We announced the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s
First Writer's Residency in the Spring of 2020!
Click here for details.
We held the first ever Pat Conroy Writer’s Residency in March of 2020 to concide with annual March Forth event at the Penn Center. After sifting through many stories, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, memoir, we unanimously choose David Kiser of Greenville, SC who is writing a book about the history of music in South Carolina. David proved to be an absolutely delightful young man, eager to experience everything offered to him. It was such a gift to have him stay here, get to know him, and take him on adventures when he wasn’t writing. He is also writing a novel, a selection from which was printed in Lowcountry Weekly; this is the link to his excerpt: lcweekly.com/arts/the-beginning-of-my-fathers-choir
Writer’s Residency November 2020
Julie Cantrell, New York Times award winning novelist, was the recipient of the second Writer’s Residency. Julie came from Dallas Texas to stay for her residency and to experience the Pat Conroy Literary Festival. Everyone enjoyed Julie, but most of all, me. We drank wine on the porch, walked on the beach, went out to lunch, had dinner together every evening, and talked and laughed and had the very best time.
Writer’s Residency November 2021
Kathy Meadows, also from Dallas Texas, was writing a “young adult fantasy novel about an afterlife with options” set in the lowcountry and she had never been here! In her application she said, “In my dreams I think my spirit may be lurking in one of the lowcountry islands.” We gave her the opportunity to find out and with her great sence of curiosity, she and I had a marvelous time going on adventures and exploring together.
Writer’s Residency March 2022
Janna Zonder came to us with this story: “I grew up on a farm in Georgia. I have plowed behind a mule, helped butcher hogs, and now I’m a (almost) vegan ukulele player…My first novel, Magenta Rave, published in 2013, is a thriller/revenge story that targets sexual predators.” Her residency coincided with March Forth, where at one of the events, she was happy to meet the artist Jonathan Green. Janna and her husband, Stu, are accomplished performance artists. Hopefully when Janna comes back to Beaufort to visit, she will be able to perform and she will have a big audience because everyone loved her!
Writer’s Residency November 2022
Robert Gwaltney had been to Beaufort in the spring of 2022 when I did not have the good fortune to meet him. He had just published his debut novel, The Cicada Tree. When he returned as the Writer’s Resident in November, it took him a few beats before he came out to play but by the time he left we had been tromping around in old plantation graveyards looking for the gravesite of Dr. Buzzard (to no avail), having dinners, and cocktails, with all manner of friends. His book is just as rich and complex and deeply moving as his own persona. I’ve had a sneak preview of his novel in progress, Sing Down the Moon, and am anxiously awaiting it’s publication.
After the residency, Southern Literary Review asked Robert to write about his time here and they published this story in April 2023: https://southernlitreview.com/essays-2/lick-the-sherbet-sky-reflections-of-a-writers-residency-by-robert-gwaltney.htm
Writer’s Residency March 2023
Heather Bell Adams has red hair. What can I say? I adored her right at the get go. An attorney in Raleigh, NC, and author of two novels, Marantha Road and The Good Luck Stone, Heather was very disciplined during the residency but I did manage to lure her out for cocktails and dinners and some play time.
Here is a link to an interview she did with Jonathan Haupt in January of 2021 about The Good Luck Stone: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsontheair/2021/01/21/pat-conroy-center-jonathan-haupt-w-heather-bell-adams-the-good-luck-stone.
www.heatherbelladams.com
Writer’s Residency October 2023
Kaye Wilkinson Barley enjoyed her time on Saint Helena Island and my cat, Moon Pie. For more information about her experience here, visit her blog at: http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com.
www.kayewilkinsonbarley.com
Writer’s Residency March 2024
Jeffrey Dale Lofton was such a delight! We stayed up at night chatting and telling stories and sometimes we would each read to each other from his book, Red Clay Suzie. Jeffrey’s writing is every bit as rich and evocative as Pat Conroy’s, without the angst. Jeffrey wrote the majority of his book on his phone while commuting to and from work!
When asked what his favorite Pat Conroy book was, he replied, “The Great Santini had the biggest impact, given my own family-induced trauma. But I love My Reading Life most because it is about the literature and people Pat Conroy loved—especially his book-loving, library-visiting mother. It’s the sweet counterpoint to the stories about his father—a kind of beautiful triumph.”
www.jeffreydlofton.com