Pat Conroy (b. 1945) is one of America’s most acclaimed and widely read authors and the New York Times bestselling writer of ten novels and memoirs, including The Water Is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides, and South of Broad.
Conroy was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up as the first of seven children in a military family, Conroy moved twenty-three times before he turned eighteen, constantly switching schools as a result. His father, a Chicago-born pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, was physically and emotionally abusive to his children, an experience that colored much of Conroy’s writing. The Great Santini (1976) in particular drew from many painful elements of Conroy’s childhood, a fact that caused friction within his family and played a role in his parents’ divorce as well as in Conroy’s own divorce from his first wife, Barbara.
In 1963, after graduating high school, Conroy enrolled in the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. His experience at the Citadel provided the basis for his first book, The Boo (1970), as well as his novel The Lords of Discipline (1980) and his memoir My Losing Season (2002). The Lords of Discipline stirred up controversy for exposing incidents of racism and sexism at the Citadel, though the resulting rift between Conroy and the school would later heal. The Citadel awarded Conroy an honorary degree and he delivered its commencement address in 2001.
After graduating from the Citadel, Conroy took a job as a school teacher in an impoverished community on Daufuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. He was fired after one year for personal differences with the school’s administration, including his refusal to abide by the school’s practice of corporal punishment. His book The Water Is Wide (1972), which was honored by the National Education Association, was largely based on his experiences.
In the 1980s, Conroy moved from South Carolina to Atlanta, and then to Rome, Italy, after marrying his second wife, Lenore. While living in Rome, he wrote The Prince of Tides (1986), about a former football player’s tragic upbringing and its effect on his family. The novel, which has sold more than five million copies worldwide, drove a wedge between Conroy and his sister, Carol, on whom many sections of the novel were based. In 1991, the book was made into a major motion picture starring Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte that was nominated for seven Academy Awards. After publishing his fourth novel, Beach Music, in 1997, Conroy married his third wife, Cassandra King, who is the author of four novels. Since their marriage, he has written the memoir My Losing Season (2002), The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life (2004) with Suzanne Williamson Pollak, South of Broad (2009), and the collection of essays My Life in Books (2010).
Conroy was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2004 and won the Outstanding Author Award from the Southeast Library Association in 2006. He currently lives on Fripp Island, South Carolina.
The wedding photo of Don and Peg Conroy (nËe Peek), taken in 1945. Pat was born later that year, the first of seven children.
Conroy feeding birds with his mother, Peg, in San Juan Capistrano, California, in 1948. He would later credit her with inspiring his love of language.
Pat, Peg, and Pat’s younger sister Carol, around 1950. The Prince of Tides featured a character, the poet Savannah Wingo, which was based on Carol.
Conroy’s 1957 school picture, taken when he was about twelve years old. Because his father was in the military, Conroy changed schools often as a child.
In 1963, Conroy captained the basketball team as a senior at Beaufort High School in Beaufort, South Carolina. Conroy’s high school English teacher, Eugene Norris, introduced him to the author Thomas Wolfe, who would later serve as a literary inspiration for Conroy.
Conroy’s 1964 semester report card from the Citadel. His only A for the semester was in comparative literature—a grade that foreshadowed his considerable skill as an author.
Conroy’s school picture from 1967 while studying at the Citadel. In The Lords of Discipline he wrote candidly about the authoritarianism of military school.
The Conroy family in the summer of 1969. Front row: Peg, Tim, Tom, Donald. Back row: Jim, Kathy, Pat, Carol Ann, Mike.
The schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, where Pat taught for a year, an experience that inspired his book The Water Is Wide.
Conroy’s mother, Peg, and the actor Jon Voight on the set of Conrack, the 1974 feature film adapted from The Water Is Wide. The movie opened to wide critical acclaim.
Conroy and his first wife, Barbara, delivering copies of The Water Is Wide to children on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, in the mid- to late-1970s. The book was based on Conroy’s experience teaching elementary school students on the island for a year after graduating from college.
Conroy with his daughters in the 1980s.
Conroy with his mentor and former high school English teacher, Eugene Norris, in 1990. Norris introduced Conroy to The Catcher in the Rye, to this day one of his favorite books. The two remained close for years and Conroy delivered a eulogy at Norris’s funeral.
Pat and Cassandra King on the day of their wedding in 1998. Cassandra is a bestselling author of four novels, including Queen of Broken Hearts and The Same Sweet Girls.
Pat and Cassandra look over a scrapbook documenting his life and career in June 2010.