6630 Manasota Key Road
Englewood
FL 34223
This event is sold out.
“At heart, this fascinating memoir from Mewshaw is an honest, eminently readable look at the fraught but rewarding bond between two writers.”—Publishers Weekly
The Hermitage Artist Retreat presents a reading with author Michael Mewshaw, who will present excerpts from his new book, “The Lost Prince: A Search for Pat Conroy,” an intimate memoir of his friendship with the author of such classics as “The Prince of Tides” and “The Great Santini.”
Pat Conroy was America’s poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger-than-life character, he’s remembered for his energy, his exuberance, and his self-lacerating humor. Mewshaw’s “The Lost Prince” is an intimate memoir of his long friendship with Conroy. Shortly before his 49th birthday, Conroy telephoned Mewshaw to ask a terrible favor. With great reluctance, Mewshaw did as he was asked—and never saw Pat Conroy again. Although they never managed to reconcile their differences completely, Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about “me and you and what happened . . . I know it would cause much pain to both of us, but here is what that story has that none of your others have.” “The Lost Prince” is Mewshaw’s fulfillment of a promise.
Michael Mewshaw‘s five-decade career includes award-winning fiction, nonfiction, literary criticism and investigative journalism. He is the author of the nonfiction works, “Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal” and “Between Terror and Tourism: An Overland Trip Across North Africa,” the novel, “Year of the Gun,” and the memoir, “Do I Owe You Something? A Memoir of the Literary Life.” He has published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and numerous international outlets. He spends much of his time in Key West.