Pat Conroy
Personal: Born Donald Patrick Conroy October 26, 1945, in Atlanta, GA; son of Donald (a military officer) and Frances Dorothy (Peek) Conroy. The thrice married Conroy currently lives on Fripp Island, South Carolina, with wife, novelist Cassandra King. The two met when he wrote a blurb for one of her novels.
Education: The Citadel, B.A., 1967. He published his first book,
The Boo, a tribute to a favorite teacher, while a student there. Later he would revisit the Citadel in his 1980 novel
Lords of Discipline, a dark look at the famous military academy.
Career path: After college Conroy worked as an elementary schoolteacher in a poverty-stricken school on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. His unorthodox teaching methods (refusing to allow corporal punishment of students) and conflicts with school administration resulted in his firing after only a year. His experiences were chronicled in the novel
The Water is Wide, exposing racism and horrible conditions. The work was very well received and was made into the motion picture
Conrack in 1974 which starred Jon Voight.
Writings: His work is often described as semi-autobiographical, presenting a somewhat disturbing but humorous view of the contemporary American South. Family relationships are brutally explored, as in
The Great Santini, which recounts a son’s relationship with his abusive and sometimes dangerous father.
Latest work: South of Broad, Conroy’s fifth novel and ninth book, presents readers with a Conroy first: a totally lovable father for Leo Bloom King, the story's central figure.
Browse the
Library Catalog
for works by
Conroy, Pat.
Read more at
http://www.patconroy.com
