Pat Conroy Literary Festival set to kick off this week in Beaufort County. What to know
The 2022 Pat Conroy Literary Festival kicks off this week in Beaufort County with a special section dedicated to highlighting Lowcountry teachers in honor of the 50th anniversary of the author’s teaching memoir.
The festival will take place from Oct. 28-30 in a combination of virtual and in-person events in Beaufort and Bluffton.
In honor of “The Water is Wide,” Conroy’s 1972 memoir detailing his experience as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, a local author, chef and sixth-generation Daufuskie native, Sallie Ann Robinson, will lead a panel discussion in collaboration with historian Larry Rowland.
The panel will be moderated by author Ellen Malphrus and Robinson, Conroy’s student, will also be joined by his former teaching colleagues, George Westerfield and Peter Walter.
Now in its seventh year, the festival began as a way to mark legendary Lowcountry author Pat Conroy’s 70th birthday.
Since then, it has become an annual event bringing readers and writers together in support of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, according to the festival’s website. The center, which was opened after Conroy’s death in 2016, is a nonprofit that offers writing classes, lectures and school programs to people in the area.
Most of the festival’s 14 scheduled events are free. Some events, including several workshops and a guided trail walk at Hunting Island State Park, range from $25 to $100. The panel with Robinson is free.
To see a full schedule and other writers who will be at the festival, visit patconroyliteraryfestival.org/events/.
This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 10:37 AM.
