Pat Conroy's The Water Is Wide ... for the Holidays

Name: Pat Conroy's The Water Is Wide ... for the Holidays
Start: 2025-12-04T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-12-04T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Charleston County Public Library (Main Library)

Schedule

Thu Dec 04 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Charleston County Public Library (Main Library) | Charleston, SC

“Life was good, but it was hard; we would prepare to meet it head on, but we would enjoy the preparation.”―Pat Conroy, The Water Is Wide
First published in 1972 and twice adapted for film, Pat Conroy’s The Water Is Wide recounts his inspiring year of teaching on remote Daufuskie Island in Beaufort County. Join Jonathan Haupt, the executive director of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, to revisit Conroy’s storied year in the context of the events that shaped his arrival and departure from the island, and the empowering impact on his most famous student. This program will also highlight excerpts about Conroy’s time on Daufuskie from other books—including a special Christmas-themed story. While (re)reading The Water Is Wide in advance is not required, it is highly recommended.
About Our Presenter
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, the past director of the University of South Carolina Press, and co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, winner of 17 book awards. He is a frequent guest book reviewer for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Post and Courier. He has been honored with the Doug Marlette Literacy Leadership Award, and the South Carolina Association of School Librarians President’s Award. Under Jonathan's leadership, the Conroy Center has been recognized as an American Library Association Literary Landmark, an affiliate of the American Writers Museum, and winner of the Civitas Award for Tourism Leadership.