June 17th, 2002

Novelist Elizabeth Gilbert set out to write a story for GQ about a man named Eustace Conway, a true back-to-the-woods character of the sort rarely seen. He lives in a remote part of North Carolina on a large parcel of land he calls Turtle Island. His life is one full of contradictions and oddities. The article was so successful and Conway was such a rich character that Gilbert went on to write a book about him called The Last American Man.

Elizabeth Gilbert and Eustace Conway will be here on June 17th. There will be a reception and signing at 5 p.m. Discussion and reading at 5:30.

Photo: Bruce Newman

Above: Elizabeth Gilbert and Eustace Conway spoke and read from Gilbert's book The Last American Man, of which Conroy is the subject.

Right: Gilbert and Conway squeeze into a photobooth with Catherine Miles, a former and favorite Oxford resident.