In partnership with historic Grace Chapel AME Church, the Pat Conroy Literary Center presents a community poetry reading featuring eight talented writers from South Carolina, representing Palmetto State natives and newcomers alike. €œPoetry of Place€ will explore (among other subjects) our inherent connectivity to a sense of place, be that home or elsewhere, real or imagined.

Best-selling novelist Mary Alice Monroe on shorebirds, story telling, and her new book, Beach House for Rent€™

My Lowcountry home is the Isle of Palms. The wildlife and landscape here inspire my writing life. Loggerhead sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, birds of prey, and monarch butterflies have inspired a number of novels.

This time, for my new novel, Beach House for Rent, the source of inspiration came from the seabirds and shorebirds we all enjoy seeing at the beach. Squadrons of pelicans flying in formation above the dunes and tiny, adorable peeps skittering along the water'€™s edge in search of food are common sights. But what beachgoers don't notice is the startling fact, according to the Audubon Society, that 70 percent of shorebird populations in the U.S. are in decline. Frankly, that'€™s shocking.

On May 21^st, the Pat Conroy Literary Center's Visiting Writers Series and Porch Talk blog will welcome Deno Trakas, five-time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Prize and author of Messenger from Mystery, a new literary thriller published by Pat Conroy'€™s Story River Books imprint. Deno will appear in conversation with Mindy Lucas, co-host of Porch Talk.