Entering its fifth year, March Forth is a signature annual program of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, commemorating the anniversary of Pat Conroy’s death (March 4, 2016) with educational conversations about storytelling, conservation, social justice, and inclusivity—major themes of Conroy’s writing and teaching life. The annual event will be held virtually on March 4, 6, and 7, 2021 (Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday). South Carolina Humanities supported the program with a Fast Track Literary Grant.
Thursday evening’s program is free and open to the public on Zoom or as a live-streamed video on the Conroy Center’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/patconroyliterarycenter). Saturday and Sunday’s programs require advance registration with a $25 all-inclusive fee. Learn more and register at https://marchforth2021.eventbrite.com. Books by presenting authors are available locally at Beaufort’s NeverMore Books. Website: Facebook Event Page
Schedule of Events (times are EST):
Thursday, March 4, 6:00 p.m. — Bruce Feiler, New York Times best-selling author of Council of Dads and Walking the Bible (both adapted as TV series) will discuss his newest book Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age in conversation with Rev. Patrick Perryman of First Presbyterian Church of Beaufort. (free online event)
Saturday, March 6, 10:00 a.m. — Former State newspaper journalist Claudia Smith Brinson will discuss her book Stories of Struggle: The Clash Over Civil Rights in South Carolina with Rev. Joseph A. Darby of Charleston’s Nichols Chapel AME Church.
Saturday, March 6, 11:30 a.m. — CNN commentator and former South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers will discuss his New York Times best-selling memoir My Vanishing Country in conversation with Charleston Post and Courier editor and writer Adam Parker.
Saturday, March 6, 2:00 p.m. — Debut Young Adult author Kalynn Bayron will discuss her novel Cinderella Is Dead in conversation with Beaufort High School students led by Conroy Center intern Holland Perryman.
Saturday, March 6, 3:30 p.m. — Penn Center staff members Dr. Marie Gibbs and Dr. Charlene M. Spearen will discuss The Convergence of Land and Self, an exploration of the connection between three common threads: Penn Center’s history, the Gullah community, and Pat Conroy’s attention to landscape as evocative of one’s journey and sense of self.
Sunday, March 7, 12:30 p.m. — Join us for a virtual tour of the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s new location, led by executive director Jonathan Haupt.
Sunday, March 7, 2:00 p.m. — Environmentalist authors J. Drew Lanham, author of Sparrow Envy and recipient of the E.O. Wilson Award for Biodiversity Conservation, and John Lane, author of Whose Woods These Are and a South Carolina Academy of Authors honoree, will discuss their writing lives and their student-mentor relationship, moderated by USC Beaufort writer-in-residence Ellen Malphrus.
Sunday, March 7, 3:30 p.m. — Join us for a panel discussion of Meeting at the Table: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture, and Community, featuring novelist and editor Tina McElroy Ansa, journalist and editor Wanda S. Lloyd, professor and hip hop scholar Regina M. Bradley, and actress and Disney Legend Anika Noni Rose.
For more information, visit the Facebook Event Page.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 21-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
