Pat Conroy, graceful and powerful novelist, burst on to the literary scene with his first novel “The Great Santini” in 1976. A novel so strong and memorable that “Santini” has become part of the lexicon.

Mr. Conroy can excite, he can make you laugh through tears, and when he chooses he can poetically describe his roots in landscapes that make you want to clip and paste on your refrigerator. With the publication of “The Prince of Tides” he was launched as an internationally known writer being translated into more than a score of languages. Mr. Conroy is without doubt America’s favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Mr. Conroy resides in Fripp Island, South Carolina with his wife, novelist Cassandra King.