On June 22, we aired an interview Kasie did with Jonathan Haupt, Executive Director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, S.C.

He was gracious enough to promote the interview on Facebook.

I admit to going a little fan girl and may have blushed a little when he admitted we confirmed rumors of our “bestie” status.

Here’s the link to the recording.

Below are the drafted show notes. I was writing them while we spoke and I finally gave up on them in favor of just having a conversation with Jonathan.

Agenda

• Jonathan Haupt, author, publisher, Director of the PCLC
• A very special relationship with Pat Conroy
• What’s coming up for the PCLC

Segment 1

Jonathan’s career in the literary world in South Carolina has been about being out and about with people who are literary. He moved here from Illinois and worked with the U of SC Press in Columbia. He’s now at the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, S.C.

Tell us how you got here?

What’s the difference between Illinois and S.C.?

“South Carolina seems like a place that is on the cusp of being a better version of itself,” Jonathan says. He fell in love with S.C. and stayed here.

His roles in publishing began with marketing and then transitioned to acquisitions, editorial, and operations of the press. Jonathan ran the U of SC Press as Director for five years with Pat Conroy as his Editor-in-Large at Story River Books, the fiction imprint of that press. 

Segment 2

The relationship with Pat Conroy was heavily rooted in the work at Story River Books but it was difficult to continue after Pat passed in March of 2016. 

The legacy conversation in Pat’s family focused on teaching and sharing the literary world and life with readers and writers.

After the interview, I sent him one of my short stories for feedback. I told him since he’d never read anything I’d written, he might not know I actually have some writing chops. We’ll see what he thinks.

I was interested to learn the University of South Carolina actually houses an original hand-written manuscript of Pat Conroy’s. We have an opportunity to preserve our literary history in S.C. and it’s always a pleasure to be in the company of people whose careers seem to be dedicated to doing just that.

Learn more about the PCLC here.

Learn more about the SCWA’s Fall Retreat which is being co-hosted with the PCLC.

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