USC Beaufort Center for the Arts

Explore Conroy’s lifelong commitment to education through stories of some of the mentors he sought out later in life and lessons he learned along the way, changing the course of his storied life as a bestselling author. Conroy’s inspiring role as both a lifelong learner and a lifelong teacher will be discussed in a presentation augmented with video and audio clips, photographs, and excerpts from published and unpublished materials.

This two-hour presentation is only open to Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) members and requires advance registration through https://olli.uscb.edu. Seating is limited.

The author of The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and The Water Is Wide, Pat Conroy (1945–2016) is synonymous with the lowcountry. Explore Conroy’s lifelong commitment to education through stories spanning from his formative years as a student at Beaufort High School to his last act as a teacher, the selection of his burial site near historic Penn Center. Using photos, video and audio clips, and excerpts from published and unpublished writings by and about Conroy, the class will broaden our appreciation for Conroy’s great love of learning and of his adopted home in South Carolina. This presentation will also discuss how the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center continues Conroy’s legacy as teacher, mentor, advocate, and friend to readers and writers.

Website: Facebook Event Page

About our Presenter:

Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, the founding director of the Pat Conroy Literary Festival, and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint in partnership with Pat Conroy. Haupt serves on the boards of the South Carolina Academy of Authors and the Friends of South Carolina Libraries, and on the South Carolina Humanities advisory committee and the American Writers Museum affiliates steering committee. With Charleston novelist Nicole Seitz, he is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.