Pat Conroy returning to campus for special lecture and reception
March 10, 2011Achieving excellence in the education of principled leaders
Citadel graduate and author Pat Conroy will return to campus next week with his classmate and fellow author John Warley for a special event.
On Tuesday, March 15, Conroy and Warley will be the featured guests at a reception, lecture and book signing hosted by The Citadel Daniel Library Friends. Both will sign copies of their books following a lecture about Conroy’s latest book My Reading Life and Warley’s August 2010 release Bethesda’s Child.
The event begins at 5 p.m. in the Daniel Library on The Citadel campus. Tickets are $50 each. To reserve a ticket or for more information, call Mary Ann Lakes at 843-953-7691.
Warley is an attorney and award-winning writer. A South Carolinian by birth, he grew up in Yorktown, Va., attended The Citadel on a football scholarship, and took his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. From 1993 to 1995, he took a two-year sabbatical from his law practice to write in Mexico. While there he taught U.S. business law at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Queretaro and Irapuato. Since returning to the U.S., he has continued to write fiction and short stories. He is currently at work on The Home Guard, his first effort at historical fiction. In May 2011, NPR’s This I Believe series will publish his essay on fatherhood as part of a collection on that subject. He currently lives in Beaufort, S.C.
Conroy is legendary among Southern writers and among Citadel alumni. One of seven children, he was a military brat growing up. His father, a Marine Corps pilot, became the model for the lead character in The Great Santini and his military upbringing with his Citadel experience led to the fictional The Lords of Discipline. His time as a member of The Citadel Basketball team served as the basis of his My Losing Season. Conroy was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2009. He currently lives on Fripp Island near Beaufort and visits the campus frequently.