The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening of poetry with visiting writers Libby Bernardin, author of House in Need of Mooring, and Jane Zenger, author of Night Bloomer, on Tuesday, November 15, at 5:00 p.m. at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St.).

This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing.

Libby Bernardin lives in Georgetown and is the author of House in Need of Mooring and Stones Ripe for Sowing, both from Press 53. She has published two chapbooks and contributed to many journals. Libby is a member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, the North Carolina Poetry Society, and a lifetime member of the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors. She has taught numerous poetry workshops for Coastal Carolina’s lifelong learning program, and the Georgetown County libraries. Her poetry has been honored with recognitions from the Poetry Societies of South Carolina and North Carolina.

House in Need of Mooring pulls back the curtain on our natural surroundings and reminds the reader just what is at stake if we destroy our home. These poems further Bernardin’s reputation as a master of the startling, transformative image. They also embody the losses, fears, sorrows, loves, and simple pleasures of life lived deeply.

Jane F. Zenger lives and writes in Cedar Creek, South Carolina. Jane studied poetry at USC with the late James Dickey and was first published in his book, From the Green Horseshoe. After education and travels took her from the Palmetto State, Jane returned to South Carolina where she supervised teachers and taught English and reading in both urban and rural South Carolina schools. In 2000, she returned to USC as the director for federal Teacher Quality Enhancement programs. After the projects ended, she worked with teachers and children in Zambia and taught college English classes in Shanxi, China. Jane’s love of travel has taken her around the world and back home to rural South Carolina. She is a passionate advocate of the Spoken Word movement in South Carolina and beyond. Her first book of poetry, Night Bloomer, was published in 2022 by Muddy Ford Press.

In Night Bloomer, Zenger tells us that she decided to write a poem or story a day for a year. It so happens that it is the “Covid Year” of 2021. Her personal quarantine is compounded by the grievous situation that her husband, Steve, is bedridden at home, unable to walk or talk, in the final stages of dementia. This thread is woven throughout the book–with intimacy, with frustration, with despair, with tenderness, with loyalty, and with joy.

Learn more about the Pat Conroy Literary Center at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org or in person at 601 Bladen Street in downtown Beaufort. The Center is open for free public tours on Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m., or other times by appointment.