Why are book reviews so important? Where should readers post them in support of writers and books they want to champion? What is the best way to write a review? What should a book review say and how should it say it? How do reviews posted by readers compare to reviews published in newspapers, magazines, and journals? How does someone become a professional book reviewer? Write Review founder Annie McDonnell discusses all of this and more in a free two-part workshop, Let's Talk Book Reviews--live-streamed on the Pat Conroy Literary Center Facebook page. See the recorded video from Part 1 of this workshop at https://youtu.be/7AoR_42ejqs. About Our Presenter: A lifelong reader and advocate for writers and books, Annie McDonnell is a graduate of High Point University (NC). In 2006, she entered a contest with Elle Magazine and become a book reviewer for the magazine. When Elle stopped running book reviews, Annie moved to blogging and eventually began the Write Review. An entire community was born. Annie writes book reviews, beta reads, blurbs books, runs a book club, interviews authors, and hosts fun, interactive events to promote literacy. In recognition of her many efforts, Annie was awarded the 2021 Doug Marlette Award for Literacy Leadership, a lifetime achievement award presented by the Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the U.S. In February 2021, the Annie McDonnell Book Award was announced, honoring her dedication to the literary community and her courage and strength in battling a rare illness. Annie lives in Mastic, NY, with her husband, three beautiful dogs and five lovely cats. She also volunteers at One Love Dog Rescue and supports Operation Paperback and Children’s Literacy. Learn more about the Write Review at https://thewritereview.com and www.facebook.com/Thewritereview. Learn more about the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org

Exploring the theme of "Free to Be," our Camp Conroy campers and counselors shared their artwork and writings at Beaufort Middle School on July 24, 2021, in our closing reading and celebration with an audience of family and friends. We are endlessly proud of the creative endeavors and collaborative spirit of these talented young writers and artists. Our 4th annual Camp Conroy was directed by lead instructors Lisa Anne Cullen, Miho Kinnas, Robin Prince Monroe, Deborah Womble, and Jonathan Haupt, with the assistance of counselors Addie Bowers, Alex Bosley, and Lee Lemstrom; and a pantheon of special guest instructors and bonus presenters--Kathleen Harvey, Len Lawson, Susan Diamond Riley, Rebecca Dwight Bruff, Stephanie Austin Edwards, Robyn Hood Black, Darion McCloud, Sam McWhite, Brooke McKinney, Lila Arnold, and Robin M. Salmon. Many thanks to Melissa Murray and the Beaufort County School District for the partnership that makes Camp Conroy possible, and to all of the generous donors who make it possible for so many year after year. To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.

The Pat Conroy Literary Center was honored to host a visit with New York Times bestselling writer Kristin Harmel, author The Forest of Vanishing Stars, on July 19. Kristin was introduced by Cassandra King Conroy, best-selling author and honorary chair of the nonprofit Conroy Center. ABOUT THE NOVEL The New York Times bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names returns with an evocative coming-of-age World War II story about a young woman who uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help Jewish refugees escape the Nazis—until a secret from her past threatens everything. After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything. Inspired by incredible true stories of survival against staggering odds, and suffused with the journey-from-the-wilderness elements that made Where the Crawdads Sing a worldwide phenomenon, The Forest of Vanishing Stars is a heart-wrenching and suspenseful novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author whose writing has been hailed as “sweeping and magnificent” (Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author), “immersive and evocative” (Publishers Weekly), and “gripping” (Tampa Bay Times). ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of a dozen novels including The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is also the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends and Fiction. https://kristinharmel.com

The Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to be a partner in the Beaufort County School District's 2021 Book Drop Blitz, which makes thousands books for all ages freely available at lending libraries and community centers across Beaufort County. One of this year's selections is The Sea Island's Secret: A Delta and Jax Mystery, written by Susan Diamond Riley. In this short video, the author reads a short excerpt from her Hilton Head Island-based mystery. See below for discussion questions from the author to accompany her book as well. To learn more about author Susan Diamond Riley and the Delta and Jax mysteries, please visit www.susandiamondriley.com. The Book Drop Blitz is presented by the Beaufort County School District in collaboration with Beaufort County Library System, United Way of the Lowcountry, and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Learn more at https://uwlowcountry.org/book-drop-blitz/. To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org. THE SEA ISLAND'S SECRET, BY SUSAN DIAMOND RILEY SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. The author of The Sea Island’s Secret purposely did not describe the physical appearance of the book’s main characters. Why might she have done that? As you were reading the book, what did you imagine that Delta and Jax looked like? How about Patchy? How might a reader of a different culture than you picture these characters differently? Why do you think this is so? 2. Delta mentions early in the book that she is afraid of heights. At which points in the book did that fear get tested? Do you think she overcame her fear of heights by the end of the book? Why or why not? Tell of a time you faced a fear of your own. 3. Delta and Jax made several poor choices while visiting the Charleston laboratory where the H.S. Hunley was being restored. List the choices they made there in two columns: “GOOD” and “NOT SO GOOD”. For each “not so good” choice, what should they have done differently? How do you suppose Pops and Dr. Chang would have reacted if they had known what Delta and Jax did in the lab? What other poor choices did the siblings make throughout the book? 4. Spanish moss is described quite differently in two separate points in the book (chapters 1 and 22). Find both passages and compare the similes/metaphors used. Why might Delta have imagined the plant differently in these two scenes? Think of an object you see every day and describe it in two different ways that express contrasting moods. 5. Aside from being a type of fish, a “red herring” is a literary device that mystery authors use to distract readers from identifying the real culprit in a story. A red herring often takes the form of a suspicious character who ends up being innocent. Who is the red herring in The Sea Island’s Secret? Is there more than one? When did you realize that the character(s) was not a threat to the siblings after all? 6. How did Delta and Jax react when they opened the box that held Jasper’s Gems? What had they expected to find? Pops believed that the kids’ discovery really was a treasure. Why did he think that? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? 7. Delta and Jax learn that, while many people visit Hilton Head Island today for vacation fun, the island played a much different role during the Civil War. Explore the history of your own hometown via the internet or books. What might life have been like there 150 years ago? How about 100 years ago? Find a historical event that happened long ago near where you live, and then tell someone else about it.

Robyn Zimmerman, host of WHHI-TV’s North of the Broad, interviews Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt about the Center's upcoming Children's Book Fair at the Coastal Discovery Museum's annual Family Fun Day (August 10, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) on Hilton Head Island and about upcoming writers workshops and a visit from Linda Lovely, author of the new mystery novel With Friends Like These (Aug 31, 6:00 p.m.) Learn more at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.

The Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to be a partner in the Beaufort County School District's 2021 Book Drop Blitz, which makes thousands books for all ages freely available at lending libraries and community centers across Beaufort County. One of this year's selections is Trouble the Water, a novelization of the inspirational life of Robert Smalls, written by Rebecca Dwight Bruff. In this short video, the author discusses her book from the Robert Smalls display at LyBenson's Gallery on St. Helena Island, SC. The Book Drop Blitz is presented by the Beaufort County School District in collaboration with Beaufort County Library System, United Way of the Lowcountry, and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Learn more at https://uwlowcountry.org/book-drop-blitz/. To learn more about author Rebecca Dwight Bruff and her debut novel Trouble the Water, please visit: www.rebeccabruff.com. To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.

Our monthly virtual Open Mic Night is hosted by Brooke McKinney and presented in partnership between the Pat Conroy Literary Center and the South Carolina Writers Association. Our featured writer for July was fiction writer T.D. Johnston, joined by a pantheon of participating writers from in and beyond our South Carolina lowcountry: Susan Gene McCartney, John MacIlroy, Elizabeth Robin, Jayne Adams, Brad Beck, Lisa Anne Cullen, and Katherine Tandy Brown, hosted by Brooke McKinney. About our featured writer: T.D. Johnston won the 2017 International Book Award for Best Short Fiction for his debut collection, Friday Afternoon and Other Stories. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals. His second collection, Weeding for Eisenhower, is due out in September. The editor of the Short Story America anthology series of contemporary short stories, he lives in Jacksonville, Florida and Beaufort, South Carolina with his wife, Stacey, daughters Brooke and Taylor, and son Nick. www.tdjohnston.com

“Joseph Tallon’s story, told through his wartime letters, recollections, and the words of his son, is a moving account of an American family’s experience with war, loss, and remembrance. 100 Days in Vietnam offers readers both a rare window on the final days of our painful national odyssey in Vietnam and a remarkable record of an individual’s determined quest to honor a fallen comrade.”--Ken Burns, filmmaker and director of The Vietnam War, The Civil War, and many other films The Pat Conroy Literary Center hosted virtual visit with Matthew A. Tallon, coauthor with his father, Lt. Col. Joseph F. Tallon, of the new memoir, 100 Days in Vietnam, on June 24,. Copies of the book are available through Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/8118/9781646632558. ABOUT THE MEMOIR: As American troops continue their steady exodus on the last day of their ground war in Vietnam, Lieutenant Joe Tallon is shot down by an enemy missile. Forced to eject at a dangerously low altitude from their OV-1 Mohawk, Joe and his tactical observer, Specialist-5 Daniel Richards, land in the flaming wreckage. Lieutenant Tallon survives but Specialist Richards does not. Stateside, Lieutenant Tallon begins to heal and proceed with his life-but the loss of his tactical observer is never far from his mind. Forty years later, Joe embarks on a quest to bring recognition to the sacrifice of Daniel Richards and secure a Purple Heart for his family. Painstakingly recreated from wartime letters and remembrances and contextualized by contemporary news accounts, 100 Days in Vietnam is a collaboration between Joe and his son Matt-also an Army veteran. Here we experience the war through the emotions of the man who survived it: the drudgery and monotony of airfield life, the heartache of a newlywed missing his wife, the terror of combat missions, the agony of injury and rehabilitation, and the bittersweet relief from the completion of his final mission to bring recognition to his fallen comrade. “Superbly written, rife with humility, heart, and a relentless sense of hope and longing, 100 Days in Vietnam is a tale of love, war, recovery, remembrance, and the pursuit to honor those who don’t always get recognized in the after-action reports, the homecoming parades, or the headlines featuring hometown heroes. Former Army pilot Joseph F. Tallon’s day-to-day musings and letters home are at times reminiscent of Joseph Heller’s novel, Catch-22. Joe Tallon does a great job capturing both the mundane and those life altering moments when mayhem and tragedy strikes. His eldest son, Matthew A. Tallon, a gifted writer and former Army officer, opens and closes the story with prose so beautifully rendered you are compelled to keep reading. Matt writes lovingly of his grandfather, a WWII veteran, whose death is the catalyst that starts the journey to bring this book into the world. With empathy and compassion, both father and son weave a story you will not soon forget.”--Kathleen M. Rodgers, 2020 MWSA Founder’s Award and author of The Flying Cutterbucks ABOUT THE AUTHORS Joseph F. Tallon is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who served from 1969 to 2007. Trained as a composite Army aviator in rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, he flew the OV-1 Mohawk during Vietnam, transitioning to Army intelligence after the war. A selection of his awards and decorations during his military service includes the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal (2x), the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, the Vietnam Wounded in Action Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. Upon completion of a master's degree in education and supervision at The Citadel in 1981, Joe taught high school social studies. Retired from teaching, he has been an active volunteer and fundraiser for the local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans. Joe has been married to his wife, Martha Anne, for fifty years and has two sons and six grandchildren. Matthew A. Tallon is a former US Army transportation officer who served primarily in overseas duty assignments for five years and completed his active-duty commitment as a captain. Matt is a graduate of Duke University with a bachelor's degree in history and a teaching certification. After completion of his military service, Matt returned to Durham Public Schools to teach high school US history and civics. After graduating from Harvard with a master's degree in education policy and management, Matt currently serves as the senior project manager for the Public Education Leadership Project, a joint education initiative between the Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Matt has been married to his wife, Lindsay, for the past twenty years and has three sons. www.matthewtallon.com

The Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to be a partner in the Beaufort County School District's 2021 Book Drop Blitz, which makes thousands books for all ages freely available at lending libraries and community centers across Beaufort County. One of this year's selections is Pat Conroy's first novel, The Great Santini (originally published in 1976). In this short video, Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt discusses and reads from the response of the real Great Santini, Col Don Conroy, to his son's novel, as recorded at the Great Santini exhibit in the Conroy Center. The Book Drop Blitz is presented by the Beaufort County School District in collaboration with Beaufort County Library System, United Way of the Lowcountry, and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Learn more at https://uwlowcountry.org/book-drop-blitz/. To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.

The Pat Conroy Literary Center is honored to be a partner in the Beaufort County School District's 2021 Book Drop Blitz, which makes thousands books for all ages freely available at lending libraries and community centers across Beaufort County. One of this year's selections is Pat Conroy's first novel, The Great Santini (originally published in 1976). In this short video, Conroy Center intern and Beaufort High School student Holland Perryman shares a short excerpt from the novel, read at the gravesite of the real Great Santini, Col. Donald Conroy, in Beaufort's National Cemetery. The Book Drop Blitz is presented by the Beaufort County School District in collaboration with Beaufort County Library System, United Way of the Lowcountry, and the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Learn more at https://uwlowcountry.org/book-drop-blitz/. To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.