Live from the Conroy Center with Janisse Ray, author of Wild Spectacle

The Pat Conroy Literary Center and the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network proudly present executive director Jonathan Haupt in conversation with author and environmentalist Janisse Ray about her newest book, Wild Spectacle. ABOUT WILD SPECTACLE “Wonderful. Janisse Ray has a heart the size of a manatee and the tenacity (and laugh) of a pileated woodpecker. She is incapable of not loving this world and all that is in it. If you don’t yet know her work, today is your lucky day.”―Rick Bass, author of For a Little While: New and Selected Stories “An urgent love letter to our wild places. Part poet, naturalist, and tour guide, Ray is a gifted observer. We finish this remarkable book brimming with gratitude and alive to the wild spectacles around us.”―Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Heating and Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs GUEST: Janisse Ray is a naturalist and activist, and the author of seven books of nonfiction and poetry, including The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food, Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River, and Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, which won the American Book Award. Her work has appeared widely in magazines and journals, and she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Nautilus Book Award, and numerous other honors. Ray lives on an organic farm near Savannah, Georgia. www.janisseray.com HOST: Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press. Video: https://youtu.be/E5LZKr9t1c0

Bestselling author Kalynn Bayron discusses her YA fantasy novels Cinderella Is Dead and This Poison Heart in conversation with Holland Perryman, Millie Bennett, Alisha Arora, members of Beaufort High School's DAYLO: Diversity Youth Literary Organization, moderated by Jonathan Haupt, executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center--originally presented as part of the Bluffton Book Festival “Bayron weaves science and Greek mythology into a captivating lore that lends weight to this fantastical contemporary story. She conjures entertaining and realistic dialogue and attentive characterization, while incisive descriptions and sumptuous prose evoke a wonderfully gothic atmosphere.”--Publishers Weekly, starred review “This Poison Heart masterfully weaves a unique story grounded in the depths of Greek mythology and Black girlhood, ideal for lovers of folklore or those who enjoy the thrill of a well-paced and unanticipated adventure.” --Booklist, starred review Kalynn Bayron is the bestselling author of the award-winning YA fantasy Cinderella Is Dead and the recently published This Poison Heart. She is a classically trained vocalist and when she’s not writing you can find her listening to Ella Fitzgerald on loop, attending the theater, watching scary movies, and spending time with her kids.  The first student intern of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, Beaufort High School senior Holland Perryman is the founder of DAYLO: Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization, winner of the Ann Head Literary Prize for Short Story, and a book reviewer and author interviewer for the Charleston Post and Courier, Beaufort Lowcountry Weekly, and the Southern Review of Books. Beaufort High School junior Millie Bennett and senior Alisha Arora are also Conroy Center interns and members of DAYLO.  Video: https://youtu.be/Kj2kc5id3x8 

Matt Coyle is the author of the bestselling Rick Cahill crime series. His books have won the Anthony, Shamus, Lefty, Ben Franklin Silver, Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Silver, and San Diego Book Awards and have been nominated for the Barry and Macavity awards, among others. Matt hosts the Crime Corner podcast and lives in San Diego with his yellow Lab, Angus. He was named the Mystery Writer of the Year by the San Diego Writers Festival for 2021. LAST REDEMPTION, the eight book in the Rick Cahill series, explores the physical damage caused by a lifetime of violence as Rick risks his life to help a friend. Juliet Grossman is an Assistant Public Defender for the City of Temecula. She's an avid mystery fan who cut her teeth on Agatha Christie as a child and is a proud member of Mystery Writers of America.

Now a licensed psychotherapist specializing in creative issues, Dennis Palumbo is a former Hollywood screenwriter ("My Favorite Year," "Welcome Back, Kotter," etc.). His mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Strand, Mystery Weekly and elsewhere, and is collected in "From Crime to Crime" (Tallfellow Press). His acclaimed debut crime novel, "Mirror Image," was the first in a series featuring psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi. It was followed by "Fever Dream," "Night Terrors," "Phantom Limb” and the award-winning “Head Wounds.” Panic Attack is the sixth in the series. Matt Coyle is the Shamus, Anthony and Lefty Award-winning author of the Rick Cahill crime series. This podcast is solely owned by the Authors on the Air Global radio Network.

Helaine Mario is the author of the Classical Music Suspense Series which feature classically trianed pianst Maggie O'Shea as the protagonist. Classical piano music and several visits to France, Austria and Cornwall inspired many of the events - and much of the atmospheric and authentic settings - in the series. Helaine believes strongly in "giving back" to her community. For the eight years of the Clinton Presidency, she was a White House volunteer for Tipper and Al Gore in the Office of the Vice President and continues to be a passionate advocate for women & children's issues. In 1998, Helaine founded The SunDial Foundation, Inc., which contributed to non-profit organizations for our most vulnerable women, children and families for 20 years. In 2018, The Helaine and Ronald Mario Fund was established to continue this work. Royalties from all book sales go directly to children's reading, nutrition and health programs. Born in NYC and a graduate of Boston University, Helaine now lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband of 50+ years, Ron Mario. She is grateful to be a 2 time cancer survivor, and is most proud of her 2 children and 5 beautiful grandchildren. Her son Sean studied classical piano for 15 years and inspired the classical music background in Helaine's music suspense series. SHADOW MUSIC is Helaine's 4th book. Matt Coyle is the author of the Shamus, Anthony and Lefty Award-winning Rick Cahill crime series. This podcast is solely owned by the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network

The Pat Conroy Literary Center and the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network proudly present executive director Jonathan Haupt in conversation with award-winning poets Elizabeth Robin and Ann-Chadwell Humphries. Both will be presenting and teaching at the 6th annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival on November 6. GUESTS: Elizabeth Robin is the author of the poetry collections Where Green Meets Blue (2018), Silk Purses and Lemonade (2017), and To My Dreamcatcher (forthcoming in 2022.) She is the 2021 winner of the Cary McCray Nickens Fellowship. Of her work in that competition judge Tiana Clark said: “I see a lunar lyricism reflected by this poet. The language is mystical, mythic, sublime, and romantic. The haunting imagery is fresh and allows for strangeness, devastation, and delight in a way that captures me as a reader.” She will or did appear most recently in Ukweli, Poetry Society of South Carolina Yearbook 2021, COMET buses, Catfish Stew 2021, Drunk Monkeys, Ripples, The Broadkill Review, i am not a silent poet, and Blue Mountain Review. www.elizabethrobin.com Ann-Chadwell Humphries was selected by Muddy Ford Press for publication in their Laureate Series with her debut collection, An Eclipse and a Butcher. A finalist for Carrie McCray Nickens Fellowship, Ann reads and writes using assistive technology. www.Ann-ChadwellHumphries.com HOST: Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and coeditor of Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.

The Pat Conroy Literary Center and the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network proudly present executive director Jonathan Haupt in conversation with award-winning writer and editor Lauren Marino, author of Bookish Broads: Women Who Wrote Themselves into History. Women have written some of our most extraordinary literary works while living in societies and cultures that tried to silence them. These women dared to put pen to paper to express the multifaceted female experience. In Bookish Broads, Lauren Marino celebrates fierce, trailblazing female writers, reworking the literary canon that has long failed to recognize the immense contributions of women. Featuring more than 50 brilliant bookish broads, Marino cleverly illuminates the lives of the greats as well as the literary talents history has wrongfully overlooked. Each intimate portrait delves into one woman’s works and is accompanied by vibrant illustrations depicting each literary legend in her element and time. “In telling the stories of this pantheon of influential women, Lauren Marino empowers burgeoning writers to follow their own creative yearnings and calls upon readers to honor those who have come before us. Each of these life stories is different, affirming that writers and artists can come from everywhere.... Bookish Broads illuminates the transformative legacy of women writers and invites us to join a story still unfolding."--Charleston Post and Courier GUEST: Lauren Marino is the author of What Would Dolly Do? and Jackie and Cassini. The founding editor of Gotham Books, she has published multiple bestsellers and award-winning books. HOST: Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and coeditor of Our Prince of Scribes.

Matt Whitten has written TV shows, stage plays, movies and novels. His new thriller THE NECKLACE just came out, and has been optioned for film by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Cartel Pictures. Lee Child says: "This is as fast and tense as a great thriller should be, but it's full of warmth and humanity too - one small-town woman's quest for the most poignant kind of justice you could imagine. Buy it today and read it tonight!"  Matt has written four mystery novels starring amateur sleuth Jacob Burns. The first novel, BREAKFAST AT MADELINE'S, received the Malice Domestic Award. The Library Journal called BREAKFAST AT MADELINE'S "the perfect antidote for a rainy day." Publishers Weekly, reviewing GRAND DELUSION, said "Witten delights with his charming characters, especially Burns himself." The Romantic Times said, "Told with warmth and wit, STRANGE BEDFELLOWS is a wry story that packs a wallop of an ending." Murder Express called THE KILLING BEE "a fast, witty, thoroughly engrossing novel that I was sorry to see end." Matt has written for House, Law & Order, Pretty Little Liars, Medium, Homicide, CSI: Miami, Judging Amy, Supernatural, and other shows. His published plays include The Deal, Washington Square Moves, and The Ties That Bind. They've been produced in theatres all over the world. His movie DRONES, directed by Rick Rosenthal and starring Matt O'Leary and Eloise Mumford, premiered in 2014 at the London Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, and the AFI Fest. It's available at Amazon.  Matt and his wife Nancy have two sons, Zack and Jacob. Matt Coyle is the author of the Anthony, Shamus and Lefty Award winning Rick Cahill crime novels.  This podcast is solely owned by the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network.

The Pat Conroy Literary Center and the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network proudly present executive director Jonathan Haupt in conversation with novelist Jason Mott, author of Hell of a Book. In Hell of a Book, an African-American author sets out on a cross-country book tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Jason Mott's novel and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more urgent: since his novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour. Throughout, these characters' stories build and build and as they converge, they astonish. Unforgettably powerful, an electrifying high-wire act, ideal for book clubs, and the book Mott says he has been writing in his head for ten years, Hell of a Book in its final twists truly becomes its title. "Hell of a Book more than lives up to its title. Playful, searching, raw and necessary, this writing, this voice, this novel twisted me up and turned me inside out, dazzled me, surprised me and moved me."—Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown GUEST: Jason Mott has published three previous novels. His first novel, The Returned, was a New York Times bestseller and was turned into a TV series that ran for two seasons. He has a BFA in Fiction and an MFA in Poetry, both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His poetry and fiction have appeared in various literary journals. HOST: Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and co-editor of Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.  www.patconroyliterarycenter.org

The Pat Conroy Literary Center and the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network proudly present executive director Jonathan Haupt in conversation with novelist Grady Hendrix, author of The Final Girl Support Group. "Take slasher movie adoration, critique, and satire, mix with compelling, flawed characters and neck-breaking plot twists, and drop it all into an industrial blender with large blades. Voilà, you now have Grady's maniacally clever and compulsively readable The Final Girl Support Group."—Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song "The Final Girl Support Group is a deft examination of how our culture's obsession with misogynistic violence destroys the lives of women and how those women are able to keep fighting and living after unthinkable trauma. The beating heart of this book is empathy and it's set into a lightning-paced, vicious thriller. Reading it was a catharsis. Absolutely unmissable."—Mallory O'Meara, author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon GUEST: Grady Hendrix is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter living in New York City. He is the author of Horrorstör, My Best Friend's Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls, and the New York Times bestselling The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is being adapted into a series by Amazon Studios. Grady also authored the Bram Stoker Award-winning nonfiction book, Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the horror paperback boom of the '70s and '80s. HOST: Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center and co-editor of Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.  www.patconroyliterarycenter.org