Friends stop time to remember Frank Conroy
Sam Edsill - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/25/05 Section: Metro
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Part of an upcoming addition to the Dey House, the home of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, will be named in honor of former workshop Director Frank Conroy, who died earlier this month, UI President David Skorton announced April 22 at a packed, boisterous memorial event honoring Conroy in Macbride Auditorium.
Skorton, a close friend of Conroy's, said the Frank Conroy Reading Room, part of the new Glenn Schaeffer Library, will be a commons room and space for public readings and will contain books by workshop graduates, making Conroy's legacy a permanent part of the workshop. The room will have a vaulted ceiling and windows overlooking the Iowa River valley.
Conroy died April 6 at the age of 69 after a long struggle with colon cancer. His passing was featured prominently in newspapers across the country, highlighting his legacy as an award-winning author and teacher.
The room will be named for Conroy "because of [his] enormous contribution to making the workshop even more well-known than it was," Skorton said and also because he was one of the project's main coordinators. The addition is expected to be completed by spring 2006.
Hundreds of friends, colleagues, and community members honored Frank Conroy in Macbride Auditorium with an afternoon of laughter, music, and storytelling, including readings by famed workshop graduates T.C. Boyle and John Irving.
Boyle, a best-selling author and winner of the 1988 PEN/Faulkner award, remembered Conroy as "a close friend, a mentor, a big brother, and the coolest guy I've ever met."
Originally planned as a celebration of Conroy's 18-year tenure as director, the memorial featured emotion-filled reflections by Skorton, Provost Michael Hogan, International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill, workshop professor and recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Marilynne Robinson, and author Tom Grimes, who graduated from the workshop in 1991. They remembered the pride he had in students, his generosity, and his love of reading.
Skorton, a close friend of Conroy's, said the Frank Conroy Reading Room, part of the new Glenn Schaeffer Library, will be a commons room and space for public readings and will contain books by workshop graduates, making Conroy's legacy a permanent part of the workshop. The room will have a vaulted ceiling and windows overlooking the Iowa River valley.
Conroy died April 6 at the age of 69 after a long struggle with colon cancer. His passing was featured prominently in newspapers across the country, highlighting his legacy as an award-winning author and teacher.
The room will be named for Conroy "because of [his] enormous contribution to making the workshop even more well-known than it was," Skorton said and also because he was one of the project's main coordinators. The addition is expected to be completed by spring 2006.
Hundreds of friends, colleagues, and community members honored Frank Conroy in Macbride Auditorium with an afternoon of laughter, music, and storytelling, including readings by famed workshop graduates T.C. Boyle and John Irving.
Boyle, a best-selling author and winner of the 1988 PEN/Faulkner award, remembered Conroy as "a close friend, a mentor, a big brother, and the coolest guy I've ever met."
Originally planned as a celebration of Conroy's 18-year tenure as director, the memorial featured emotion-filled reflections by Skorton, Provost Michael Hogan, International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill, workshop professor and recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Marilynne Robinson, and author Tom Grimes, who graduated from the workshop in 1991. They remembered the pride he had in students, his generosity, and his love of reading.
