Pat Conroy Book Club: South of Broad
2024-01-25 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | 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 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.
