May brings five more opportunities for writers and readers to enjoy educational workshops hosted online by the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center—and three of them are free! Conroy Center virtual workshops are held on Zoom; registration is now open for the following classes at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com.

May 5, 12, 19, and 26, 6:00-8:00 p.m.: Led by writer, counselor, leadership coach, and rabbi TZiPi Radonsky ,Writing as an Expression of the Soul is a four-week course in which participants will learn to express themselvesmore freely through prose, haiku, narrative poetry, to-do lists, and other forms as opportunities to become more attuned to their own creative spirits. $100, limited to 15 participants.

May 11, 7:30-8:30 p.m.: Led by Annie McDonnell, founder of the Write Review and recipient of the 2021 Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award, the Let’s Talk Book Reviews workshop is for writers and readers interested in learning more about the importance of reader-generated book reviews and opportunities to support the community of writers through book reviews. This workshop is free to attend on Zoom, and will also be live-streamed on the Conroy Center’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/patconroyliterarycenter.

May 18, 7:30-8:30 p.m.: How to Start Your Facebook Book Club, also led by Annie McDonnell, offers an insightful overview of how to develop an online book club presence and an opportunity to learn more about the formats and benefits of some existing online books clubs. This workshop is free to attend on Zoom, and will also be live-streamed on the Conroy Center’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/patconroyliterarycenter.


May 25: 7:00-8:30 p.m., Presented by the Conroy Center’s Jonathan Haupt and Brooke McKinney, the Burning Man vs. the Tortoises: Turning Memories into Stories is a free—and already nearly at capacity—workshop offered in collaboration with the South Carolina Writers Association. This class draws on two examples of Pat Conroy’s writings in My Reading Life as instructive examples of storytelling techniques and metaphors for writing. Participants are then given writing exercises as opportunities to shape and share apply their own memories. Open to writers in all genres and with all levels of experience, or none at all.

May 27, 6:00-8:00 p.m., Award-winning writer and Conroy Center communications and events coordinator Brook McKinney will lead Flash Fiction: Say Less, Mean More, a writers workshop exploring ways of telling our stories in 700 words or less. The class will be writing-intensive, using exercises and prompts as well as examples of flash fiction by other writers. $45, limited to 15 participants.

Learn more about the year-round educational programs of the nonprofit Conroy Center at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.