MarshSong Cottage, sitting creekside on a tidal marsh, is host to the spring and fall Pat Conroy Literary Center Writer’s Residencies. Mary Ellen Thompson welcomes writers to her guest cottage, located on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, mid-way between downtown Beaufort and Hunting Island State Park.
MarshSong, so named for the melody the marsh mud plays at low tide, is situated on an historic property, once the first school in the nation for freed Black slaves. But the history goes deeper than that with ancient shell middens hinting at stories of other cultures.
The Cottage is a perfect writer’s sanctuary with views of water and woods; wildlife creatures and birds abound.
Pat Conroy Literary Center’s
FALL 2025 Writer’s Resident
Congratulations to Ciara Broderick, newly selected as recipient of our 2025 Pat Conroy Literary Center’s Writer’s Residency! Ciara will join us in beautiful Beaufort later this fall for an inspiring week’s stay at MarshSong Cottage.
Ciara is a fiction writer from a small village in East Co. Galway in Ireland. Her short stories have appeared in several literary journals and competitions, and her debut novel, Catfish, was a winner of the Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair 2025 and shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize. Ciara was this year's UCL European Institute European Writer-in-Residence. She is very excited to spend time in the Lowcountry, a place that has long held a special place in her imagination. Learn more at www.ciarabroderickwriting.com.
Our Writer’s Residency selection committee wishes to thanks all of this year’s many applicants for their interest and their commitment to their craft.
