Adriana Trigiani

The Tenth Annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival will conclude with a noon luncheon on Sunday, October 26, what would have been Pat Conroy’s 80th birthday, featuring the much-anticipated appearance in Beaufort of novelist, playwright, screenwriter, comic, and filmmaker Adriana Trigiani.

Like Conroy, Trigiani arrived as a stranger in a small Southern town where she unexpectedly discovered her soul’s work. And, like Conroy, she became one of the country’s most beloved novelists and storytellers. With millions of readers around the world, Adriana Trigiani is a filmmaker, entertainer and the New York Times bestselling author of twenty books in both fiction and nonfiction. The New York Times has called her “a comedy writer with a heart of gold,” and described her books as “tiramisu for the soul.”

Adriana Trigiani will be introduced by Cassandra King at the Black Chamber of Commerce, located at 711 Bladen Street, from noon to 2 p.m. This festive meal will conclude with a performance by The Beaufort Mass Choir, a group of many of Beaufort’s finest gospel singers, directed by Scott Gibbs. Seating is limited, and tickets—available on Eventbrite—include a signed hardcover copy of Trigiani’s instant New York Times bestseller, The View from Lake Como.

“Trigiani,” says Cassandra King “is as engaging in person as she is on the page. Every one of her recent twenty-four book appearances sold out well in advance.”

Her new novel tells the story of how family secrets and an unexpected loss send a recently divorced woman, a dutiful Italian American daughter from Lake Como, New Jersey, to Lake Como in Carrara, Italy. There, she meets a stonemason who carves marble from the same mountain Michelangelo used for his masterpieces, and through this journey to her ancestral homeland, she finds a way to rebuild her life.

“Like my late husband Pat” Cassandra adds, “Trigiani holds a rare and special bond with her readers, who consider her part of their extended families. With this event–an important fundraiser for our successful school-based storytelling programs, including Camp Conroy and our Lady’s Island Elementary Storybuilders Project—she becomes forever a member of our family.”