Beaufort County Libraries – Hilton Head Branch

Free and open to the public, the Hilton Head Branch Library will host a panel discussion with authors Cassandra King Conroy, Stephanie Austin Edwards, David Lauderdale, and Lynn Seldon–contributing writers to Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy–moderated by the collection’s co-editor Jonathan Haupt, Conroy Center executive director. A book signing will follow the discussion. Royalties from book sales for Our Prince of Scribes support the educational mission of the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

Praise for Our Prince of Scribes:

“His wound may have been geography, but his legacy was generosity. That’s the takeaway from this new collection of essays honoring the late Pat Conroy (1945-2016). Novelist Nicole Seitz and Jonathan Haupt, the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, pull together a who’s-who of writers from the Lowcountry and beyond for an ode to the real Prince of Tides… A fitting tribute to a unique, significant writer and man.”—Kirkus Reviews

“What could be better than so many voices coming together to celebrate Pat Conroy? This book is a testament to the enormous hold he had on our hearts and minds.”—Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto and Commonwealth

Website: Facebook Event Page

About our Presenters:

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. He 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 anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.

Cassandra King Conroy is the award-winning author of five novels, a book of nonfiction, numerous short stories, essays, and magazine articles, most recently in Coastal Living and Southern Living. Her New York Times and USA Today best-selling second novel, The Sunday Wife, was a People magazine Page-Turner, a South Carolina’s Readers Circle choice, and one of Book Sense’s top reading group selections. Also a New York Times and USA Today best seller, The Same Sweet Girls was a number-one Book Sense selection on release. Both novels were nominated for Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Book of the Year. Moonrise was a SIBA Okra Pick and best seller, as was The Same Sweet Girls Guide to Life: Advice from a Failed Southern Belle. Recently honored as a 2017 Alabama Humanities Foundation Fellow, Conroy is currently working on a memoir and a cookbook about life with her late husband, Pat Conroy.

Stephanie Austin Edwards, a former dancer and costumer, is a novelist, writing teacher, and author consultant. Her twenty-two-year career in theater began in San Diego and moved her to New York City. She worked on Broadway and in film and on television with such talents as Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Lauren Bacall, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Bill Cosby, and Michael Bennett. Later, she returned to her roots in the South Carolina lowcountry where she now facilitates writers’ groups, teaches writing workshops, and volunteers at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Her debut novel, What We Set in Motion, won a Best Submission Award at the Atlanta Writer’s Club Conference.

David Lauderdale is a columnist and senior editor for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.

Lynn Seldon, a VMI graduate, is a longtime travel journalist. He has written more than a thousand magazine features and has published six books on travel. His first novel was Virginia’s Ring; his second novel, Carolina’s Ring, will be published in 2019. With his wife and fellow travel writer, Cele, he is co-author of the guidebook 100 Things to Do in Charleston Before You Die.