"I Was Born to Be in a Library": Pat Conroy's Great Love of Libraries

"A library could show you everything, if you knew where to look."—Pat Conroy, My Reading Life

The author of "The Prince of Tides," "The Great Santini" and "The Water Is Wide," Pat Conroy (1945–2016) is synonymous with the literature of the Lowcountry. Pat Conroy Literary Center executive director Jonathan Haupt will discuss Conroy’s lifelong love of books and libraries—focusing on the roles public libraries, school libraries, and Pat's own personal library played in his writing life.

Through video and audio clips, photographs, and published and unpublished writings by and about Conroy, this presentation welcomes attendees into the book-filled world of one of America's most beloved writers. Also included will be an overview of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center which honors and continues Conroy’s legacy as writer and educator in his adopted hometown of Beaufort.

This free literary program will be held at the Charleston County Main Library at 68 Calhoun St. in historic downtown Charleston on Thursday, September 18, at 6:00-7:00 p.m.

About Our Presenter
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, the past director of the University of South Carolina Press, and co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, winner of 17 book awards. He is a frequent guest book reviewer for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Post and Courier. Under Jonathan's leadership, the Conroy Center has been recognized as an American Library Association Literary Landmark, an affiliate of the American Writers Museum, and winner of the Civitas Award for Tourism Leadership.

You may also like the following events from Pat Conroy Literary Center:

• Next Thursday, 17th July, 05:00 pm, An Evening with Novelist Katherine Scott Crawford, Author of The Miniaturist's Assistant in Beaufort
• Next Saturday, 19th July, 04:30 pm, Silent Book Club Beaufort in Beaufort
• This month, 24th July, 06:00 pm, An Evening with Bestselling Author Kiese Laymon - City Summer, Country Summer in Beaufort

Also check out other Arts events in Charleston, Literary Art events in Charleston.