Bestselling authors join event honoring Pat Conroy in Beaufort. Here’s how to participate
A four-day literary festival in Beaufort that celebrates the Lowcountry’s most famous author is gathering writers and inviting readers for a pandemic-inspired virtual series.
The Pat Conroy Literary Center has planned the fifth annual, now-online Pat Conroy Literary Festival for Nov. 5-8.
Just like prior festivals except live-streamed, authors will give presentations, take questions from panelists and host workshops for emerging writers.
The focus of this year’s festival includes emphasizing lives of service and the lives of veterans, according to Jonathan Haupt, executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center.
The event will spotlight writers “who had fascinating careers before ever becoming writers,” he said.
This year’s list of headliners include:
- Brad Taylor, author of the Pike Logan thriller series and former U.S. Army Special Forces officer
- Mary Whyte, acclaimed watercolor artist, author, and recipient of the South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts: the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award
- Cinelle Barnes, Charleston-based writer and editor
Julie Cantrell, a New York Times best-selling novelist, will be featured at the festival’s Open Mic event. A host of other novelists, travel writers, poets, and even students from local high schools are set to appear.
Conroy’s legacy is ever-present at the events. At last year’s festival, former Island Packet columnist David Lauderdale interviewed Cassandra King Conroy, novelist and widow of Pat Conroy, about her new book.
The last two days of the 2020 festival will feature half a dozen workshops for writers of all levels. Those registered can learn about “Finding a Storytelling Voice” at one workshop and “Memoir Writing with Family Photographs” at another.
The full list of attendees and details on registration can be found at https://patconroyliteraryfestival.org/.
“Pat believed the spotlight was always meant to be shared and not his alone,” said Haupt. He hopes the virtual festival will continue “introducing (Conroy) to readers who may not have found him otherwise.”
