Pat Conroy

{{More citations needed|date=February 2020}}{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Pat Conroy (cropped).jpg

| caption = Conroy in 2013

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Donald Patrick Conroy

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|10|26|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|3|4|1945|10|25}}

| death_place = Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.

| occupation = Novelist

| period = 1970–2016

| genre = {{Plain list|

Literary fiction
nonfiction

| Spouse = Cassandra King

}}

| website = {{URL|http://patconroy.com/}}

| signature = PatConroySig.png

}}

Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books The Water is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini were made into films, the last two being nominated for Oscars. He is recognized as a leading figure of late-20th-century American Southern literature.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/southernwritersa0000folk |url-access=registration |quote=southern narrative. |last1=Folks |first1=Jeffrey J. |last2=Perkins |first2=James A. |title=Southern Writers at Century's End |page=[https://archive.org/details/southernwritersa0000folk/page/1 1] |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=1997 |isbn=9780813130972 |access-date=May 31, 2013}}

Early life

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Patrick "Pat" Conroy was the eldest of seven children (five boys and two girls) born to Marine Colonel Donald Conroy, of Chicago, Illinois, and the former Frances "Peggy" Peek of Alabama. His father was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and Conroy moved often in his youth, attending 11 schools by the time he was 15.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/pat-conroy-best-selling-author-of-great-santini-and-prince-of-tides-dies-at-70/2016/03/04/9390e9a4-e288-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_story.html|title=Pat Conroy, best-selling author of 'Great Santini' and 'Prince of Tides,' dies at 70|last=Schudel|first=Matt|date=March 4, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 5, 2016|issn=0190-8286|url-access=limited}} He did not have a hometown until his family settled in Beaufort, South Carolina, where he finished high school. During his senior year in high school, he was a protégé of Ann Head who was an influence on his future writing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david-lauderdale/article41337273.html|title=Lauderdale: Meet Pat Conroy's 'First Novelist'|last=Lauderdale|first=David|date=October 24, 2015|website=The Island Packet|access-date=March 3, 2020}} His alma mater is The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in Charleston, where he graduated from the Corps of Cadets as an English major.

Conroy had said his stories were heavily influenced by his military brat upbringing, and in particular, difficulties experienced with his own father, a US Marine Corps pilot, who was physically and emotionally abusive toward his children. The pain of a youth growing up in a harsh environment is evident in Conroy's novels, which use autobiographical material, particularly The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1986/10/12/pat-conroy-into-the-heart-of-a-family/ae6b5e88-e304-41e8-b22c-5f26d3a09265/|title=Pat Conroy: Into the Heart of a Family|last=Weeks|first=Brigette|date=March 4, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|issn=0190-8286|access-date=2019-07-02}} While living in Orlando, Florida, Conroy's fifth-grade basketball team defeated a team of sixth graders, making the sport his prime outlet for bottled-up emotions for more than a dozen years. Conroy also cites his family's frequent military-related moves and growing up immersed in military culture as significant influences in his life (in both positive and negative ways).

A standout athlete, he was recruited to The Citadel to play basketball; his 2002 book My Losing Season focused on his experiences playing his senior year, and like The Lords of Discipline, also served as a retrospective of his cadet years.

Writing career

As a graduate of The Citadel's Corps of Cadets, his experiences at The Citadel provided the basis for two of his best-known works, the novel The Lords of Discipline and the memoir My Losing Season.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/books/pat-conroy-who-wove-his-family-strife-into-novels-of-carolina-dies-at-70.html|title=Pat Conroy, Author of 'The Prince of Tides' and 'The Great Santini,' Dies at 70|last=Grimes|first=William|date=March 5, 2016|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630000450/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/books/pat-conroy-who-wove-his-family-strife-into-novels-of-carolina-dies-at-70.html|archive-date=June 30, 2018|author-link=William Grimes (journalist)}} The latter details his senior year on the school's underdog basketball team, which won the longest game in the history of Southern Conference basketball against rival Virginia Military Institute in quadruple overtime in 1967.

His first book, The Boo, is a collection of anecdotes about cadet life centering on Lt. Colonel Thomas Nugent Courvousie, who had served as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at The Citadel from 1961 to 1968;{{cite web|url=http://pao.citadel.edu/courvoisie|title=Lt. Col. Thomas Nugent Courvoisie - The Boo - passes away|access-date=July 7, 2007}} Courvoisie was the inspiration for the fictional character Colonel Thomas Berrineau, a.k.a. "The Bear", in The Lords Of Discipline. Conroy began the book in 1968, after learning that Lt. Colonel Courvoisie had been removed from his position as assistant commandant and given a job in the warehouse; he paid to self-publish the book, borrowing the money from a bank.Robertson, Brewster Milton (March 4, 2016). "[http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-ca-jc-conroy-books-capture-his-personal-pain-20160304-htmlstory.html From the Archives: Pat Conroy's books capture his personal pain, and 'Beach Music' is no exception]." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2016. Review of Beach Music, originally published in The Times on June 27, 1995.Conroy, Pat (May 3, 2006). "[http://www.citadel.edu/root/conroy_booeulogy Pat Conroy's eulogy to Lt. Col. Thomas Nugent Courvoisie]." The Citadel Newsroom. The Citadel. Retrieved March 5, 2016.

After graduating from The Citadel, Conroy taught English in Beaufort, South Carolina; while there he met and married Barbara Jones, a young widow of the Vietnam War who was pregnant with her second child.Hoefer, Anthony D., Jr. (2008). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=VymaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228 Conroy, Pat]." The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Volume 9: Literature. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 228-229. He then accepted a job teaching children in a one-room schoolhouse on remote Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.

Conroy was fired at the conclusion of his first year on the island for his unconventional teaching practices, including his refusal to use corporal punishment on students, and for his lack of respect for the school's administration. He later wrote The Water Is Wide based on his experiences as a teacher. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/|title=Home|website=Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards}} It was also made into a feature film, Conrack, starring Jon Voight in 1974. Hallmark produced a television version of the book in 2006.

In 1976, Conroy published his novel, The Great Santini. The main character of the novel is Marine fighter pilot Colonel "Bull" Meecham, who dominates and terrorizes his family. Bull Meecham also psychologically abuses his teenage son Ben. The character is based on Conroy's father Donald. (According to My Losing Season, Donald Conroy was even worse than the character depicted in Santini.Newsom, Jim. "Winter Reading", Port Folio Weekly, December 17, 2002.O'Neill, Molly. "Pat Conroy's Tale: Of Time and 'Tides'", The New York Times, December 22, 1991.)

The Great Santini caused friction within the Conroy family, who felt that he had betrayed family secrets by writing about his father. According to Conroy, members of his mother's family would picket his book signings, passing out pamphlets asking people not to buy the novel.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-12-vw-2560-story.html|title=Novelist Turns Adversity Into Profit : Pat Conroy's Family Is the Stuff of Fiction|date=1986-12-12|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-12-12}} The friction contributed to the failure of his first marriage.[http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=586909 Barnes and Noble author biography page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408223413/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=586909 |date=2009-04-08 }}. Accessed 22 October 2009. However, the book also eventually helped repair Conroy's relationship with his father, and they became very close. His father, looking to prove that he was not like the character in the book, changed his behavior drastically.[https://lcweekly.com/arts/books/pat-conroy-qnothings-off-the-recordq/ Pat Conroy interview], lcweekly.com; accessed July 13, 2023.

According to Conroy, his father would often sign copies of his son's novels, "I hope you enjoy my son's latest work of fiction." He would underline the word "fiction" five or six times. "That boy of mine sure has a vivid imagination. Ol' lovable, likable Col. Don Conroy, USMC (Ret.), the Great Santini."Conroy, Pat (2010). - My Reading Life (Chapter 6), Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; {{ISBN|9780385533843}}. The novel was made into a film of the same name in 1979, starring Robert Duvall.

Publication of The Lords of Discipline in 1980 upset many of his fellow graduates of The Citadel, who felt that his portrayal of campus life was highly unflattering. The novel was adapted for the screenplay of a 1983 film of the same name, starring David Keith as Will McLean and Robert Prosky as Colonel "Bear" Berrineau. The rift was not healed until 2000, when Conroy was awarded an honorary degree and asked to deliver the commencement address the following year.

In 1986, Conroy published The Prince of Tides about Tom Wingo, an unemployed South Carolina teacher who goes to New York City to help his sister, Savannah, a poet who has attempted suicide, to come to terms with their past. The novel was made into a film of the same name in 1991. Directed by Barbra Streisand, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

In 1995, Conroy published Beach Music, a novel about an American expatriate living in Rome who returns to South Carolina upon news of his mother's terminal illness. The story reveals his attempt to confront personal demons, including the suicide of his wife, the subsequent custody battle with his in-laws over their daughter, and the attempt by a film-making friend to rekindle old friendships which were compromised during the days of the Vietnam War.

In 2002, Pat Conroy published My Losing Season where he takes the reader through his last year playing basketball, as point guard and captain of the Citadel Bulldogs. The Pat Conroy Cookbook, published in 2004, is a collection of favorite recipes accompanied by stories about his life, including many stories of growing up in South Carolina. In 2009, Conroy published South of Broad, which again uses the familiar backdrop of Charleston following the suicide of newspaperman Leo King's brother, and alternates narratives of a diverse group of friends between 1969 and 1989.

In May 2013, Conroy was named editor-at-large of Story River Books, a newly created fiction division of the University of South Carolina Press.{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/57213-pat-conroy-named-editor-at-large-for-usc-press.html|title=Pat Conroy Named Editor-at-Large for USC Press|last=Crutcher|first=Paige|date=May 13, 2013|publisher=Publishers Weekly|access-date=May 31, 2013}} In October 2013, four years after being first publicized,{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009-08-10-pat-conroy-profile_N.htm|title=Pat Conroy returns to familiar turf with 'South of Broad'|last=Minzesheimer|first=Bob|date=August 10, 2009|publisher=USA Today|access-date=October 28, 2013}} Conroy published a memoir called The Death of Santini, which recounts the volatile relationship he shared with his father up until his father's death in 1998.{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/7012d8c176864e46ad0199ddde4c1b4f|title=Conroy Memoir About His Father Coming In October|website=Associated Press News |access-date=October 20, 2013}}

Conroy was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame on March 18, 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialschalloffame.com/inductees_a-g.html|title=South Carolina Hall Of Fame: Pat Conroy|access-date=May 31, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507021741/http://www.theofficialschalloffame.com/inductees_a-g.html|archive-date=May 7, 2013}}

Military brat cultural identity and awareness movement

Conroy was a major supporter of the research and writing efforts of journalist Mary Edwards Wertsch in her identification of the hidden subculture of American Military Brats, the children of career military families, who grow up moving constantly, deeply immersed in the military, and often personally affected by war.[http://www.militarybrat.com/Podcasts/EBHAS2.mp3 Podcast interview with Rudy Maxa], militarybrat.com; retrieved January 28, 2007.

= Conroy's essay on military childhood =

In 1991, Wertsch "launched the movement for military brat cultural identity" with her book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood inside the Fortress. In researching her book, Wertsch identified common themes from interviews of over 80 offspring of military households, including the special challenges, strengths and also the unique subculture experienced by American "military brats". While this book does not purport to be a scientific study, subsequent research has validated many of her findings.

Conroy contributed a now widely circulated ten-page essay on American military childhood, including his own childhood, to Wertsch's book, which was used as the introduction. It included the following:

{{blockquote|Her book speaks in a language that is clear and stinging and instantly recognizable to me [as a brat], yet it's a language I was not even aware I spoke. She isolates the military brats of America as a new indigenous subculture with our own customs, rites of passage, forms of communication, and folkways .... With this book, Mary [Wertsch] astonished me and introduced me to a secret family I did not know I had.From the introduction to the book, but quoted from{{cite web|url=http://www.tckworld.com/read/mbrats.html |title=TCK World's Suggested Reading |access-date=December 30, 2006 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230230736/http://www.tckworld.com/read/mbrats.html |archive-date=December 30, 2006 }}}}

=Conroy's role in ''Brats: Our Journey Home''=

Conroy also authorized the use of his work in the award-winning documentary Brats: Our Journey Home directed by Donna Musil, that endeavors to bring the hidden subculture of military brats into greater public awareness, as well as aiding military brat self-awareness and support.Musil, Donna, Producer and Director, "Brats: Our Journey Home" Documentary about Military Brats, Brats Without Borders Inc., Atlanta Georgia, 2005.

The documentary ends with a quote of Conroy about the invisibility of the military brat subculture to the wider American society. Conroy wrote, "We spent our entire childhoods in the service of our country, and no one even knew we were there."

Personal life

Conroy was married three times. His first marriage was to Barbara (née Bolling) Jones on October 10, 1969, while he was teaching on Daufuskie Island.Conroy, Pat (1987) The Water is Wide. - New York, New York: Random House, p. 103; {{ISBN|978-0-553-26893-5}}. Jones, who had been Conroy's next door neighbor in Beaufort, South Carolina, had been widowed when her first husband, Joseph Wester Jones III, a fighter pilot stationed in Vietnam, had been shot down and killed. Jones already had one daughter, Jessica, and was pregnant at the time of her husband's death with their second child, Melissa. He adopted both girls after he married their mother, and then they had a daughter of their own, Megan. They divorced in 1977.Knadle, Charlene Babb (2006), Popular Contemporary Writers ("Pat Conroy" section), p. 470; {{ISBN|978-0-7614-7601-6}}.

Conroy then married Lenore (née Gurewitz) Fleischer in 1981. He became the stepfather to her two children, Gregory and Emily, and the couple also had one daughter,Knadle, p. 471. to whom he dedicated his 2010 book My Reading Life, "This book is dedicated to my lost daughter, Susannah Ansley Conroy. Know this: I love you with my heart and always will. Your return to my life would be one of the happiest moments I could imagine." Conroy and Fleischer divorced on October 26, 1995, Conroy's 50th birthday.Conroy, Pat (2002). My Losing Season, New York: Nan A. Talese, p. 10; {{ISBN|978-0-385-48912-6}}. Conroy married his third wife, writer Cassandra King, in May 1998.

A friend of Conroy, political cartoonist Doug Marlette, died in a car accident in July 2007. Conroy and Joe Klein eulogized Marlette at the funeral.[http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A157244 Independent Weekly, "Goodbye, Doug Marlette"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214184512/http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A157244 |date=February 14, 2016 }}, indyweek.com, July 18, 2007. There were 10 eulogists in all, and Conroy called Marlette his best friend,{{Cite news|date=July 15, 2007|title=Friends remember Doug Marlette as staunch defender of free speech|work=The Associated Press|publisher=The Oklahoman|url=https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3083940/friends-remember-doug-marlette-as-staunch-defender-of-free-speech|access-date=June 5, 2021}} and said: "The first person to cry, when he heard about Doug's death, was God".{{cite web|last1=Klein|first1=Joe|author1-link=Joe Klein|title={{sic|In Memo|rium|hide=y|expected=In Memoriam}}...and a Touch of Class|url=http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2007/07/in_memoriumand_a_touch_of_clas.html|website=Swampland|publisher=time.com|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224140305/http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2007/07/in_memoriumand_a_touch_of_clas.html|archive-date=December 24, 2007|date=July 15, 2007}}

Conroy lived in Beaufort with wife Cassandra until his death. In 2007, he commented that she was a much happier writer than he was: "I'll hear her cackle with laughter at some funny line she's written. I've never cackled with laughter at a single line I've ever written. None of it has given me pleasure. She writes with pleasure and joy, and I sit there in gloom and darkness."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/07/AR2007040700775.html|title=Pat Conroy to Publish 1st Book Since '95|date=April 7, 2007|agency=Associated Press|website=washingtonpost.com|access-date=March 4, 2016}}

As an adult, Conroy suffered from depression, had several breakdowns and contemplated suicide.{{cite news |last1=Fesperman |first1=Dan |title=Pat Conroy and Depression: Psychotherapy helps turn a page |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2000/04/26/psychotherapy-helps-turn-a-page-depression-pat-conroy-found-doses-of-revenge-through-his-autobiographical-books-but-he-says-treatment-is-the-main-reason-hes-here-to-tell-his-story/ |access-date=8 August 2018 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=26 April 2000}}{{cite news |last1=Schudel |first1=Matt |title=Obituary: "Pat Conroy, best-selling author of 'Great Santini' and 'Prince of Tides,' dies at 70" |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/pat-conroy-best-selling-author-of-great-santini-and-prince-of-tides-dies-at-70/2016/03/04/9390e9a4-e288-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_story.html |access-date=8 August 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=4 March 2016}}{{cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Wright |title=His Winning Season: The story of Pat Conroy, the real 'Great Santini' and The Citadel basketball team's remarkable run |url=http://www.patconroy.com/articles_espn-03-09.php |website=Pat Conroy |publisher=ESPN.com |access-date=8 August 2018}} He attempted suicide in the mid-1970s while writing The Great Santini.{{Cite book|last=Conroy, Pat|title=Pat Conroy : my exaggerated life|others=Clark, Katherine, 1962 November 11-|date=13 March 2018|isbn=978-1-61117-908-8|location=Columbia|oclc=1023801690}}

Death

On February 15, 2016, Conroy stated on his Facebook page that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer.{{cite news|url=https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/article64158467.html|title=Beaufort's prince, Pat Conroy, goes home|last=Lauderdale|first=David|date=March 4, 2016|work=The Beaufort Gazette|access-date=March 4, 2016}} He died on March 4, 2016, at 70 years old. Conroy's funeral was held on March 8, 2016, at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina.{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/03/08/pat-conroy-funeral-beaufort-south-carolina/81471492/|title=Nearly 1,200 turn out to say goodbye to author Pat Conroy|last1=Deerwester|first1=Jayme|date=March 8, 2016|work=USA Today|access-date=April 27, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705064309/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/03/08/pat-conroy-funeral-beaufort-south-carolina/81471492/|archive-date=July 5, 2018}}

Pat Conroy is buried in St. Helena Memorial Gardens cemetery (Ernest Drive, Saint Helena Island 29920) near the Penn Center. The Penn Center is a National Historic Landmark that provided educational facilities to freed Gullah slaves after the Civil War and continues to serve as an African-American cultural and educational center.

Legacy

Located in Beaufort, South Carolina, the Pat Conroy Literary Center was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization on March 19, 2016. The center, which houses a collection of Conroy memorabilia, seeks to "continue his legacy in the magnificent coastal landscape where his storytelling began and beyond, supporting a vibrant literary community that reflects Pat Conroy’s undying delight in the power of the human voice."{{Cite web|url=http://patconroyliterarycenter.org/|title=Pat Conroy Literary Center|publisher=Pat Conroy Literary Center|access-date=April 16, 2019}} In 2017, the Pat Conroy Literary Center was designated a Literary Landmark by the American Library Association.{{Cite press release|url=https://patconroyliterarycenter.org/pclc-designated-a-literary-landmark-by-american-library-association/|title=Pat Conroy Literary Center Designated a Literary Landmark by American Library Association|date=November 2, 2017|access-date=April 16, 2019|publisher=Pat Conroy Literary Center|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831171922/https://patconroyliterarycenter.org/pclc-designated-a-literary-landmark-by-american-library-association/|archive-date=August 31, 2018}} The same year, it became the first site in South Carolina to be selected as an affiliate of the American Writers Museum.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lcweekly.com/local-color/4822-conroy-center-selected-for-american-writers-museum|title=Conroy Center Selected for American Writers Museum|date=September 5, 2017|website=Lowcountry Weekly|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416181412/https://www.lcweekly.com/local-color/4822-conroy-center-selected-for-american-writers-museum|archive-date=April 16, 2019|access-date=April 16, 2019}}

The author George RR Martin has praised Conroy's writing, calling him "one of [his] favorite living novelists for a long, long time,"{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=George RR |date=2013-10-04 |title=Coming to the Cocteau {{!}} Not a Blog |url=https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2013/10/04/coming-to-the-cocteau-4/ |access-date=2025-05-08 |language=en-US}} and naming The Prince of Tides "one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century"{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=George RR |date=2016-03-05 |title=RIP Pat Conroy {{!}} Not a Blog |url=https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2016/03/05/rip-pat-conroy/ |access-date=2025-05-08 |language=en-US}} and one of his favourite books.{{Cite web |title=George R.R. Martin suggests 9 books to read this summer |url=https://ew.com/books/2018/06/28/george-rr-martin-summer-book-suggestions/ |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=EW.com |language=en}}

The Pat Conroy Literary Center hosts a number of educational activities and cultural events, including an annual literary festival.{{Cite web|url=https://patconroyliteraryfestival.org/|title=Home|publisher=Pat Conroy Literary Festival}}

The Citadel in 2018 announced the Pat Conroy Writer’s Residency Fellowship to be given to a Bulldogs basketball player each season each year.{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews4.com/news/local/citadel-honors-pat-conroy-jersey-hung-from-rafters-at-mcalister-field-house|title=Citadel honors Pat Conroy with jersey hung from rafters at McAlister Field House|first=Daren|last=Stoltzfus|date=February 5, 2018|website=WCIV}}

Works

1970: The Boo
1972: The Water Is Wide
1976: The Great Santini
1980: The Lords of Discipline
1986: The Prince of Tides
1989: Unconquered (teleplay)
1992: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230230736/http://www.tckworld.com/read/mbrats.html |date=December 30, 2006 |title=Essay on the Hidden Subculture of Military Brats }} (Introduction to book, "Military Brats: Legacies of Growing Up Inside the Fortress")
1995: Beach Music
2002: My Losing Season
2003: Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing Up Global (contributing author)
2004: The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life
2009: South of Broad
2010: My Reading Life
2013: The Death of Santini
2016: A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections on a Writing LifeRandom House LLC

Awards

1973 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
1974 National Education Association Humanitarian Award
1978 Georgia Governor's Award for the Arts & Humanities
1981 Southern Regional Council Lillian Smith Book Award
1988 South Carolina Academy of Authors Inductee
1991 Writers Guild of America Award Nominee, Adapted Screenplay
1992 Academy Award Nominee, Adapted Screenplay
1992 University of Southern California Scripter Award Nominee
1993 American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}{{cite web|last=Salemy |first=Shirley |date= June 27, 1993 |title= 1993 Salute to Excellence, Stars of today and tomorrow meet in Glacier |url= https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Great-Falls-Tribune-June-27-1993.pdf |work= Great Falls Tribune}}
1995 Thomas Cooper Medal for Distinction in the Arts & Sciences
1996 Georgia Commission on the Holocaust Humanitarian Award
1997 Omicron Delta Kappa honoris causa inductee at Auburn University at Montgomery
1997 University of South Carolina Honorary Doctorate
1999 Georgia Center for the Book Stanley W. Lindberg Award
2000 The Citadel Honorary Doctor of Letters
2001 James Beard Foundation Award for Journalism, Magazine Feature Writing with Recipes
2002 South Carolina Order of the Palmetto
2003 Thomas Wolfe Prize, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of English
2003 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Book of the Year Award
2004 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Inductee
2005 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award
2006 Southeastern Library Association Outstanding Southeastern Author Award
2010 South Carolina Hall of Fame Inductee
2010 Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award for the Arts
2014 Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce Palmetto Achievement Award

References

External links

{{Official website|http://www.patconroy.com/}}
[https://patconroyliterarycenter.org/ Pat Conroy Literary Center]
[https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/irvin_dept_special_collections/collections/pat_conroy_archive.php Pat Conroy Archive at the University of South Carolina]
[https://archives.library.sc.edu/repositories/5/resources/662 Pat Conroy archive] at the University of South Carolina Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
[https://archives.library.sc.edu/repositories/5/resources/668 Edwin C. Epps collection of Pat Conroy] at the University of South Carolina Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
[https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/pat-conroy-b-1945 Entry in New Georgia Encyclopedia]
{{IMDb name|0175852}}
{{C-SPAN|88981}}
{{Find a Grave|158922138}}