<strong>From staff reports</strong>

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 on March 4, 2016 with educational conversations about storytelling, conservation, social justice, and inclusivity — major themes of Pat’s writing and teaching life.

The annual event will be held virtually on March 4, 6, and 7 (Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday), and presented in partnership with the Penn Center, NeverMore Books, the Beaufort County School District and First Presbyterian Church of Beaufort.

March Forth is sponsored by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture, and heritage.

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. 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.

SCHEDULE

6 p.m. Thursday, March 4: 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.

10 a.m. Saturday, March 6: 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 6: 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

2 p.m. Saturday, March 6: 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 6: Penn Center staff members Dr. Marie Gibbs and Dr. Charlene M. Spearen will discuss the 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

12:30 p.m. Sunday, March 7: Join us for a virtual tour of the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s new location, led by executive director Jonathan Haupt. The tour will focus on Pat's legacy as student, teacher, and writer through stories related to Conroy Center exhibitions and the myriad ways in which the Center fosters and continues Pat's legacy as an educator. Included in $25 all-access registration.

2 p.m. Sunday, March 7: Environmentalist authors J. Drew Lanham, author of the poetry collection Sparrow Envy and recipient of the E.O. Wilson Award for Biodiversity Conservation, and John Lane, author of the novel 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 7: 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. Included in $25 all-access registration.

<em>Above: Disney's Anika Noni Rose will join Sunday's panel discussion, Meeting at the Table: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community</em>