D. Patrick Conroy
Class of 1967
Hometown: Beaufort, SC
- Conroy is an internationally celebrated American author and recognized as a leading figure of late 20th century Southern Literature.
- Conroy's novels, The Water is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, were made into major motion pictures. The last two were nominated for Oscars.
- Conroy's novel The Water is Wide, based on his experiences as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse on remote Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, won the humanitarian award from the National Education Association and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. It was made into a feature film, Conrack, starring Jon Voight in 1974. Hallmark produced a television version of the book in 2006.
- The Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, SC, has been designated a Literary Landmark by the American Library Association and became the first site in South Carolina to be selected as an affiliate of the American Writers Museum.