Conroy Center Welcomes New Staff Member
brooke McKinney has joined the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center staff as Communications and Events Coordinator. Brooke is a poet and writer from South Georgia, where she grew up on a farm and was raised by bulldogs. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from Valdosta State University and holds an MFA in creative writing from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. As a teaching fellow at Hollins, she led creative writing workshops in which she encouraged students to trust their own voices and believe in their writing.
She lives on Saint Helena Island where she continues to write the story of her loyal friend Max, a bulldog she lived and traveled with for thirteen years and who gave her a greater understanding of love and survival. She is the recipient of two Academy of American Poets Awards, and her work was a finalist in the Key West Emerging Writer’s Contest and the World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest. Brooke’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in New South, Salt Hill Journal, Potomac Review, Southeast Review, RHINO Poetry, Columbia Poetry Review, Artemis and Kestrel.
In addition to her behind-the-scenes work in event planning and publicity, Brooke has hosted many of the Conroy Center’s recent online writers workshops. She will be teaching a workshop of her own, Submitting for Publication, on June 2 and 13, 6:00–7:30 p.m. Open to writers at all levels of experience, the two-part class will explore opportunities for publication through literary journals and magazines. Limited to 20 participants, registration is $60. Learn more about all of the Conroy Center’s upcoming online writers workshops at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com.
TripAdvisor’s top-ranked destination in Beaufort, the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is located at 905 Port Republic Street in historic downtown. Winner of the 2019 Civitas Award for Tourism Leadership presented by the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Conroy Center is South Carolina’s first affiliate of the American Writers Museum and second American Library Association Literary Landmark. Through its interpretive center, year-round educational programs, and annual literary festival, the Conroy Center preserves and continues the literary legacy of Pat Conroy (1945–2016) as a teacher, mentor, advocate, and friend to readers and writers alike. Learn more at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.
