Page 36 - September 2019

CONROY CENTER TO HOST SECOND ANNUAL CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, October 12th 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Contact: Maura Connelly / 843-379-7025
Santa Elena History Center, 1501 Bay Street, Beaufort, SC
maura@patconroyliterarycenter.org
T The Conroy Center and the Anchorage 1770 Inn to Host
he Pat Conroy Literary Center’s books that have been banned in the past. The authors participating in this year’s
Incarcerated books will include Winnie
second annual Children’s Book
fair are: Michael Bassett (Batrocks and
the Pooh by A.A. Milne, Where the Wild
Fair will be held Saturday,
Greenie); Patricia Bee (Try’umsee’s
October 12, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00
a Southern Living Inspired Event: Cook the Book
Lorax Tree by Dr. Seuss, to name just three.
p.m., at the Santa Elena History Center, Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and The Wings, Mama’s Pearls); Lisa Anne Cullen
(Little Orange Honey Hood, Three Wild
1501 Bay Street. One of Pat Conroy’s Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina’s poet Pigs); Rebecca Chamberlain (Maralee
With James Beard Award-winning Chef and Cookbook Author Cynthia Graubart
passions in life was to foster in every laureate, will lead a discussion on the history and the Turtles of the Sea); Delores B.
child a great love of books, and this day of banned books. Lunch will be available for Nevils (Amadeus, the Leghorn Rooster);
is dedicated to encouraging a lifelong purchase on-site during the Children’s Book Chelsea Rowe (Ebenezer Has a Word
BEAUFORT, SC - Southern Living, the Pat Conroy Literary Center, and the Anchorage 1770
companionship with books and realizing
Fair.
for Everything); Susan Diamond Riley
Interested attendees are encouraged
(The Sea Island’s Secret); Miho Kinnas
the Conroy Center’s mission of transforming
Inn are excited to announce the first Cook The Book: Sharing Recipes, Wine & Words, a
lives through stories. The event is free and to register in advance at https:// (Today, Fish Only and Move Over, Bird);
,
special event to be held Saturday, May 19 from 4:00–9:00 p.m. at the Anchorage 1770
childrensbookfair2.bpt.me
open to the public.
Marlena Smalls and Marianne Rice (Anire’s
Open to readers of
(1103 Bay St., Beaufort, SC). The inaugural Cook the Book will be presented by renowned
all ages, but focused
southern chef Cynthia Graubart, and will focus on recipes from her recent cookbook Sunday
on children ages 4-12,
the Children’s Book Fair
Suppers (2017). The event has three components: Cynthia will give a cooking demonstration
is a day-long event of
of three recipes from Sunday Suppers assisted by Anchorage chef Byron Landis, followed by
interactive workshops,
readings, and book
a book and apron signing with wine and appetizers on the veranda, and culminating with a
signings. Some of this
four-course dinner complete with hand-selected wine pairings in the dining room.
year’s events will include a
treasure hunt led by Susan
Diamond Riley, author
of the recently released
This new venture was inspired by Pat Conroy’s passion for cooking and his perennial search
The Sea Island’s Secret; a
for a new recipe. Pat opens his 2004 cookbook with the words, “The subject of food is
Beaufort County Library
System bookmobile,
nearly a sacred one to me.” His lifelong passion for cooking was first ignited in 1969 and
offering young attendees
only became more intense as he grew older. Many of his readers are familiar with another
a chance to get their
first library cards and to
quote from his cookbook, “a recipe is a story that ends with a good meal.”
check out books, face
painting, book give-
aways throughout the
Cynthia Graubart is an ideal chef to launch the new Cook the Book series, which celebrates
day; a Camp Conroy
foodways, writing, and fellowship. When Pat first began cooking in earnest, he turned to
tent, featuring young
Camp Conroy authors;
Cynthia’s husband Cliff for guidance. It was 1969 and Pat’s first wife had appointed him
and a “banned book jail
family chef. He ventured to the Old New York Bookshop in Atlanta, asking for Graubart’s
cell” featuring children’s
help. According to Pat’s recollections, Cliff, fearing the Conroy clan demise by starvation,
36 September 2019 | BeaufortLifestyle.com
handed Pat an edition of Auguste Escoffier’s cookbook. And so Pat’s culinary adventures
began, and he became the epicurean ‘magician’, the soup ‘sorcerer’, turning “the art of
stealing recipes into both a hobby and an art.”

Cynthia’s newest cookbook, Sunday Suppers extols the virtues of the Sunday supper. She
says the Sunday ‘supper’ was different than the Sunday ‘dinner’, a little less formal, but
always just as comforting because it’s always about family time spent at the dining table. In
her preface, Cynthia explains succinctly and lovingly, “Family mealtime is heralded by
educators, clergy, and grandmothers as an important part of a child’s growth and

development.”

Anchorage Chef Byron Landis, who will be assisting with the cooking demonstration and
meal preparation, concurs. “Food is important to not only physical sustenance, but also

spiritual and emotional nourishment. The stove is the hearth, the table the gathering place. I
learned that growing up in a family that had a catering business.”