# Event Details - **Event Name**: Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE - **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 23 Oct, 2026 at 10:00 am – Fri, 23 Oct, 2026 at 11:40 am (-04:00) - **Event Description**: Three authors explore the fascinating line between memoir and fiction—and the ways truth, memory, and imagination shape the stories we tell.About this EventStart this event with welcoming remarks from Robert Gwaltney, new Executive Director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Then, on to the main event:Memoir vs. Fiction: TRUTH OR DAREThree brilliant English professors and Conroy muses discuss Fiction vs Memoir – the courage and daring in Pat Conroy’s work and beyond, exploring the choices authors must make in telling hard truths. What are the requirements of each genre? Are there rules to the game? But aren’t rules made to be broken? And what’s “personal,” what’s “public?” Memoir raises more questions than any other literary form. After all, whose story is it anyway? We know (or think we do) that novelists make stuff up—that’s the whole point of fiction. But memoirists? If you are thinking of writing a memoir or a semi-autobiographical novel, or simply like reading them, then this panel is for you. You will learn some of the pitfalls and perils of each genre and learn some of the thinking behind the choices author Pat Conroy made when writing his five bestselling novels and his four books of nonfiction. And lastly, what were the consequences, if any, of his decisions?Come prepared for a lively discussion on this landmark novel’s weekend-long 50th birthday party. (Tim Conroy ends the panel discussion with a poem about Santini!)Booksigning in lobby 11:40-12:00Patricia Hampl is a retired English Professor and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient for her contributions to the field of memoir and autobiographical writing. The author of seven memoirs, including A Romantic Education, her award-winning debut, and The Florist’s Daughter, Hampl has also published two books of poetry, travel pieces, essays, short fiction and poetry in various magazines including The New Yorker, Granta, The Paris Review, and The New York Times. She was a revered professor of creative nonfiction, memoir and poetry at the University of Minnesota for four decades.. The late poet Carol Conroy introduced Hampl to her brother Pat shortly after the publication of The Great Santini. She and Pat bonded as friends and aspiring writers during the three Minnesota summers Conroy spent vacationing on that rocky shoreline of Lake Superior where they gathered each year to share their work and their dreamsEllen Malphrus, PhD. Pat’s friend and USCB poet and novelist Ellen Malphrus is a beloved professor of English and the Writer in Residence at University of SC Beaufort. She now mentor’s young writers, having benefitted herself by the mentoring of not only Pat Conroy but by writer James Dickey, the author of Deliverance and other novels and a recipient of a National Book Award in Poetry. When Pat chose to join Jonathan Haupt as a founding editor for Story River Books, an imprint at the University of South Carolina Press, one of the first novels he chose to publish was Ellen’s novel Untying the Moon. Ellen’s poetry, fiction, essays, creative nonfiction, and academic research has been widely published in literary journals, scholarly journals, anthologies, and books, including Poetry South, James Dickey Review, Southern Literary Journal, Blue Mountain Review and others. She has served as deputy director of this festival for a decadeCatherine Seltzer, PhD. Assoc. Professor at VCU -Virginia Commonwealth University- Seltzer teaches Southern Literature and Literary Biography as well as Gender and Women’s Studies. A prolific scholarly writer, Bloomsbury recently published her handbook to Toni Morrison’s work. Catherine was selected to write Understanding Pat Conroy which was published by the University of South Carolina Press. When Pat understood he was dying he trusted Catherine to become his biographer, encouraging her not to shy away from any unpleasant truths she uncovered. Her much-anticipated Pat Conroy biography, a major undertaking, is tentatively titled Man on Fire: the Life of Pat Conroy. The biography is expected to be released late in 2027 by Doubleday/Random House. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/beaufort/panel-discussion-memoir-vs-fiction-truth-or-dare/100001998962388314 - **Event Categories**: fitness, Art, literary-art, Business, Festivals - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 17.85, max: 17.85, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Beaufort - **state**: SC - **country**: United States - **location**: USCB Center for the Arts - **lat**: 32.4373922 - **long**: -80.6692301 - **full address**: USCB Center for the Arts, 805 Carteret Street, Beaufort, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/10f8b63a5895f9749b0358ba67d9dcd2bcc7506081274371f1bd00e933a9881e-rimg-w1200-h400-dcd8e8f8-gmir.jpg?v=1788222683 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE being held? - **A:** Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE takes place on Fri, 23 Oct, 2026 at 10:00 am to Fri, 23 Oct, 2026 at 11:40 am at USCB Center for the Arts, 805 Carteret Street, Beaufort, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE? - **A:** Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE is organized by Pat Conroy Literary Center Inc.. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Panel Discussion: Memoir vs. Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/10f8b63a5895f9749b0358ba67d9dcd2bcc7506081274371f1bd00e933a9881e-rimg-w1200-h400-dcd8e8f8-gmir.jpg?v=1788222683", "startDate": "2026-10-23T10:00:00-04:00", "endDate": "2026-10-23T11:40:00-04:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/beaufort/panel-discussion-memoir-vs-fiction-truth-or-dare/100001998962388314", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "USCB Center for the Arts", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "805 Carteret Street", "postalCode": "29902", "addressLocality": "Beaufort", "addressRegion": "SC", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "32.4373922", "longitude": "-80.6692301" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Three authors explore the fascinating line between memoir and fiction—and the ways truth, memory, and imagination shape the stories we tell.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-01", "availabilityEnds": "2026-10-23T11:40:00-04:00", "validFrom": "2026-09-01", "lowPrice": "17.85", "highPrice": "17.85", "price": "17.85", "url": "https://allevents.in/beaufort/panel-discussion-memoir-vs-fiction-truth-or-dare/100001998962388314" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-01", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-09-01", "url": "https://allevents.in/beaufort/panel-discussion-memoir-vs-fiction-truth-or-dare/100001998962388314", "price": "17.85", "name": "Panel Discussion: Memoir vs Fiction- TRUTH OR DARE" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Pat Conroy Literary Center Inc.", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/pat-conroy-literary-center-inc/22522975", "description": "The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center isSouth Carolina's first affiliate of the American Writers Museum, second American Library Association Literary Landmark, winner of the 2019 Civitas Award for Tourism Leadership presented by the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce, andTripAdvisor's top-ranked destination in Beaufort, South Carolina. Through its interpretive center, year-round educational programs, and annual literary festival, the Conroy Center preserves and continues the literary legacy of Pat Conroy (1945-2016) as a teacher, mentor, advocate, and friend to readers and writers alike. Learn more atwww.patconroyliterarycenter.org." } ] } ] ```