The Pat Conroy Literary Center has been newly selected as an affiliate of the American Writers Museum – the first site in South Carolina to receive this national designation.
“For our Conroy Center to be approved as an AWM affiliate on the basis of our first year’s worth of public programming and operations speaks volumes about all that we are doing here in Beaufort and beyond to continue Pat Conroy’s literary legacy,” said Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt. “It’s a tremendous honor for everyone who supports the Conroy Center. And we’re in good company with the constellation of our fellow AWM affiliates across the country.”
The American Writers Museum Affiliates Program fosters collaboration among American author museums and homes to increase interest in the works of great American writers and to expand the public knowledge and appreciation for their unique contributions to our nation. To date, just over 70 sites nationwide have been selected for AWM affiliate status, including the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville, NC, and the Alex Haley Museum in Henning, TN.
The mission of the American Writers Museum is to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the American Writers Museum strives to educate the public about American writers (past and present), engage visitors to the museum in exploring the many exciting worlds created by the spoken and written word, enrich and deepen appreciation for good writing in all its forms, motivate visitors to discover (or rediscover) a love of reading and writing, and inspire the young writers of tomorrow. Through innovative and dynamic state-of-the-art exhibitions, as well as compelling programming, the American Writers Museum educates, enriches, provokes, and inspires the public. Additional details at www.americanwritersmuseum.org.
The Pat Conroy Literary Center educates and inspires a community of readers, writers, and teachers in and beyond our home in the South Carolina lowcountry. In honor of our namesake, one of America’s best loved writers and truth-tellers, the Conroy Center continues Pat Conroy’s courageous and generous-hearted legacy as a teacher, mentor, advocate, and friend to storytellers of every kind.
Based in Conroy’s beloved hometown and muse of Beaufort, the Conroy Center is developing an inclusive, sustainable, and highly visible educational presence by hosting exhibitions drawn from Conroy’s writing life, presenting workshops on the writing craft and professionalization, organizing book group discussions, offering presentations by local and visiting writers and literary arts leaders, sponsoring mentorship programs and awards to foster a great love of literature among young and emerging writers, honoring the vital work of educators, holding as our signature event the annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival, fostering a robust online outreach to our global audience, and partnering with schools, universities, libraries, festivals, fellow nonprofits, and other humanities organizations to enhance the literary arts. Collectively these ambitious efforts serve as an open invitation to all of those from around the globe who have appreciated and benefited from Pat Conroy’s extraordinary gifts and generosity to join us in championing the transformative power of education and of story itself to reshape our lives and our world for the betterment of all. Additional details at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org and www.patconroyliteraryfestival.org.
