Review, Crazyhorse, Pithead Chapel, Vessel, Garden & Gun, and New Stories from the South, among others. He teaches at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities in Greenville, S.C.

About Interviewer Mindy Friddle
Mindy Friddle is author of the novel, Secret Keepers, (winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction). The Garden Angel, her first novel and SIBA bestseller, was selected for Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers.
The South Carolina Arts Commission awarded Mindy a prose fellowship, and she has twice won the state’s Fiction Prize. Mindy’s third novel, Her Best Self, will be published in May.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

Workshop: Fiction Writing Led by Scott Gould
2024-01-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Register: patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Saturday, January 20, 2024 · 2:00 – 4:00 pm EST
Cost: $40
Limited to 15 participants (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.)
Venue: Pat Conroy Literary Center | 601 Bladen St Beaufort, SC 29902
Most decent fiction has its origins in one or more real life events. Or to put it another way: the fictional stories we write often rise from the realm of nonfiction. This course is designed to 1) discover something tucked away in your memory that’s story-worthy, and 2) start telling some lies about it. So, using a prompt, we’ll mine your memories for a number of recollections, then use one or more of those memories to begin a brand-new short story (which, of course, means we’ll be talking conflict and character, as well.) The goal of this session is to walk away with the first page or so of a new piece of fiction, full of good lies.
Saturday, January 20, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of five participants is needed for this workshop.) $40/person. Registration fee includes a copy of Idiot Men: Short Stories, the new collection from instructor Scott Gould (an $18 value).
Learn more and register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
Following the workshop, at 5:00 p.m., Gould will also appear in conversation about Idiot Men with fellow award-winning novelist Mindy Friddle at the Conroy Center. The author conversation is free and open to the public.
Website: Facebook Event Page
About our instructor:
Scott Gould is the author of five books, including The Hammerhead Chronicles, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction, and Things That Crash, Things That Fly, which won a 2022 Memoir Prize for Books. Other honors include a Next Generation Indie Book Award, an IPPY Award for Fiction, the Larry Brown Short Story Award and the S.C. Arts Commission Artist Fellowship in Prose. Gould’s latest book is the story collection, Idiot Men.
His work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, Pangyrus, New Ohio Review, Crazyhorse, Pithead Chapel, Vessel, Garden & Gun, and New Stories from the South, among others. He teaches at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities in Greenville, S.C.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with novelist Johnathon Scott Barrett, author of Ship Watch
2024-01-12 17:00 - 18:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Friday, January 12, 2024 – 5:00-6:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with raconteur and writer Johnathon Scott Barrett, author of the debut novel Ship Watch, on Friday, January 12, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Weather permitting, the event will be outside. Free and open to the public, this event is presented in collaboration with the Beaufort chapter of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club. Books will be available for sale and signing. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025.
About Ship Watch
Set around the renowned and historical homestead at the center of the drama, Ship Watch weaves together six intertwined relationships that extend from the gentrified city of Savannah and into the wealthy enclaves of Sea Island, Highlands, and Atlanta’s Buckhead. The novel’s characters are drawn in the loom by the family’s elegantly formidable matriarch, Grand Martha, and form a multi-generational tapestry that includes the misfortunes of divorce and betrayal – but in more and even better measure opportunities for redemption, rediscovery, and the rarified gift of ‘second love.’ By combining an encompassing setting having a solid sense of place along with characters that are captivating and rather extraordinary, Ship Watch is a sometimes bittersweet, yet often comedic, Southern tour-de-force debut novel.
“Watch, the family’s long-owned grand plantation on the banks of the Savannah River, is contested, proverbial long knives are brandished. Much of this engrossing tale depicts place—Savannah, Highlands, and Sea Island—where the wealthy make merry and hold court.”—Jameson Gregg, Georgia Author of the Year, Luck Be A Chicken
“Storyteller extraordinaire, raconteur, and old-school bon vivant Johnathon Barrett celebrates the most glorious aspects of Southern life in all four of his wonderfully written books”—Janis Owens, award-winning and bestselling author of American Ghost and My Brother Michael
About Johnathon Scott Barrett
Johnathon Scott Barrett is a seventh-generation Georgian with a deep appreciation of the literary and culinary traditions of the South. He is the author of three widely acclaimed cookbooks, which critics hail for their entertaining stories and extensive recipes.
Besides writing, Johnathon is a CPA and has worked as a nonprofit executive for the last three decades. Currently, he serves as director of development for the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA. He divides his time between homes in Winterville and Savannah, Georgia. Ship Watch is his debut novel.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

January 2024 Open Mic Night
2024-01-11 18:00 - 19:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, January 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is award-winning poet Miho Kinnas, author of Waiting for Sunset to Bury Red Camellias. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres.
When: Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 6 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Where: Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort)
Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org
We want to build our community of writers and an appreciation for the art and talent of new, emerging, and long-time writers. Thank you for supporting this partnership!
Event Facebook Page
About our featured writer:
Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2019 and 2023), Miho Kinnas is a poet and translator. Waiting for Sunset to Bury Red Camellias is her third collection of poetry, following Today, Fish Only (2014) and Move Over, Bird (2019). A poetry of collaboration with E. Ethelbert Miller, We Eclipse into The Other Side, was published in 2023.
Elaine Equi selected her poem “Three Shrimp Boats Over the Horizon” for Best American Poetry 2023. Miho operates a community bookshop, An Island Bookshelf, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. She holds an MFA in poetry from the City University of Hong Kong.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

An Evening with Colleen Coble, author of Fragile Designs, and Rhonda McKnight, author of The Thing About Home
2024-01-03 17:00 - 18:30 | Pat Conroy Literary Center, 601 Bladen Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – 5:00-6:30 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
Website: Facebook Event Page
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening of conversation with visiting novelists Colleen Coble, author of Fragile Designs, and Rhonda McKnight, author of The Thing About Home, on Wednesday, January 3, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing in collaboration with the Beaufort Bookstore. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025.
About Colleen Coble and Fragile Designs
Colleen Coble is the author of more than seventy-five books and is best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels. Her books have been honored with awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 5 million books in print and has been on the bestseller lists of USA Today, ECPA, CBA, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon. She lives and writes in Indiana.
Colleen’s newest novel, Fragile Designs, is set in Beaufort. Since her police-officer husband Eric’s mysterious murder, Carly Harris has been struggling to support herself and their infant son. Her career as an antique dealer isn’t sustainable, nor is her dream of becoming a novelist. So when her grandmother proposes she and her two sisters restore the family’s large Beaufort home and turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, she immediately gets to work clearing out the house. In the process, she uncovers a family secret that Eric kept hidden. And an heirloom that the wrong person wouldn’t hesitate to kill for.
Carly turns to homicide detective Lucas Bennett for help. Soon, they’re entangled in a mystery with threads that lead all the way to the Russian mafia. Lucas has gotten in deep, and while he trusts his ability to keep Carly and her family safe, he begins to realize he’s vulnerable to an unexpected kind of danger. As they continue working closely together, Carly and Lucas realize they may have found something more precious than gold.
About Rhonda McKnight and The Thing About Home
Winner of the 2015 Emma Award for Inspirational Romance of the Year, Rhonda McKnight is the author of An Inconvenient Friend and What Kind of Fool. Themes of faith, forgiveness, and hope are central to her stories. Originally from a small coastal town in New Jersey, Rhonda now lives and writes in the South Carolina lowcountry.
In The Thing About Home, Casey Black needs an escape. When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model turned social media influencer has new fame—the kind she never wanted. With her personal and business lives in shambles, Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry hoping to find long-lost family.
What Casey doesn’t expect is a postcard-worthy property on a three-hundred-acre farm, history, culture, and a love of sweet tea. She also meets Nigel, the farm manager whose friendship has become everything she’s never had. Through the pages of her great-grandmother’s journals, Casey discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns that she has people, a home, a legacy to uphold, and a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind.

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.

December 2023 Open Mic Night
2023-12-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Sandies, 711 Bladen St., Beaufort, SC, 29902, United States
In partnership with the South Carolina Writers Association, the Conroy Center’s monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, December 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is Robert Maynor, author of The Big Game Is Every Night, winner of the South Carolina Novel Series.
When: Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 6 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Price: Free · Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Where: Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort)
Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org
We want to build our community of writers and an appreciation for the art and talent of new, emerging, and long-time writers. Thank you for supporting this partnership!
Event Facebook Page
About our featured writer:
Robert Maynor is from the Lowcountry of South Carolina. He lives and writes in a patched-up fish camp on the bank of the Edisto River, the longest free-flowing blackwater river in North America. His fiction explores the spectrum of complexities and contradictions in the contemporary American South. His short stories have appeared in Blood Orange Review, BULL, The Carolina Quarterly, and CRAFT, among other outlets. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and he is the past recipient of the Larry Brown Short Story Award and the Coker Fellowship in Fiction from the South Carolina Academy of Authors. The Big Game Is Every Night is his debut novel. www.robertmaynor.com
“Written in spare yet evocative prose, Robert Maynor’s The Big Game is Every Night is a quiet and powerful meditation on broken families, fractured friendships, the pain of reckoning with having the thing that most defines you taken away in an instant, and the legacy violence leaves in its wake.”—John Vercher, author of After the Lights Go Out
“One of the most honest works of fiction I have ever read. The Big Game Is Every Night is a bruised and brutal debut about a boy on the precipice of manhood and all the terror it entails. Maynor’s novel made me want to cradle my two sons and never let go.” —J.C. Sasser, author of Gradle Bird

This program and others like this would not be possible without your financial help for which, as always, Pat Conroy Literary Center gratefully thanks you.
