The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, December 12, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured presenters is Nancy E. Merrill, author of the new children's holiday book Elf Dust. 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 Presenter Nancy E. Merrill is a [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host a book launch for Beaufortonian Jared Madison, author of The 30 Day Guide to Inner Peace, on Sunday, December 8, from noon to 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. Light refreshments provided. Please call in advance to reserve: (843) 379-7025. About the Book: One of three writers of the “Wholly Holistics” column in Lowcountry Weekly and host of the [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with memoirist Nancy Murray, author of No Experience Necessary, on Friday, November 15, 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 in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025. About the Book and Author: In No Experience Necessary, Nancy Murray shares the insights, pitfalls, and strategies that she gleaned along her journey toward meaningful employment. Her [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held virtually on Thursday, November 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is poet Mamie Morgan, author of Everyone I've Danced with Is Dead. Open Mic will also feature short readings of 3 to 5 minutes each by other writers in many genres. Interested in reading as part of Open Mic? Let us know at contact@patconroyliterarycenter.org. About Our Featured Writer Mamie Morgan received an MFA from UNC Wilmington and a BA in [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host a free public drop-in launch event for local author Joy Corley’s debut children’s book, Percy Goes Camping…Maybe. Join us outside on Saturday, October 26, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) in downtown Beaufort. No advance registration required. Books will be available for sale and signing. Light refreshments will be provided. About the Book and Author: Percy Goes Camping...Maybe is a true story about overcoming your fears. Percy is an 80-pound, fun [...]

If, according to Pat Conroy, the most powerful words in the English language are “Tell Me a Story,” then the most regretful ones are: “I never got Mama’s (or Daddy’s) stories.” Or you may have a fantastic personal story that begs to be told and you’re afraid it won’t happen. This workshop helps you avoid that regret! We’ll cover: Tips for Starting and Re-Starting Stories Finding Structure in Your Many Tales Several Writing Prompts, Reading, and Feedback Opportunities. Discussion of Publication Options Led by an [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, October 10, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is Columbia City Poet Laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin, author of Only Believe, selected for the 2023 Hilary Tham Capital Collection. 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 [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with novelist Roger Jones, author of The Final Victory, on Thursday, September 19, 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 in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025. About the Book: In a novel that fuses the riveting action of The Boys in the Boat with the emotional heft of The Fault in Our Stars, [...]

Let's talk about the Hilton Head Poetry Trail Have you heard? Hilton Head Island has a poetry trail! Want to visit but can’t get there now? Know what’s in store before you go? Learn how to create a trail in your own town? Join us for a special presentation by award-winning poet Elizabeth Robin, all about the Hilton Head Poetry Trail. A marriage of technology, creative writing, public art, and arts-minded businesses, the Hilton Head Poetry Trail offers a new way to see Hilton Head [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, September 12, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is Deirdre Garr Johns, author of the forthcoming children’s picture book Weathering the Storm and the forthcoming poetry chapbook Fallen Love. 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 [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with lowcountry legend Ron Daise, author of the newly published novel Raptors in the Ricelands, on Tuesday, September 10, 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 in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025. About the Book and Author: In the twenty-first century fictional community of Georgetown, South Carolina, a story unfolds revealing family secrets [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with novelist Zackary Vernon, author of Our Bodies Electric, on Friday, August 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 in advance to reserve: 843-379-7025. About the Book and Author: Tormented by his religious family and the broader conservative community of Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, fourteen-year-old Josh struggles with the pressure to [...]

Author Donna Baier Stein said that writers can use photography to "expand... meaning—not in terms of enlarging [an] original work, but in terms of offering more possibilities." In this workshop, we use a combination of professional and amateur photography, including our own family photos, in conversation with poems and short prose to generate creative new work. We'll use the unconscious subtexts of these photos, the befores and afters, and the memories they evoke. We'll also take a look at the objective properties of the photographs, [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held virtually on Thursday, August 8, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is poet Jessica Goody, author of Phoenix: Transformation Poems. 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 Jessica Goody is the award-winning author of Defense Mechanisms (Phosphene Publishing, 2016) and Phoenix: Transformation [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with retired surgeon turned novelist Martha B. Boone, author of Mother Charity, in conversation with retired FBI Special Agent turned novelist Dana Ridenour, author of the Lexie Montgomery Series, on Thursday, July 25, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited: please reserve in advance to attend this free author event: 843-379-7025. About Mother Charity Evolving from a naive girl to [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with Jo Angela Edwins, Poet Laureate of the Pee Dee and author of A Dangerous Heaven, on Saturday, July 13, 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. Edwins will also lead a poetry writing workshop earlier that afternoon, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Details and registration: https://mystifyingthefamiliar.eventbrite.com About the book [...]

In this workshop, we’ll discuss how imaginative unions in poems can lead to insight. We’ll look at poems like Billy Collins’ “Hippos on Holiday” or Heid E. Erdrich’s “Indigenous Elvis at the Airport” to see the effect of the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the unexpected. As a generative exercise, we’ll also do a writing activity to inspire the beginnings of such a poem. Saturday, July 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Limited to 15 participants. (A minimum of five participants is [...]

The Pat Conroy Literary Center's monthly Open Mic Night will be held at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.) on Thursday, July 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Our featured writer is novelist Rebecca Thompson, winner of the Ann Head Literary Prize and author of the duology The Girl of the Tree and Seeking the Truth. 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 [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with McCracken King Poston Jr., author of Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom, on Thursday, June 27, 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 through the Beaufort Bookstore. Please call to reserve your seat in advance: 843-379-7025. About the book and author Like a nonfiction John Grisham thriller with echoes of Rainman, Just [...]

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to host a free public drop-in launch event for Donna Keel Armer’s Moringa: Tree of Life ~ Book 2 in the Cat Gabbiano Mystery Series. Join us on Saturday, June 15, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at 601 Bladen St., in downtown Beaufort. No advance registration required. Books will be available for sale and signing. Refreshments will be provided. The author will speak briefly at 5:45 p.m. About Moringa: Tree of Life (Book 2 in the Cat [...]